By Congo at Wednesday, September 10, 2014 12:14:00 PM

As eSports begins rivaling major sports in prizes, viewership, players and fans there's one aspect of this correlation I've disregarded. Until this week. I am talking about gamers with disabilities. I dislike calling them "disabilities" when talking about gaming, because to these guys there's no reason to be held back and not crush face in their respective games. Where as physical sport may lend a hand to the disabled, in gaming it's all in the mind. Valve has already added certain features to Dota 2, such as the customizable chat wheel as well as a color blind mode. I have no doubt they will work to accommodate all gamers.

UPDATE

Thanks to Joe Parlock and Joe Martin we can recommend the following groups for disabled gamers.

Special Effect - "Levelling the playing field for gamers with disabilities. We put fun and inclusion back into the lives of people with physical disabilities by helping them to play video games." Website | Twitter

HealingRa.in++ - "A safe, positive, inclusive space to rehabilitate through gaming. We are making the world better by changing the gaming community for the better. We are bringing ALL types of gamers together to learn, grow, and heal." Website | Twitter

Able Gamers Charity - "Enabling gamers with disabilities to enjoy video games." Website | Twitter

Wake up call

When browsing Twitch on Monday I came across a channel of a streamer known as Handi. Now for those unfamiliar with Handi, his name is Michael Olson, he's a veteran Counter-Strike player in the United States with a few wins under the belt and what separates him from us? He was born without limbs. He truly is an inspirational person and is the reason I dislike the word "disabilities" in gaming.

This video, courtesy of ESEA, gives us a glimpse of what I meant when I said some guys "crush face". Handi has a very active Twitch channel for those who are interested in checking it out.

Closer to home

My inspiration for this article came yesterday, Tuesday, after my wake up call on Monday when a gamer posted on the CS:GO South Africa Facebook page seeking fellow deaf gamers. Jokes were made, trolls were trolling, but soon the conversation turned constructive and really interesting. I soon got in touch with Didier 'spiderKZN' Peinke, the gamer who made the post, and asked if I could interview him and his fellow teammates and soon got chatting to Anthony 'AnTitian' Fourie and Jacques 'Hackillerz' Van Der Merwe - all three hearing impaired gamers. I was intrigued to find out more as this was something I considered but never really put much thought into. I fired some questions at them to gain a bit more insight.

Tell us how you first came about gaming and how long you've been playing for?

Didier: "I remember very well in 1990, Teenager Ninja Turtle was my first games on DOS even though I had no idea how to open these games I had to ask my mother to type the command. Basically ever since gaming gained popularity from Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Half Life series, Warcraft Series, PlayStation 1 and 3/ Xbox 360 and I'm passionate PC Gamer now ."

Anthony: "I remember my first game was Final Fantasy XIII when I was around 8, once I started I couldn't stop playing it, later I got a PS2 and played a couple of games then PS3 and so on. Later I get Steam when my friend showed me and got my first Dota 2 key on steam."

Jacques: "I can't remember what my first game was, but I think it was Red Alert, Quake 1 and Worms Armageddon."

What are you playing most at the moment?

Didier: "Dota 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offense."

Anthony: "I was playing Dota 2. I played over 1.300 hours, now I'm growing more interested in playing CS:GO. I don't know why I love it, but I just love it."

Jacques: "Dota 2 or other MMORPGs"

What other "casual" games have you most enjoyed playing?

Didier: "Hmm for now Borderlands 2, actually I think the Batman Arkham series are the best games I've played on single player."

Anthony: "Borderlands 1 & 2 with friends, the Batman series, Witcher series, Darksiders, GRID series and other which listed in my Steam library. I enjoy most of the games with a nice story line and action"

Jacques: "Borderland 2 or Battlefield 4"

Do feel it's necessary or easier to let fellow teammates in game know that you are hearing impaired?

Didier: "Depends on the teammates attitude. Yes, it's better to let them know if necessary from from begin or in middle of matches in case they use their mic often."

Anthony: "Mostly yes because I know they are using their mic and headphones. I will tell them I have no sounds so they know I wouldn't ignore them and playing on my own. Sometime I really feel scared to tell them I am hearing impaired because there so many horrible players who tease me, like calling me "no ears" and they tell me how terrible we are, how useless we are, etc before we start the game. It's really because they don't give us a chance to play with them and mostly try to kick us out. It's just so unfair. I don't see any thing wrong with it. So it depends how I feel if I'm going to tell them I am hearing impaired or not."

Jacques: "Only if hearing people can type something to me. I will do it for them."

What changes would you like to see made to games like Dota 2 and CSGO to assist those with hearing difficulties?

Didier: "Actually Dota 2 nowadays is user friendly and much easier to use, like the chat wheel especially when urgent. But sometimes I have to type fast to tell the team the plan without being ganged by opposition heroes."

Anthony: "I'm thankful to Dota 2 for adding the customized chat wheel which has really helped a lot. In Dota 2 I don't have any problems because many hearing still prefer text which is great and I still have lots of time to text in Dota 2 where as CSGO is harder, in fact I cant do text while playing, I can only do it when match is on freezetime or when I'm dead. We're deaf but don't mind doing text as fast as we can while playing CSGO, we don't have any problem with that."



Jacques: "I have been playing CSGO with my brother. He will tell me where I can go or I always use shortcut words at the start of the game. A + mid + B + Def A or Def B + Rush A or B or Mid + B to Mid or A to Mid + Walk, etc. Those are quick to type. However, when I was busy in middle of battle, I hardly read the messages when I have to use full focus such as sniper scoping or alert moment. Whenever I'd check a message I would die very quick! That's no easy for me."

You spoke of an "all deaf players clan", what are your hopes for the future of the clan?

Didier: "I'm looking for avid deaf gamers along with expectation of skill. Being able to not hear in game. It doesn't mean I'm at disadvantage without hearing, but I use visuals to see what's going on, hand to play and brainstorming. They need to text if they need to tell us something. I want to enjoy the games without trolling about our hearing ability."

Anthony: "I will dream to create a clan which is filled only with hearing impaired gamers and play an eSport's game with sponsors, going overseas to play some matches like MWEB and MSI Beat IT, or any others and provide us competition against hearing gamers. Our clan is not at a disadvantage, we're just without sounds (some of us can still using hearing-aid to hear some sounds etc)."

Jacques: "Well we are trying to find SA Deaf players but there are very few, so we've still been looking for more deaf player if we're lucky enough. We will challenge the hearing because I know hearing people are very hardcore!"

Thanks to Didier, Anthony and Jacques for their answers. I won't lie, reading them was quite emotional, but uplifting and inspirational.

Follow Didier Peinke on Twitter

Closing

After reading their replies I get the feeling that Didier, Anthony and Jacques are not disadvantaged at all. Now I know that could be taken out of context but I get the feeling to them it's a mindset, a challenge which they're working extremely hard to master. One thing we all share is the love of the game and that's really the only reason we all play. If you wish to contact the guys you can add Anthony on Steam

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