Pedagogical and Accessibility Guidelines for Digital Educational Games

Context: The gaming industry in Brazil has grown progressively in recent years, accompanied by an increase in the demand for accessibility. Problem: However, the development of accessible products has not advanced at the same pace, resulting in a significant gap. Problems such as the lack of audio description and subtitles are critical barriers that affect the access, learning, and entertainment provided by digital games. These problems contribute to the social exclusion of people with disabilities. Solution: Given this scenario, this paper presents pedagogical and accessibility guidelines for online educational games. Information Systems Theory: Considering the BYU library, this work fits into the context of Equity Theory, whose concept is related to the willingness to equally recognize the rights of each individual. Method: These guidelines evolved into the design and implementation stages of a game, which was tested by a blind user. Results: The evaluation resulted in mostly positive feedback. Opportunities for improving the proposal were also identified, which will be considered in new phases of the research. Despite the challenges encountered in relation to the system, including hardware, software, and internet issues during the evaluation, the work was successful in adapting the game to improve accessibility, allowing the blind user to play and perform all the tasks. Contribution: Mainly, this result reinforces the importance of incorporating accessibility guidelines into digital products and contributes to progress towards the inclusion of all people in the context of digital games.