Keywords

1 Introduction

Social, cultural, political, economic and historical aspects permeated in digital games by society, make possible to understand these artifacts as social objects which present unfoldings in several areas of human development and knowledge [11, 14]. The social relevance of digital games indicates that these artifacts must be accessible to all members of society, including people with disabilities, particularly whereas games be used in other areas beyond entertainment, such as education, health, politics, among others [4, 38].

To accomplish the needs and requirements of people with disabilities in games, several researchers and institutions advocate for game accessibility. Their purpose is to contribute to the development of games that have as intended public also people with disabilities, and to contribute to the inclusion of these people in the gamer community as well as in society. Examples of such researches involve Grammenos, Savidis and Stephanidis [12] - which research involves the development of universally accessible games (which are games designed to adapt to player characteristics and abilities without particular adjustments); Yuan, Folmer and Harris Jr. [38] - a survey about 2010’s state-of-the-art of digital game accessibility; and Westin, Bierre, Gramenos and Hinn [36] - summary of researches between 2005 and 2010 about game accessibility. There are also institutions as International Game Developers Association (IGDA)Footnote 1, with Game Accessibility Special Interest Group (GA-SIG)Footnote 2 – a group created with the goal of develop digital games playable for everyone and take special considerations for gamers with disabilities; and The AbleGamers FoundationFootnote 3 – a nonprofit organization with use digital games to provide social inclusion to people with disabilities.

Considering digital games and their social role, there are several ways to study and develop them, such as by gender, platform, narrative, and so on. There are also some schemes to contribute to accomplishing those tasks, among them are game design models, which are epistemic tools for researching, designing and producing digital games [26].

Taking into account game accessibility researches and movements, digital games as social objects whose access and use is a right of every person, and game development tools; we argue about the possibility to analyze digital game elements, organized in a game design model, regarding people with disabilities context. This analysis involves an articulation of digital game elements and social inclusion principles of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) [34], henceforth CRPD principles. Our motivation is to reflect on social inclusion principles and to expand game accessibility issues from those carried out by the researchers and institutions cited above; while articulating with a game design model.

It is important to highlight that the game design model used in following sections was selected through comparative analysis between three models: Elemental Tetrad [27], Design, Dynamics, Experience (DDE) [35], and Artifact-Experience Model (AEM) [20]. Our goal were to select a model to support the discussions between game elements and social inclusion principles.

The articulation performed in this research consists on an applied investigation, in accordance with critical analysis method, which is based on the argument that such practice refers to informed judgment on a subject, involving theoretical, practical and reflexive tasks, in order to contribute to analysis and development of artifacts that consider cultural experiences and technical issues [5, 7]. By adopting critical analysis method, which is aligned with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) approaches that involve human sciences and is also concerned with contextual issues [5, 13], this paper explores discussions about production and consumption of digital games, regarding with people with disabilities, intending to present other perspectives on the relationship between social inclusion principles and digital games.

This research results in a set of contributions and reflections for the design of inclusive digital games for people with disabilities. This contribution is highlighted by the analysis of 10 examples of elements, in several games, from the perspective of social inclusion principles, intending to present some indications of the feasibility of designing inclusive digital games.

This paper is organized as follows: the second section presents three game design models, their descriptions and our comparative method to select a game design model; the third section presents the social inclusion principles used in this paper, to later establish the relationship between these principles and game elements organized in the selected game design model; the fourth section presents our discussions on how it is possible to articulate elements of the selected game design model with social inclusion principles, articulation performed adopting critical analysis method and examples of that articulation; finally, the last section presents our final remarks and further research appointments.

2 Game Design Models

There are several schemes and models to comprehend, study, structure and produce digital games [26]. Examples of them are game design models – “abstract representations which provide a vocabulary and a set of concepts to support a team to think, analyze and design digital games in a formal process, over the game development process” [8, p. 174].

