LordOfLore
Banned
Full article by Patrick Klepek.
More at the link.
Most people play games with their hands, but AJ Ryan plays them with his feet. Born with a disability called arthrogryposis, Ryan lacks nerves and muscles in his arms and legs, which means he's unable to walk or use his hands, and navigates the world in a wheelchair. His toes, however, are a different story, with enough dexterity to use traditional game controllersunder the right conditions. But the right conditions weren't available for Ryan while trying to play the recent Splatoon 2 multiplayer test, which doesn't feature any options for button remapping.
Unlike the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Nintendo's new Switch console doesn't provide any options for button remapping. Previously, button remapping happened on a game-to-game basis, but both Sony and Microsoft implemented the feature system-wide. Nintendo has not.
A friend of Ryan's pointed him towards a page on Nintendo's website, which asks people to write in with accessibility concerns, as the company "endeavors to provide products and services that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities." Ryan wrote Nintendo a letter:
Hello!
Because I play games with my feet, I was having trouble enjoying the Splatoon 2 Global Testfire last week. It's hard for me to press triggers on any controller, and the Nintendo Switch is no exception. I did poorly in the game as I could hardly shoot my gun. Because of the lack of remapping, I sadly had to cancel my preorder I was so excited for. I've also not been having a good time with the new Zelda game because of the lack of remapping. I can hardly shoot arrows! As a game developer, I believe it would be easy to add in button remapping to make games more playable for myself and up to 33 Million more gamers with disabilities worldwide. As AbleGamers' Fellow, I'm willing to help in any way I can. With your dedication to accessibility, I'm sure something can be done. Thank you.
AJ Ryan
Just a few days later, Ryan received received a response from the company:
Hello AJ,
Thanks for writing. I'm sorry to hear about your disappointment with the Splatoon 2 Global Testfire. I realize it can certainly be very frustrating to not be able to enjoy the same games as many others do due to having an unfortunate condition, and we sincerely empathize.
I want you to know how much we appreciate you sending your thoughts in to us, and so rest assured that your comments will be added to our records for future reference and will be made available for other departments at the company to review and thoughtfully consider.
Sincerely,
Nintendo of America Inc.
Though appreciative that Nintendo had written back, Ryan took exception with a phrase the customer service representative used used to describe his situation: "unfortunate condition."
"An unfortunate condition is an extremely patronizing and demeaning thing to say to someone with disabilities," said Ryan. "Almost everyone I know was repulsed by the statement. Even a junior level representative should know better than to use such language. Empathy from a representative also isn't something that I needed."
What Ryan wanted from Nintendo was action, not empty corporate empathy.
Nintendo did not respond to my request for comment.
More at the link.