How to Improve the Accessibility of Your Gaming Content

Accessibility is becoming an increasingly important aspect of gaming content creation. Creators, businesses, and the general public are becoming more aware than ever of the needs of those with disabilities or special considerations with regards to digital content. As such, finding out what you can do to align your content with these requirements will help you reach your full audience and lead to an inclusive community.

At MinMxD, our goal is to help content creators like you to enhance your content and develop lasting bonds with your audience. We’ll discuss what accessibility actually is for gaming content, and go over a few key features you can use today to boost the accessibility, reach, and engagement of your content.

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Accessibility for gaming content is the process of making your content – be it videos, streams, clips, or social media posts – more accessible to a variety of different audiences. Some of the core groups that may need accessibility features include those who:

• Aren’t fluent in your language
• Have epilepsy
• Have conditions like dyslexia
• Are blind or deaf
• Have any other kind of sensory or cognitive disability

Due to the vast variety of different games, editing styles, and content types, many would-be fans can often fall to the wayside if the content isn’t produced in a way that meets their needs. Accessibility is about considering what these people may need, and including features like warnings, tailored editing, or subtitles to make sure they can feel welcome in your community.

The Benefits of Gaming Content Accessibility

1. Create an inclusive community. By adding accessibility features, more people can engage with your content, adding fresh perspectives to your community and creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.
2. Develop a positive brand image. Adhering to the needs of often marginalised audiences can improve your image, making you seem more amicable to even those who don’t need accessibility features.
3. Reach a broader audience. Adding in accessibility features opens up the number of people that can watch your videos, boosting your reach and engagement while leading to better returns and growth.
4. Protect your audience and business. While it’s not a requirement to include epilepsy warnings or other similar notifications in your content, it can help prevent vulnerable viewers from having seizures – and protect you from any potential legal issues that could arise as a result.
5. Cultivate a global audience. With subtitles, AI, and translation, anything is possible. You can expand your reach beyond your own country’s audience, reaching lucrative demographics such as India and Brazil (2 of the top 3 leading countries for YouTube audience size).

On platforms like YouTube, there generally isn’t a way to add a trigger warning to your video for things like epilepsy. Despite people often requesting such a feature to be added, it is left to the creator’s responsibility and discretion on whether or not to include a warning – and how to do it.

If you feel like your content has sections that could trigger photosensitive epilepsy, the best thing you can do is include manual warnings – both verbal and visual. These should be present at the start of the video, and at the time when such imagery occurs (bonus points if you add timestamps so these scenes can be easily skipped). Aside from that, adding a pinned comment to the video and having a warning at the top of your description can help as well.

On live content, such as on Twitch, it can be harder to give warning for flashing imagery. If you know something is coming up, it’s good to give a warning when you can, but otherwise you’ll have to rely on your and your audience’s knowledge on the game, and give warnings as early as possible.

See our guide on tips for live streaming gaming content for more insight and advice! >

Another key part of accessibility is language. Firstly, having subtitles is a crucial part of content creation as many people, even those without conditions, find it easier to absorb content if they can read along with the words. Otherwise, having subtitles can help those with processing disorders like APD (Auditory Processing Disorder) or hearing disabilities.

Next, then, is to consider whether it is worth the effort to add subtitles in other languages. As mentioned, some of the largest audiences on YouTube come from countries where English isn’t the primary language, so having translated subtitles can massively improve your reach.

Even when people do speak English, if it isn’t their first language it can still be helpful to have more familiar subtitles to read alongside the audio. This doubles as a learning reinforcement feature, helping people to build a better understanding of the nuances of English as they watch!

With translation tools and AI becoming more powerful with each passing day, adding translated subtitles to your content is becoming more viable to do – expanding to the reach of gaming content creators worldwide. If you can spare the time and effort, and you’re adding subtitles anyway, it’s worth adding translated subtitles to your videos.

Find out more ways to better engage with your gaming community >

Accessibility in gaming content improves your reach, boosts your growth, and most importantly it helps the disadvantaged to enjoy your videos. The steps taken to create accessible content do require understanding, but aren’t all too difficult, so we hope this article has helped you gain some insight on what you can do to build a more inclusive community.

If you want further support with building out your gaming channel, get in touch today. The team at MinMxD are here and happy to help you with strategies, insight, and advice on how to take your channel and content to the next level!

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