This research present and discuss three game design models: Elemental Tetrad [27], Design, Dynamics, Experience (DDE) [35], and Artifact-Experience Model (AEM) [20]. Our goal is to select a model to support our main discussion: articulate game elements, organized in a model, with inclusion principles. It’s important to highlight that the conducted game design models analysis takes into account the role of persons involved in the game development process, not the players’ perspective, sellers or reviewers of concluded games.

To select a game design model, we use a Comparative Analysis Method, which goal is to verify common points or explain divergences between groups or phenomena [22]. In this research, we analyze and compare the models with the following criteria and classification:

  1. 1.

    How profound is concepts definition? To this criterion, we consider each definition component: description text, their connection with game elements, and examples. We use these components to analyze: (a) game element detailing; (b) game element relation with other researches (e.g. common points, differences, and divergences); and (c) theoretical foundation, theoretical argumentation, and detected or known limitations on the game element;

  2. 2.

    Which model better satisfies the digital game’s definition used in this research? In this criterion, we analyze the best set of model’s elements to outline digital games as an artifact. To accomplish that, we based on the concept that a game is “a type of play activity, conducted in the context of a pretended reality, in which the participant(s) try to achieve at least one arbitrary, nontrivial goal by acting in accordance with rules.” [4, p. 3]. It’s important to highlight that these models have different elements compositions, making impracticable to compare them based only on their elements. Therefore our analysis considers the model’s elements group to constitute game as an artifact (our object of interest).

We emphasize that it was not our goal to create a new game design model after these analysis. Instead, we intend to choose a game design model to support our discussions.

2.1 Elemental Tetrad

Elemental Tetrad (Fig. 1) is a model created by Schell [27] to present and organize elements that he considers as game’s elements. That model presents four elements: mechanics, story, aesthetics and technology.

Fig. 1.
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Elemental Tetrad by Schell [27]

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Schell explains that model’s elements arrangement doesn’t have as goal present an element’ relevance between others, thereby all elements have the same relevance level [27]. This model is arranged to illustrate the “visibility gradient”, that is, the level in which an element is perceived by the player. Thus, model’ elements lower levels indicate they are less “visible” to players than higher levels elements (Fig. 1). Tetrad elements are defined as follows:

  • Mechanics: Comprehends game procedures and rules. This element describes game goals and how players can achieve that. According to Schell, it is the mechanics that differentiate games from other entertainment artifacts such as books and movies [27];

  • Story: It is the sequence of events that unfold in the game. According to the author, a story can be linear and predetermined or branching and emerging;

  • Aesthetics: It is related to the appearance, sounds, smells, tastes, and sensations provided by the game in the gaming experience;

  • Technology: Any material or interaction that makes the game possible as paper and pencil, plastic chits or computers. The game technology provides or prevent the creation of different types of interaction, applying diverse mechanics, stories, and aesthetics.

2.2 Design, Dynamics, Experience (DDE)

Walk, Görlich and Barrett’s [35] work discuss some game design models, such as Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) [15] and Elemental Tetrad [27], for then proposes DDE. To overcome MDA’s limitations and to restructure this model, the author’s goals are to encompass other game development aspects, which involves the production of a game as an artifact, and also players perceptions [35]. Thereby, the authors’ goals with DDE is to provide a game design tool guided to player experience, not to game’s functional units [35].

Following DDE sections: “Design” is related to game elements directly controlled by the game development team; “Dynamics” is related to game elements use and, players experience; “Experience” is directly related to players interaction result with the game [35].

Since is not our goal analyze model’s elements related to the gaming experience, to analyze DDE, we examine only the “Design” section, which fulfills game’s, as an artifact, elements (Fig. 2).

“Design” section has three subcategories: Blueprint, Mechanics and Interface.

Fig. 2.
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DDE by Walk, Görlich and Barrett [35]. In the figure is DDE’s basic concept, focusing on design section

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  • Blueprint: Related to the concepts and descriptions of the game world (culture, societies, physics, rules of the game, among others), art styles, narrative, characters, and sound;

  • Mechanics: Related to codes, input and output data components, game rules implementation and game objects interaction;

  • Interface: Related to the elements that are used to communicate the game world to the player; how it is, how it reacts and interacts with the player.

