Board Game Accessibility for Persons with Visual Impairment by Frederico Da Rocha Tomé Filho A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Computer Science The Faculty of Science University of Ontario Institute of Technology Supervisors: Dr. Pejman Mirza-Babaei Dr. Bill Kapralos Oshawa, Ontario, Canada December 2018 Copyright © Frederico da Rocha Tomé Filho, 2018 THESIS EXAMINATION INFORMATION Submitted by: Frederico da Rocha Tomé Filho Master of Science in Computer Science Thesis title: Board Game Accessibility for Persons with Visual Impairment An oral defense of this thesis took place on December 5, 2018 in front of the following examining committee: Examining Committee: Chair of Examining Committee Dr. Karthik Sankaranarayanan Research Supervisor Dr. Pejman Mirza-Babaei Research Co-supervisor Dr. Bill Kapralos Examining Committee Member Dr. Alvaro Uribe-Quevedo External Examiner Dr. Loutfouz Zaman The above committee determined that the thesis is acceptable in form and content and that a satisfactory knowledge of the field covered by the thesis was demonstrated by the candidate during an oral examination. A signed copy of the Certificate of Approval is available from the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Abstract Despite the huge popularity and benefits of traditional board games, they present serious accessibility issues to players, particularly those with visual impairments, due to the heavy use of visuals to communi- cate gameplay information. Limited research investigating the inherent issues present in board game elements and in the potential solutions to these issues has been conducted so far. In this thesis, an in-depth investigation in the field of board game accessibility for those with vi- sual impairment is conducted, investigating three main aspects: i) the inherent accessibility issues of game components and mechanics, ii) the reliability of board game guidelines for the identification of accessibil- ity issues, and iii) the development of a digital assistive technology for board game gameplay. The findings of this thesis are discussed and compiled, in order to provide a general guide regarding the develop- ment or adaptation of accessible board games. Keywords: Board Game, Accessibility, Visual Impairment, Heuris- tic Evaluation, Assistive Technology i Acknowledgments I am grateful for the support of my friends and colleagues, which helped me in a variety of different ways throughout these past two years of study and research. First and foremost, I would like to thank both my supervisors, Dr. Pejman Mirza- Babaei and Dr. Bill Kapralos, for which without their assistance I would literally not have been able to engage in this master’s research at UOIT. I am eternally grateful for their trust, and for providing assistance for all the challenges that I have come to face. I am also thankful to the support that I received by NSERC through the CLUE program, which provided me with further industry experience that allowed me to improve my skills. I also would like to thank all my friends and colleagues from the UXR Lab and UOIT, for which their friendship and overall assistance greatly helped me dealing with the stress related to the master’s. I would like to offer my special thanks to Nour Halabi, Eric Chu, Kyle Wilcocks, Jonathan Umar-khitab, and Amin Beirami. I am also grateful for my close friends and family, for which they made the journey much more bearable. Finally, my eternal thanks and appreciation to my spouse, Viviane Sampaio Maia, who assisted me with the development of my thesis, always gave me strength to face the challenges, and has been on my side at every step of this journey, and past ones. For without her, I would not have come so far. ii Contents Contents iii List of Figures vii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Overview . .1 1.2 Introduction . .2 1.3 Accessibility Barriers and Visual Impairment . .5 1.4 Board Game Accessibility Approaches . .6 1.4.1 Design Modifications . .7 1.4.2 Digital Assistive Technologies . .8 1.5 What Problem is This Thesis Solving? . .9 1.6 Thesis Outline . 12 1.7 Summary Chapter 1 . 13 2 Related Work 14 2.1 Introduction . 14 2.2 Selection Criteria and Organization . 15 2.3 Accessible Digital Games . 18 2.4 Accessible Board Games: Community and Industry Efforts . 21 2.5 Game Accessibility Guidelines . 24 2.6 Immersive Technologies . 26 2.7 Summary Chapter 2 . 30 3 Investigating Board Games Accessibility Issues 32 3.1 Introduction . 32 3.2 Persons with Visual Impairment and Accessibility Issues . 33 3.3 Scope of Accessibility Analysis . 35 3.4 Selection Criteria . 37 3.4.1 Game Mechanics . 37 3.4.2 Game Components . 40 3.5 Accessibility Analysis Methodology . 