Playing with Constraints: Designing Inclusive Games and Controllers

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
The concept of 'impaired technologies'—using damaged or restricted peripherals—serves as a primary design framework to force developers to confront constraints caused by disability, financial limitations, or technological obsolescence.
02
Inclusive game design requires shifting from standard interaction paradigms to 'activist affordances,' where physical limitations are treated as deliberate, meaningful game mechanics rather than obstacles to be removed.
03
A structured 3.5-hour workshop format, consisting of hands-on testing with impaired hardware, rapid prototyping, and collaborative pitching, is an effective method for training designers in inclusive development.
04
Designing for sensory diversity, particularly for neurodiverse populations, benefits from formal game design frameworks that prioritize specific interaction styles within virtual environments.
05
Inclusive gaming research increasingly draws on cross-cultural and social-impact methodologies, such as those used in the Games [4Diversity] Jam, to bridge gaps between diverse demographic groups.
06
The research is supported by major international funding bodies including the European Research Council, UK Research and Innovation, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Summary

How can we design inclusive games that appeal to gamers with different abilities? This workshop invites the CHI PLAY community to play with constraints and conceptualize games that enable forms of play beyond conventional patterns. We build on our prior work that applies the concept of “impaired technologies” as a design provocation in a game jam to encourage alternative perspectives on play. Participants will create multiplayer games that are played with impaired technologies or, as an extensio