Based on Elemental Tetrad and DDE comparison, we consider DDE more appropriate to our goals in this research. We make that decision for the reason that DDE presents and incorporate Elemental Tetrad elements on is own structure. Besides that, Walk, Görlich and Barrett presents theoretical articulation with other research to DDE’s creation and to support the presented concepts and elements. Although the Elemental Tetrad presents more detailed examples, we did not select this model in our analysis because we consider item 2 as a decisive selection criterion, which analyzes the set of elements in a model. Thus, as previously presented, the Elemental Tetrad’s elements are incorporated into DDE’s structure.

2.3 Artifact-Experience Model (AEM)

Proposed by Leite and Almeida [20], the Artifact-Experience Model (AEM) was created to connect gameplay with game elements. Based on the literature, the authors also present game elements concepts review. This review and the proposed model has as goal support communication in a game development team, and support game researchers. Considering AEM structure and our goal in this research, we will analyze only model’s elements related to the game’s structure as an artifact. Thus, we do not consider AEM’s section related do gameplay (element presented into the model).

Leite and Almeida [20] discuss works such as Adams [4] and Schell [27] to indicate game elements considered into AEM. Between these elements, are Elemental Tetrad’s elements. Based on that literature review, the authors compiled a game elements list, called “essential game elements”, which are: technology; visual, aural and haptic elements (V.A.H.Es); narrative; goals; rules and mechanics [20].

Of this game elements list, the authors analyzed the articulation between them (Fig. 3). This articulation is detailed to indicate each element role to structure a game as an artifact. Thus, the AEM’s section called “Game as an Artifact”, can be comprehended as follows: to create a game as an artifact, it is necessary that the game world, delimited by their rules, be presented to the player by game’s narrative and V.A.H.Es, elements that constitute game’s simulated reality; to reach game goals, the player manipulates game mechanics and accomplishes actions into that simulated reality; lastly, V.A.H.Es, narrative, goals, rules, and mechanics are presented or limited by the game’s technology, which is in charge to implement game elements and to provide players interaction with the game [20].

Fig. 3.
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adapted from Leite and Almeida [20]

Artifact-experience model

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The AEM elements can be briefly understood as follows:

  • Technology: Element used to present or express the game;

  • Visual, Aural and Haptic Elements (V.A.H.Es): They cover the sensory elements of a game, which are related to the senses of sight, hearing and touch;

  • Narrative: Story events that are narrated (counted or displayed) to the player. They are also non-interactive elements that present part of the story;

  • Goals: Elements delimitated by game rules and the game world, defined by game’s development team, and not trivial;

  • Rules: A set of definitions and/or instructions accepted by players in the gaming experience;

  • Mechanics: Refers to the elements with which players can interact to change the game’s state. Mechanics also represent rules implementation, to provide resources to players to reach the game world goals.

After DDE - AEM comparison, we consider AEM more appropriate to structure game as an artifact, our goal with this analysis. The primary reasons for this choice are: the precise distinction to each model’ elements; the relationships between each element; theoretical argumentation to elements relationships; and adequation to the game’s concept used in this research. Based on these arguments, we consider that AEM presents game elements concepts and connections grounded by literature and relating to other works in the game area. Unlike DDE, in AEM, the theoretical argumentation, discussed examples, and concepts are also based on literature review, another analysis criteria. In consequence of foundation in the literature regarding elements’ concepts, theoretical foundation, and elements’ connections, AEM’s elements set presents better articulation when compared to DDE; and more adequate to the game’s concept used in this research. These arguments corroborate our choice to AEM as a game design model used in the following sections.

3 Social Inclusion Principles and Inclusive Digital Games

Inclusive digital games are designed considering as intended public also people with disabilities, their elements need to be used as resources to support this development. Thus, it is relevant to consider these elements from the social inclusion principles perspective. The social inclusion principles, applied in this research, are based on principles presented on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) [34].

