Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Gamers Petition For Colorblind Patch In Modern Warfare 2
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?
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
