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Visually impaired people in Hattrick

Written by rabobank76

Hattrick is a popular game amongst the Portuguese community of visually impaired people. In this article, we intend to give you an idea of how the visually impaired experience the game.

The internet is an important tool in everyday life, but not all websites are accessible to the visually impaired. Gaming sites which use flash or java, in particular, are virtually impossible to read using text to speech software (e.g. Narrator in Windows) – a critical tool for us. This tool “reads” what is displayed in the computer screen.

The visually impaired found HT!

The number of visually impaired people playing HT is unknown, but the good accessibility of the site makes it one of the most popular amongst the community. In Portugal there is a growing number of visually impaired players, caused by word of mouth communication amongst the community, passing the information that HT is accessible to them and is an excellent way of spending free time. The level of unemployment is relatively high in the visually impaired community and, for some, HT is the only way of watching time go by.

In Portugal we have a small group of visually impaired that not only organizes a highly competitive league, but also discuss and share information relative to site/game accessibility. This group also assists new users on specific commands of the text–to–speech software.

When the new design was implemented, back in December, our community was very active and apprehensive about the possible loss of accessibility that could come with it. Fortunately, the game developers are sensitive to the problems that afflict the visually impaired. HT is still accessible and is a good companion to them.

Recently, a discussion about game accessibility for the visually impaired was sparked by the entry of Jorge-Jesus in the “Federação Portuguesa de Tácticas e Sistemas de Jogo” (Portuguese Federation of tactics and game organization). A topic was opened by the FED directors, and everybody joined in the discussion, including some of the Portuguese staff. These promised to take this matter of accessibility to the HTs.

A success! So much that a topic in the Portuguese conference was opened and other visually impaired (non-supporters) could also share their experiences. This was a surprise to the overwhelming majority of the Portuguese community: “how could a blind person play HT and be successful at it?” Some were even unaware that blind people could use a computer! Now, they became more sensitive to the challenges faced by the visually impaired in the game and in real life.

The Obstacles

Images without description (alt text), links out of context, text speech and abbreviation usage in forums, are just some examples of the difficulties a visually impaired faces in the game. But one of major difficulties we face is the lack of CHPP software which takes in consideration our unique needs. To help this software became more accessible we will test some Java written programs. One thing that could help would be the implementation of an “accessibility certification” to promote the equality in HT. The Portuguese community was touched by our problems and promised to help whenever possible.

Hattrick website

Although the Hattrick website is for the most part accessible to the visually impaired, some share the opinion that a text-only alternative site would be useful and would integrate better with the text-to-voice software. Some supporter features also need some improvement if the visually impaired are to take full-advantage of those. An example is the kit-design. As of the March, an important step was taken in this direction: it is now possible to share kits! As one can imagine, being able to share a kit with someone who has major limitations in doing its own is great for us.

The future

We, the Portuguese visually impaired, wish to have a more active role in the HT development. We plan to create a federation to discuss accessibly and other matters. We also wish to let ourselves be known in the worldwide community so that more people can join our cause.

But above all, we enjoy playing Hattrick and want to make it more pleasurable, accessible and functional.

Written by rabobank76 (7688100)e Jorge-Jesus (4339072)

Translated by krespim (3622447)
and revised by LA-jurek_gouveia (2467975).