Formally created in 2006, the CRPD had the signature of 158 countries [19]. Nowadays, CRPD is used as a reference to ensure human and fundamental rights of people with disabilities. CRPD is considered central to movements of rights of people with disabilities, as CRPD embraces human rights conceptions and acts as a tool that provides a structure to guide the proposing of national and international policies to build a more inclusive society [1, 34].

Based on CRPD relevance to people with disabilities, our research used their general principles so, through them, consider game design elements. CRPD general principles are presented in their third article and organize a group of inseparable values to promote the social inclusion of people with disabilities. Table 1 shows CRPD principles used in this research and the name to reference them later:

Based on CRPD principles, which includes accessibility, we argue that game accessibility is an relevant stage for social inclusion of people with disabilities. Nevertheless, game accessibility is not sufficient. That reinforces this research relevance and the importance of inclusive digital games development.

4 Inclusive Digital Game Elements

Considering game design elements from the perspective of CRPD principles can help in the game development that goes towards to inclusion of people with disabilities. It is important to reiterate that the inclusion process of people with disabilities does not only occurs with the use of games by these people or their representation in games, since inclusion involves issues such as engagement and participation of people with disabilities. It is essential to consider how to design game elements for inclusive game development as part of a larger process, and regard people with disabilities not only as players but also as people with relevant roles in game development.

Following we propose reflections on how some of CRPD principles can be related to each element of the AEM in order to highlight how those principles can be achieved, even though CRPD principles act as a set of inseparable values. It is not our purpose to present prescriptive reflections or to exhaust the discussions about the relation between game design elements and CRPD principles. We intend to present our considerations and examples of how those connections can be achieved or recognized.

Table 1. CRPD principles
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4.1 Technology

Inclusive digital game’s technology is one that provides the implementation of resources that can increase the number of players who can experience the game, including people with and without disabilities. Thus, technology’s features need to be considered in the game design process in order to reach as many players as possible; as well as technologies’ different characteristics when compared to another one, such as the difference between arcades and consoles [20].

We understand this perspective about game technology as a contribution to the guidelines presented in digital games accessibility documents, such as the “Includification” [6] and the recommendations of the “Accessible Player Experiences (APX)” [2], an Includification’s upgrade. We consider this a contribution because it is not guidelines’ goal to present instructions about game design (although the recommendations may interfere in this process), but rather to solve technical problems identified by the community. In this way, our contribution goes towards considering the choice of technology for which the game will be available, a decision that interferes with the type of audience that will have access to the developed game and the game design process.

Examples of how game technology that can be related to CRPD principles P.AUTON (respect, autonomy, and freedom), P.NDISC (non-discrimination), P.DIVERS (respect for differences), P.EQUAL (equality of opportunity) and P.ACCESS (accessibility) are games that allow remapping keys, so that people with or without disabilities can adjust the controls to their needs. Remapping keys is an accessibility guideline, and some examples are games such as Injustice 2Footnote 4, which offers completely remappable controls; and Overcooked!Footnote 5, which features control mappings options [3].

Another example is the zoom feature implemented in PlayStation 4, which allows, for example, people with low vision to increase the size of parts of the screen such as those that display texts, minimap or other elements [17].

Controller’s types used by players are also part of the game’s technology selection process. In this case, the use of inclusive technologies may involve considering controls such as the “Xbox Adaptive Controller”Footnote 6 and other software and hardware used to achieve accessibility. This game controller was developed in partnership with the community to meet players’ needs with reduced mobility so that players can configure the physical control in the way that they need.

In all the previously mentioned examples, people have their differences respected (P.DIVERS); have autonomy and freedom to choose commands configuration or the use of resources (P.AUTON); are not discriminated, since that resources are not designed to assist a specific public but available to all people (P.NDISC); these resources also allow people with and without disabilities to use and enjoy the game (P.EQUAL); and finally, these examples demonstrate the implementation of accessibility guideline recommendations to enable more people to have access to games, such as configuration flexibility (P.ACCESS).

