“If you were an athlete before your injury, one of the first things a rehab therapist would think about is adaptive sports or how to get back into that. But gaming doesn’t have the same process,” says Tyler Fentie, Accessible Gaming Lead at the Neil Squire Society. “If gaming is suddenly not an option for people, or if that was the main way into their community, and it’s just totally gone—that could be pretty devastating.” GAME Checkpoints is an initiative by the Neil Squire Society’s Makers Making Change program that aims to address this issue by working with community partners across Canada to provide them with video gaming gear, resources, and training.
The origins of GAME Checkpoints (“GAME” stands for Gaming Accessibility Made for Everyone) was originally inspired by a Makers Making Change Access Makeathon in 2017. The Makeathon enlisted the help of inventors, creators, and hackers to build open source assistive technology, including a new Wii control for a youth with a disability. Since then, there has been continued interest in gaming solutions for people with disabilities and in 2023, Makers Making Change started the GAME Checkpoints program.
“Gaming has always been a big part of Makers Making Change… our flagship device, the Lipsync Joystick was one of the first gaming variations we did,” explains Fentie. “Around that time, the Xbox adaptive controller came out too, which was great, but you need accessories to work with it and it gets expensive fast. Folks were looking for options, alternatives, and customized equipment. The motivation grew from that.”
The GAME Checkpoints program now has seven locations across Canada, including two at the Neil Squire Society offices in Burnaby and Calgary, one at Eidos-Montreal, a gaming studio in Montreal, and one at each of the following rehabilitation centres: GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver, the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation in Fredericton, and the West Park Healthcare Centre in Toronto. When community partners join the GAME Checkpoints program, they work closely with Makers Making Change staff to determine what video games and gear would work best for their location and participate in training that covers the basics of video gaming, how to use adaptive video game equipment, and how to evaluate gaming needs.
In this way, GAME Checkpoints helps broaden traditional support systems such as occupational therapy or recreational therapy to include gaming assistance for people of all abilities. “Clinicians have been reaching out to us for years because a lot of clinical centres or libraries or wherever had bought an adaptive Xbox controller or other gaming stuff and it’s just been sitting in the closet collecting dust because they don’t know how to implement it,” Fentie says. “Creating best practices and having a whole day worth of training with the clinical centres where they can get hands on experience connecting these devices and playing games is important.”
Chad Leaman, Director of Innovation at the Neil Squire Society, underscores this importance, noting that abandonment rates for assistive technology are historically quite high. “How do you know it’s going to work until you try it? Having a spot where people can come in to try games so they’re not buying some $500 setup that doesn’t work is a great opportunity,” he says. In Vancouver, GF Strong clients can connect with the GAME Checkpoints centre located in Assistive Technology Services and demo an adapted gaming station to see what fits their needs. GF Strong currently has a variety of consoles (Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, a PC, etc.), controllers (Xbox wireless, Switch pro, Joycon grip, Playstation 4 and 5, etc.), games (Brawhalla, Celeste, FIFA, Mario Kart, Minecraft, etc.), and a multitude of Makers Making Change assistive switches, mounts, joysticks, controller modifications, and more that can be customized for your needs.
“We’ve also just started releasing some new OpenAT Joystick solutions,” Leaman adds. “At one of our last events, someone was using their chin as a joystick, so different sizes and different 3D printed add-ons make more things possible. We’d love for people to test these new devices and tell us what’s the good, the bad, the ugly.” The OpenAT Joysticks are available for borrowing at GF Strong, and the Neil Squire Society’s head offices, or can be sent to people as needed. They can be used for mouse control as well as adaptive gaming and are a cost-effective solution in comparison to commercially available equipment. “I think that’s what makes us unique,” Leaman says. “We have the ability to manufacture something on hardware at a much lower cost with [3D printing, open source plans, and a national network]. Our ability to make things affordably certainly helps get these solutions to people at a much cheaper cost.”
Although cost savings is a huge factor in the appeal of GAME Checkpoints, the impact of the program is more far-reaching than any dollar amount could account for. To see someone light up when they find their new favourite game or reconnect with a forgotten pastime is immeasurable.
