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Gamers Petition For Colorblind Patch In Modern Warfare 2

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by Meagan Marie on December 15, 2009 at 12:40 PM
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In the realm of accessibility and video games, colorblindness is considered one of the easier visual disabilities to compensate for. Considering the high percentage of males that are affected by some degree of color blindness, it may then seem odd that the condition is overlooked in game design as often as it is. But colorblind individuals are starting to make their voices heard, most recently in a petition to patch Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Color blind gamers, particularly those who struggle with red/green combinations, are often at a disadvantage in multiplayer shooters. Red has widely become accepted as the indicator for enemy units – both through blips on the player’s radar and as the color of the enemy’s gamertag. Conversely, green generally denotes a friendly unit in the same scenarios. In twitch-centric games where you only have a moment to kill or be killed, color is the first indicator between friend and foe.

The petition asks Infinity Ward to patch Modern Warfare 2 and enable color swapping so that these colorblind individuals don’t have to play with the inherent disadvantage. Referencing Call of Duty: World at War, petitioners suggest once again giving them the option to swap between red/green and orange/blue palettes. Infinity Ward community Manager Robert Bowling has acknowledged the issue and has stated that he will bring up the concern for a potential fix. We’ll keep you updated as to whether or not the feature will be integrated into an upcoming patch.

"Colorblindness is extremely common amongst men (estimates range from 1/7 to 1/10 men in the United States) and men have traditionally been the target audience for this type of game," Michelle Hinn, chair of the IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group explained to us. "It's easily the top accessibility issue in gaming and one that with a little creativity and forethought it could be the first accessibility issue solved across the board. It seems strange that any gaming company would not include that in their Quality Assurance (QA) testing practices at this point in time, particularly a company that makes any kind of FPS or other twitch-style games. It's extremely frustrating to continue hearing about this being an issue and I urge Infinity Ward to listen to it's customers!"

From an accessibility standpoint, relying on color as sole visual indicators is always risky. Accessibility conscious developers often instead use symbols or shapes to differentiate between teams or objects, or allow the user to swap colors to ones that suits their particular condition.

Several developers repeatedly cater to colorblind gamers with little fanfare, including PopCap Games, who include colorblind modes in the bulk of their popular titles. A colorblind mode in Peggle makes the colors more vibrant and superimposes symbols on important blocks. Valve also takes the colorblind into consideration, and you can read a very interesting account of a colorblind gamer/game developer’s interactions with Left 4 Dead here.

Do any of you struggle with multiplayer modes due to colorblindness? Would you benefit from the above patch?

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Comments
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  • by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 12:44 PM

    Hmmm... doesn't really matter in Hardcore if you have Cold-Blooded Pro on... :D

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 12:46 PM

    shouldn't need to depend on red and green names either.

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 12:51 PM

    I can't say I struggle but that does sound like a good thing to have.  Also, even though I'm not color blind, I would like my teams to be orange and blue.

  • by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 12:53 PM

    well as long as they aren't trying to sue again i find it harmless to ask for change.  The colorblind community has to understand however that CoD is not made for them, its made to sell itself.  The developers are going to make whatever is going to appeal to the largest group of consumers they can.  If you struggle using it either enjoy your struggle or don't buy it.  Claiming that you have the right to change their product because of you disability is wrong.  However, politely asking them to look into it is admirable, just don't take it to the next level if they are inable, or unwilling to do it.

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 12:54 PM

    I think that this colorblind patch is a good a idea and should be implimented asap.

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 12:54 PM

    Sad that they have to petition for it.

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:04 PM

    Its good for the gamers to have something like this. Working for people that deals with lawyers on a daily basis i can tell you IW doesn't have a choice, no matter what disabilities people have, they have to accommodate them no matter what. So they better patch it soon or they will be in huge trouble and will loose the case if they are sued for not doing it, which, i know they are going to but im just sayin.

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:09 PM

    @ Morgacht

    They do have the right to ask for it, as you've mentioned, but I personally think they would have every right to take it to the next level if IW refused to release a patch. I mean, they have the right to enjoy the game just as you do, unfortunately something like colorblindness could restrict someone from enjoying the product and if it could be fixed easily, why not? Plus this ensures that a larger group of people get to enjoy the game, and it would make little to no difference to the majority of players. But that's just my opinion ;)

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:13 PM

    I'm colorblind to red and green, but I have no problems playing this game

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:16 PM

    Give 'em the patch, they can't help it and they deserve just as enjoyable an experience as the rest of us.  Besides, I don't wanna be shot over and over by team mates in HC.

  • by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:22 PM

    ^ This.

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:25 PM

    Im about as color blind as you can get and dont have much problems with it while playing. However if they tried some things with the orange and blue like WOW it would be a little more helpful. Who knows what else they could do to make it more helpful for someone like me. I would appreciate at least an option to try. I dont see why it would be an issue to do

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:26 PM

    @highrishman420: In an ideal world you would be right, but seeing as the world of gaming is now a business for the most part, the typical reason IW would make the changes is for the sake of money, not for the passion of the gamer. It's a sad reality but the most accurate at this point. Look at Nintendo and the "casual" route they've taken for crying out loud

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:33 PM

    hope IW implements this.

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:38 PM

    I don't really understand though.  Is every colorblind person too stupid to just switch in their brain to automatically shooting green people and associating red with friendlies?  I mean, you've lived with this your entire life right?  It doesn't really seem that difficult to me.  

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:46 PM

    this made me lol

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:48 PM

    Did not know this was as common as it is. I personally don't have any colorblindness,that I know of, but can see where this can be problem. I do want to see someone who has some colorblind issues but is still really good at MW2, and when the colorblind options go up, he/she is just amazing.  

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:51 PM

    If it is an easy fix and it doesn't change the game for anyone else - why not help them out

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:54 PM

    @ Morgacht

    "The colorblind community has to understand however that CoD is not made for them, its made to sell itself."

    Such a simple fix as allowing color-changes in the names isn't that big a deal, and it is a little disappointing that while Treyarch addressed this, Infinity Ward did not.

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    by Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 01:56 PM

    @Cameron Crowe: It's not a matter of intelligence. Depending on the degree of the colorblindness the person may or may not be able to distinguish between the pair of colors at all. They don't see grass as red and stop signs as green.

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