4.2 Visual, Aural and Haptic Elements (V.A.H.Es)

V.A.H.Es from CRPD principles perspective means to promote the articulated use of visual, aural and haptic resources so that players do not rely on only one of these resources to play, players are not harmed if they can not use one of these resources, and players are not favored if they can use all these resources. Game elements and characters are developed considering that they will not represent stereotypes, particularly of people with disabilities, be they, children or adults.

CRPD principles P.NDISC (non-discrimination), P.DIVERS (respect for differences) and P.GENDER (gender equality), can be perceived in the game Overcooked!, which includes among its characters people with different races, genres, and disabilities. In this game, characters selection displays only the characters’ head, so that only characteristics like gender and race can be noticed. Other characteristics are identified only with level’s beginning. In this way, the player will know all the character’s characteristics only at playing, which makes it difficult to select a character in a discriminatory way (P.NDISC); and promotes that players realize that the characters with or without disability, man or woman, are all equally skilled to carry out the game activities (P.DIVERS and P.GENDER).

Approaching V.A.H.Es from CRPD principles perspective may involve accessibility guidelines related to visual and hearing disabilities such as “Changeable Text Colors”, “Changeable Font Sizes”, “Color Blind Options”, “Closed Captioning”, among others [6]. However, we consider our proposal a contribution, in relation to accessibility guidelines, since it goes beyond technical aspects such as colors and visual, hearing and tactile feedback. Thus, our proposal also covers issues about representation and game world elements development towards the inclusion of people with disabilities.

4.3 Narrative

A narrative from CRPD principles perspective is the one that presents to the player stories and narrative experiences that can represent the diversity that exists in the world, so that players do not feel excluded or stereotyped, but rather engaged in a series of events that contribute to expressing diversity with respect and dignity.

Frequency Missing is an example of a game with inclusive narrative in relation to P.NDISC (non-discrimination), P.DIVERS (respect for differences), P.EQUAL (equality of opportunity) and P.ACCESS (accessibility). The game was designed to provide similar narrative experiences to people with and without visual disabilities, and its narrative was designed so that the story main elements were displayed with visual and aural elements (P.NDISC and P.DIVERS) [37]. Frequency Missing exemplified how a game that goes towards inclusion can contribute to people sharing experiences (P.EQUAL), without these resources harm the game’s dynamics or appearance (P.ACCESS).

Inclusive narratives may be related to accessibility guidelines such as “Closed Captioning” and “Alternative Reactionary Inputs” [6], as they discuss ways to present the context of the game in a more accessible way. Thus, inclusive narratives development incorporates the technical issues of the accessibility guidelines.

Our proposal expands the accessibility guidelines in the sense that the construction of an inclusive narrative involves characters development that reflex the world’s diversity, such as in the game Mass EffectFootnote 7, with the character Jeff “Joker” Moreau, and in the game Grand Theft Auto VFootnote 8, with the character Lester Crest [10]. Both characters are good examples of how the game narrative can meet the principles P.NDISC (non-discrimination) and P.DIVERS (respect for differences), since they are presented by their characteristics on that game world (ship’s pilot and strategist), not their disabilities (mobility disabilities).

In addition, involvement and participation of people with disabilities during the process of developing game narrative elements (P.PARTIC), particularly in the story and the characters development, helps to avoid the creation of stereotyped characters or to provide incomplete or incorrect information (P.DIVERS). An example is a character on Rogue LegacyFootnote 9 with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) who, because of this deficiency, has a body more flexible than other characters; a game’s advantage that hides the real effects of the disability and how it affects the life of persons with EDS [24]. An inclusive narrative, provide a more inclusive game not only in its development process, with people with disabilities engagement in its stages, but also present more inclusive contents and representations that are important for the players, since it indicates what exists and is possible in our society [29].

4.4 Goals

Goals main characteristic is to work as a motivator for the players’ actions. Thus, approaching them from CRPD principles perspective means designing challenging goals for the most diverse players, mainly because this element contributes to how challenging or not a game can be for your audience.