“About a year before we did the training with GF Strong they had a client who was interested in gaming but at that time they only had standard controllers,” Fentie explains. “He had been playing games his whole life. His friends and him had been playing since Atari and they loved it—that was their main way of connecting after they all moved after university. They’d been playing weekly up until this client had a stroke and then he was limited to a really small number of games that he could play with only one hand…within 45 minutes of him coming back to GF [after our training] we got a solution set up for him using a 3D printed modification that was mounted on his controller so he would be comfortable playing for long periods of time and with different games. It’s one of those things where there is a simple solution but without the training in context to that, they weren’t able to provide a solution for him previously.”
The solutions provided by GAME Checkpoints aren’t limited to experienced gamers only. Both Fentie and Leaman explain that many of the people that come to them don’t have any previous gaming experience or interest, but they want to give it a try. “Someone’s ability to play doesn’t equal the experience that they want to have when they’re playing,” Fentie says. For example, someone who may never have played video games before their injury might be curious about gaming to engage in competition against others, to express creativity, to solve a cognitive puzzle, or to have an adrenaline-filled experience. “Everyone who comes in is going to have a different perspective. Just like you know, movies, DVDs or books, those kind of things, gaming is so diverse. [The] genres of games and the player experience is definitely something that we want to hit home a lot.”
Once you know what kind of game you’d like to try, often the best place to start is with the system you already have. For most people, this means investigating what already exists on their smartphone or tablet and then seeing how GAME Checkpoints and Makers Making Change can help provide assistive technology to enhance compatibility.
Currently, there aren’t industry-wide accessibility standards for video games, but GAME Checkpoints sees potential for change. “Accessibility features should be by design there to help promote the game experience, instead of just being there for the sake of it,” Fentie says. “I would love if every game had controller remapping or had blind accessibility or things like that. If there was this kind of curiosity to see how we can push this forward and how we can make this a creative element of our game. There’s no limit in where it can go.”
If you’re interested in gaming but not sure where to begin, GAME Checkpoints is more than happy to help you get started! You can reach out directly to Tyler Fentie at tylerf@neilsquire.ca or check out an extensive array of online resources at makersmakingchange.com/s/adaptive-gaming. We’ve also created an infographic to spark some inspiration. Happy gaming!
Your Guide To: Adaptive Gaming Equipment
Almost everyone with an SCI can play the game they want! The variety of technology adaptations available, such as facial expressions, voice, mouth joysticks, etc. enables any level of gaming experience. However, someone with a higher SCI injury level would have the easiest time getting set up to play games with 1 button solutions first and then work their way up!
Game Genres:
- Racing: The focus of the game is to participate in a racing competition.
- Sports: The focus of the game is to simulate the practice of playing sports.
- Puzzle: The focus of the game is figuring out a puzzle or completing a cognitive task.
- Competitive: The focus of the game is to beat others.
- Action: The focus of the game is excitement, fast-paced, and action-oriented.
- Adventure: The focus of the game is the explore the video game’s world and navigate through a series of storylines as a character(s).
Adaptive Gaming Equipment
Assistive switches are buttons that will work for your adaptive gaming equipment needs. All assistive switches can be used for gaming but require a switch interface. A switch interface acts as an adapter, allowing you to connect the switches to your computer, tablet, or smartphone using USB or Bluetooth. The type of switch interface required depends on what type of gaming device you are using. Makers Making Change can help you determine what technology is needed and what will work best for you!
Industry Experts and Advocates
- Grant Stoner – muckrack.com/grant-stoner-1
- Steve Saylor – youtube.com/@SteveSaylor
- MikeTheQuad – youtube.com/@MikeTheQuad
- RockyNoHands – youtube.com/@RockyNoHands1
- Brolylegs – twitch.tv/brolylegs
- Arevya – youtube.com/@Arevya
- All Access Life – youtube.com/@AllAccessLife
This article was originally published in the Winter 2023 issue of The Spin. Read more stories from this issue, including:
- Male Infertility
- Evacuating with SCI
- A New Exercise App for Ambulatory Peers
And more!
