As we await the arrival of a new generation of gaming consoles later this year, it’s expected that companies begin advertising features that will distinguish the new from the old (or current, I guess). One of the tools in Sony’s arsenal with regards to the PlayStation 5 has been haptic feedback. For those who don’t know; haptic feedback is pitched as the next step for controller vibration. It used to be that the controller would shake violently in order to engage the player’s sense of touch in addition to sight and sound. Over time the rumblings got more varied and nuanced to better represent what was happening on screen, mimicking everything from an earthquake, a ship landing, and a heartbeat (and let’s never forget Nintendo’s ice-cubes in the Joy-Con). According to developers currently working on PS5 titles, haptic feedback can create even more specific sensations. Insomniac Games claims that you can feel electricity moving through the controller. SIE Japan Studio says that you can feel the impact of a boss’s attack. Sony’s even taken it a step further and added adaptive triggers, meaning the triggers can give resistance to mimic something like a gun jamming. This sounds awesome and I’m certain that this will produce some incredibly immersive experiences.
But… what does this mean for accessibility?
Over this last console generation, the industry has made strides to make gaming more assessable both in design games and in hardware. Some people need specialized controllers due to their physical differences and some people might want to disable certain features - features like rumble.
For the enhancements that rumble can provide, we have to remember that there are players who, for a variety of reasons, can’t use it. It’s possible for it to cause pain, aggravate injuries to the hands or wrists and/or make it difficult to concentrate on the game. Using rumble as a mandatory feature in a game could render it unplayable for certain people.
So, what should developers do? Basically, make sure that the game is perfectly playable without using haptic feedback. Make sure that crucial information is sent through the TV rather than the controller, or they can make sure there is some alternative so the player has all the information they need. The primary concern is that a game will require haptic feedback in the same way that many Wii games required motion controls to play. When that happens potential players can become alienated due to their physical differences.
Haptic Feedback sounds awesome. I’m sure a lot of developers are going to do great things with it. I’m personally exited to see where it goes. But we always have to remember to consider accessibility. Sometimes that means making sure a game works just as well without certain features.
Comments