Goals from the CRPD principles perspective means creating challenging goals for players with different physical, motor, cognitive, social, economic and cultural characteristics. An alternative to complying with CRPD principles such as P.AUTON (respect, autonomy, and freedom), P.NDISC (non-discrimination) and P.GENDER (gender equality) is to enable the game goals to be achieved by characters and people regardless of their gender or disability, such as in Overcooked! and Dishonored 2Footnote 10 or the Mass Effect franchise; that enables players to choose the character’s attributes with which they will achieve the game’s goals. Dishonored 2 game can still be related to CRPD principles P.DIVERS (respect for differences) and P.EQUAL (equality of opportunities) as it provides several ways to meet the different game goals, goals that are selected by the players, so that their differences of opinion and abilities are respected (P.DIVERS), and yet several people are nevertheless allowed to have experience with the game (P.EQUAL).

Our approach to game goals can be related to accessibility guidelines that address game difficulty settings or player’s assistents [6]. Games like Mass Effect and Horizon Zero DawnFootnote 11 are examples of games that include several types of game levels difficulty. Although reaching game achievements is not an accessibility guideline, making it possible for people with disabilities is a way of making a more inclusive game, without discriminating players who may or may not perform such actions (P.NDISC and P.EQUAL). This action is possible in the game Horizon Zero Dawn, whose achievements can be completed by the players in any difficulty mode (Story, Easy, Normal, Hard and Very Hard).

4.5 Rules

Game rules are directly linked to the items in the game world, to the activities that the player can perform and to the limits of the game goals. So this element has a direct impact on the player’s experience. Thus, considering them from CRPD principles perspective involves developing game rules that keep the game world consistent and do not create obstacles for players with or without disabilities.

As presented in the examples of goals section, meeting the principles P.AUTON (respect, autonomy, and freedom), P.NDISC (non-discrimination) and P.GENDER (gender equality) can be related to avoiding rules that explicitly prevent the game’s experience from people or characters of different classes, races, genres or disabilities. That said, a way to meet these principles is enabling characters that have different characteristics to realize game actions, such as in Overcooked! and Mass Effect franchises.

A game in accordance with CRPD principles such as P.DIVERS (respect for differences), P.EQUAL (equality of opportunity) and P.ACCESS (accessibility), avoid rules that require game goals to be achieved in a time limit. This is because that stress created by the time limit may make impossible for people with cognitive or motor disabilities to have fun with the game. Lara Crof GOFootnote 12 and Monument ValleyFootnote 13 are games whose rules do not require the player to finish the levels in a predetermined time.

As in the goals previous section, accessibility features such as difficulty setting, game speed control, and assists can be related to the development of inclusive game rules. Games like Spider-manFootnote 14 and Uncharted 4Footnote 15 are examples of games that implement features that change game events to assist the player, such as disabling quick-time events (QTEs) by holding a button, rather than pressing the button repeatedly [18, 23, 32, 33]. CelesteFootnote 16 is also one of the most recent game examples with excellent accessibility options like assist and sliders to change game speed [16], which in addition to meeting some accessibility guidelines, can be related CRPD principles P.AUTON (respect, autonomy and freedom), P.NDISC (non-discrimination), P.GENDER (gender equality), P.DIVERS (respect for differences), P.EQUAL (equality of opportunities) and P.ACCESS (accessibility).

4.6 Mechanics

Since mechanics are the game’s heart [4, 20], understand this element from CRDP principles perspective can indicate that mechanics is what gives players a variety of ways to perform actions in the game world, without these actions offering benefits or difficulties to people.