41 3.6 Analysis of Board Game Accessibility Issues . 44 3.6.1 Dice Rolling . 45 3.6.2 Hand Management . 48 3.6.3 Tile Placement . 51 3.6.4 Area Movement . 55 3.6.5 Auction/Bidding . 58 3.6.6 Game Boards: Fixed and Modular Boards . 60 iii 3.6.7 Playing Pieces: Resources and Player Representative . 62 3.6.8 Game Rulebook . 66 3.7 Discussion . 67 3.7.1 Insights and Summary of Board Game Accessibility Issues . 68 3.7.2 Identifying Issues Using Board Game Accessibility Guidelines 73 3.8 Conclusion . 76 3.9 Summary Chapter 3 . 76 4 Assessing Board Game Accessibility Guidelines For Issue Identi- fication 78 4.1 Introduction . 78 4.2 Heuristic Evaluation and Inter-Rater Reliability . 79 4.3 Evaluation Methodology . 81 4.3.1 Overview and Evaluators . 81 4.3.2 Heuristic Evaluation Process . 81 4.4 Data Analysis and Results . 83 4.4.1 Problem Matching and Percentage of Agreement . 86 4.4.2 Guidelines Usage and Overlap . 89 4.5 Discussion . 91 4.6 Limitations and Future Work . 92 4.7 Summary Chapter 4 . 93 5 Digital Assistive Technology for Board Game Gameplay 95 5.1 Introduction . 95 5.2 Digital Assistive Technologies . 96 5.3 System Goals and Requirements . 97 5.4 System Development . 99 5.4.1 Detecting Game Elements . 100 5.4.2 Fiducial Markers and ArUco Library . 100 5.4.3 System Setup, Overview, and Modes . 102 5.4.4 Visual Enhancement Through Video Processing . 103 5.4.5 Using Audio To Communicate Visual Information . 106 5.4.6 Board Game Related Tasks . 107 5.5 Discussion . 109 5.6 Summary Chapter 5 . 112 6 Discussion, Conclusion, and Future Work 114 6.1 Introduction and Summary . 114 6.1.1 Board Game Accessibility Issues . 115 6.1.2 Reliability of Board Game Accessibility Guidelines for Issue Identification . 116 6.1.3 Digital Assistive Technology for Board Game Gameplay . 117 6.2 Thesis Discussion . 117 6.3 Thesis Contributions . 120 6.3.1 List of Board Game Accessibility Issues . 120 6.3.2 Assessment of Guidelines Reliability for Issue Identification . 121 6.3.3 Digital Assistive Technology System . 121 6.4 Limitations and Future Work . 121 6.4.1 Further Development of The Digital Assistive Technology . 121 iv 6.4.2 User Testing of Digital Assistive Technology . 122 6.4.3 Further Investigation of the Evaluator Effect . 122 6.4.4 Further Investigation of Technologies to Enable Board Game Gameplay . 123 6.4.5 Investigation of Accessibility Solutions to Game Elements . 123 6.5 Conclusions . 124 7 Bibliography 126 Appendices 136 Appendix A Full Original Board Game Accessibility Guideline list by Tomé et al. 136 A.1 Tactile Feedback . 136 A.1.1 Use of tactile patterns to delimit, identify or describe com- ponents . 136 A.1.2 Use of pieces with different physical characteristics to repre- sent different resources or player ownership . 137 A.1.3 Use of tactile patterns to differentiate pieces that must keep their original shape . 137 A.1.4 Use of storage compartments to keep game components or- ganized on the play area . 138 A.1.5 Fixed game components to prevent accidental moving . 138 A.1.6 Use of Braille for identification and description of game com- ponents . 138 A.2 Color and Contrast . 139 A.2.1 Don’t use color alone to convey meaning . 139 A.2.2 Prioritize the use of color blind friendly palettes . 139 A.2.3 Use of highly contrasted colors . 140 A.3 Information Design . 140 A.3.1 Use of larger size fonts and higher readability . 140 A.3.2 Enlarging game components whose size doesn’t affect gameplay141 A.3.3 Re-write text to make it concise and/or use keywords . 141 A.3.4 Highlight important graphics related to gameplay . 141 A.3.5 Use of iconography complementary to text . 142 A.4 Game Rules . 142 A.4.1 Providing accessible rulebooks . 142 A.4.2 Provide audible feedback about actions performed by players and changes on game state . 142 A.5 Assistive technologies . 143 A.5.1 Use of an assistive application to identify and read aloud game elements . 143 A.5.2 Conversion of game components and/or analog actions to digital apps . 143 Appendix B References 145 v Appendix C Guideline list changelog 147 C.1 Guidelines Renamed . 147 C.2 Guidelines Removed . 148 C.3 Guidelines Combined . 148 C.4 Guidelines Added . 149 Appendix D Supporting material for Heuristic Evaluation: Guide- lines explanation and HE Report 150 D.1 Tactile Feedback and Organization . 150 D.1.1 TFO1 - Use tactile feedback to delimit, identify, or describe game elements . 150 D.1.2 TFO2 - Explore distinct physical shapes to differentiate game elements . 150 D.1.3 TFO3 - Use storage compartments or game boards to keep game components organized on the play area . 151 D.1.4 TFO4 - Fix game components to prevent accidental moving 151 D.1.5 TFO5 - Ensure all pertinent gameplay information can be communicated through touch .