Jakarta, Kartunet.com - It might never have occurred to us before that visually impaired people could also play games using computers. However, the visually impaired members of Kartunet Community proved it. At a sharing and discussion event on AIDS and Disability organized by the ASEAN Blogger Community (ABC), young visually impaired individuals from Kartunet introduced games accessible to the visually impaired, even challenging the attending bloggers to play them (01/12).
During the event held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Training Center building, Kartunet challenged the attending bloggers with three types of games. First, there was Blind Chess, a chess game accessible to the visually impaired. Additionally, the games that garnered attention were Sonic Match and Top Speed.
Sonic Match is a sound-matching game. Players must press the up, right, or left arrow if they hear a specific sound. Uniquely, there is no display whatsoever on the computer screen. So, this game truly relies on auditory sensitivity. Of course, this becomes a unique challenge for sighted individuals.
“It's hard, I can't distinguish the sound cues,” said Sumiyati, one of the participants in the Sonic Match game competition. Sumiyati, who is from the Emak-emak Blogger Community, admitted it was her first time playing Sonic Match. She scored 10 points in the game.
“Wow, visually impaired people can get dozens, even hundreds of points,” said Riqo, one of Kartunet's founders who moderated the game competition that day.
Imagine, what if we played a car racing game without visuals, relying only on sound? Well, that's the type of game offered by an online game called Top Speed. In this game, players only need to listen to the sound of their race car. If the sound is on the left, it means the car is on the left edge of the circuit track, so the player must press the right arrow to bring the car back to the center. And vice versa.
“You have to concentrate because we only rely on sound,” explained Nuryadi, who had tried Top Speed. According to Nuryadi, he had heard before that visually impaired people could play games, but it was his first time playing such a game directly. His experience trying the accessible game further convinced the Blogger Reporter members that, fundamentally, visually impaired people are no different from non-disabled individuals. Not only in terms of technological advancements like blogging or gaming, but also in other fields. (RR)