#SoEveryoneCanGame
User Research

Our User Research Team
While our Peer Counselor and Engineering Research teams largely focus on crafting solutions for players to customize and configure their access to the physical aspects of gaming, our User Research team and Professional Development pillars work on the digital side of accessibility to provide support for all people with disabilities.
Our User Research works to investigate, document, and share the current options for players in games as well as document where barriers still exist so that the future of gaming can be where everyone finds a game that they love. With this pillar, we strive to anticipate the next big areas, such as augmented and virtual reality, so these new technologies can be accessible faster than previous generations of gaming.
This pillar also works with players with disabilities to provide a data-driven approach to all of the tools and techniques we create for developers. Whether it is the APX design patterns, scales for measuring player experience, or new innovative evaluation methods, all of our techniques are created with users at the heart of the process.
Player PanelsÂ
Player Panels is one of the world’s largest groups of people with disabilities dedicated to lending their unique life experiences to create a more accessible world. With over 400 players currently in the group, these players are working with triple-A game studios, our indie friends, and more to add value in the creation of rich, accessible player experiences.
If you’re an organization looking to connect with our player panels program, click here.
Publications
Through the User Research team, AbleGamers’ contributes peer-reviewed publications and white papers to share further the knowledge we gain, so game developers and researchers can build on our work and help the gaming world progress faster towards a more inclusive community.
- Cairns, P., Power, C., Barlet, M., Haynes G. (2019) Future Design of Accessibility in Games: A Design Vocabulary. Int. J. of Human-Computer Studies, 131, 64- 71, doi: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2019.06.010
- Cairns, P. , Power, C., Barlet, M., Haynes, G., Kaufman, C., Beeston, J. (2019) Enabled Players: the value of accessible digital games, Games and Culture, online
- Beeston, J., Power, C., Cairns, P., & Barlet, M. (2018, July). Accessible Player Experiences (APX): The Players. International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs Springer, 245-253
- Power, C., Cairns, P., Barlet, M. (2018) Inclusion in the Third Wave: Access to Experience. In Filimowicz, M., Tzankova, V. (eds) New Directions in Third Wave Human-Computer Interaction: Volume 1-Technologies. Springer, p. 163-181