CRPD principles P.AUTON (respect, autonomy, and freedom), P.DIVERS (respect for differences), P.EQUAL (equality of opportunities) and P.ACCESS (accessibility), can be considered in the creation of various mechanics that, realizing similar actions or not, allow the players to use different resources to meet the same goal. Those principles are also considered if all mechanics are available to all players; not just propose a specific mechanic to be used exclusively by a group. Examples of this can be founded in the Dishonored franchise, which presents different mechanics for the player’s choice and uses according to their abilities or preferences to complete the game’s challenges (P.AUTON, P.DIVERS, and P.ACCESS). Thus, the player has several mechanics options to reach the goals, being able, for example, to accomplish game’s missions in (1) stealth mode – that provide the speed control and the way that the actions are performed and does not present time-based challenges, and allows the player to have a slower gaming [31]; (2) lethal mode – which demands faster responses from players; or (3) merge the two modes according to players preference to perform actions in the game world that alter the game state and achieve the goals (P.EQUAL and P.ACCESS).

Turn-based game mechanics, such as various games from PokemonFootnote 17 franchise, can also meet CRPD principles P.AUTON, P. NDISC, P.DIVERS, P.EQUAL, and P.ACCESS, since they do not present barriers such as time limits, reducing the stress factor of the game (P.DIVERS, P.EQUAL, and P.ACCESS); and make it possible to choose the player’s actions by navigating menus with several options (P.AUTON, P.NDISC, P.EQUAL and P.ACCESS). Games like Lara Croft GO and Monument Valey are also examples of games whose mechanics do not present time limiters for performing actions.

Developing inclusive digital game mechanics can be related to the accessibility guidelines used in the game goals and rules since mechanics are the resources used by players to achieve goals and are limited by rules. Thus, thinking about inclusive digital game mechanics is one of our contributions to the accessibility guidelines, because developing these mechanics is part of the game development process and have people with and without disabilities as the intended audience, as well as participation and involvement of these people in this process. Our contribution is not limited to game accessibility. Instead, game accessibility is as a step to create mechanics of inclusive digital games.

Inclusive game mechanics can also be connected to other games elements, such as game story, as reached by the game Way of the passive fistFootnote 18. This game, in addition to implementing accessibility features like sliders to control the game’s difficulty (P.AUTON, P.NDISC, P.EQUAL and P.ACCESS), has in its own narrative structure the main mechanics of the game, which is to defend itself before deciding how to immobilize the enemies. In this way, the player does not have to go through frenetic action sequences to defeat the various enemies appearing on the screen, but rather defend himself while recognizing enemies patterns and finding an opening to counterattack. In addition, the game can be considered more inclusive by involving people with disabilities since the beginning of the development process (P.PARTIC) and aiming to meet accessibility requirements from the beginning (P.ACCESS), so that the game could be played by as many players as possible [9, 30].

Our reflections presented in this section highlights the relevance to change the perspective of the concepts of the AEM elements so that they consider CRPD principles since such a change can contribute to the development of more inclusive games, particularly of people with disabilities.

5 Concluding Remarks

Adopting a game design model to support, to understand and to develop a digital game can be a relevant tool to ensure that the game elements are correctly implemented, enabling an entertaining and engaging experience for the players. It is undeniable that utilizing a game design model and its elements do not guarantee the development of a fun game. However, understanding more about the game elements can prevent that game significant details be neglected or forgotten.

Considering a game design model elements for researching or developing an inclusive game can be a relevant resource for inclusion, particularly of people with disabilities in the gamers communities and in other contexts of life in society. To accomplish this task, this research presented reflections on how a game design model elements could be understood when related to the CRPD principles and examples of how CRPD principles can be identified in games. In addition, connecting accessibility guidelines to CRPD principles can be an action towards the development of more inclusive games.

It is important to note that accessibility guidelines should be part of the development of inclusive digital games. The inclusion process discussed in this research does not ignore accessibility, instead, it makes accessibility inherent to the game development process, at the same time it proposes new perspectives and actions for the development of digital games that have as an intended audience, also people with disabilities.

The discussions presented in this research can contribute to the understanding of the relevance of game development that goes towards inclusion, as well as reflections on the actions to accomplish the task of creating inclusive games. However, it is not the objective of this work to determine or prescribe methods and tools to create inclusive elements and possibly inclusive games, but rather to promote the theme discussion of the development of games that have as a intended audience, also people with disabilities, and perceptions about how the development of inclusive games can occur.