After reading the comments in the news post about this year's Morostide plot, I thought it would be useful to start a thread where users can brainstorm different ways plots can be made more accessible for users with disabilities. It's pretty disappointing to lose out on the ability to earn each prize in a plot due to something completely outside of your control, and Subeta is supposed to be for fun. Here's a few ideas--please jump in with your own experience and thoughts, as well!

1. Text-based puzzles Most of the puzzles this year relied on a user's ability to see, which could exclude users with visual impairment or who are blind. Text-based puzzles or riddles might be one way to help make things more accommodating, since those can be read with a screen-reader, like JAWS.

2. Multiple puzzles for the same plot step Having the ability to choose which type of puzzle someone could complete to progress the plot would allow users to decide for themselves what they want to accomplish. For example, each part of the plot could have a few types of puzzles or challenges--like a flash game, a visual puzzle, or a text-based puzzle. Parts of the site that we have year-round--such as quests or battling--could also be used. Users can, if they want to, complete every puzzle associated with that part of the plot, but completing one puzzle out of those options would be enough to earn full points for the plot. If a user wants to figure out each puzzle, that's for their own enjoyment, rather than for any reward on the site.

3. Making it possible to earn more points than necessary to get each prize Pretty straightforward--why should there be a possibility to earn only exactly as many points as needed to get every single prize? For me, at least, I like to have one of everything, even if I never plan on using some of the prizes. This way, there could be a "grace" number of points that aren't necessary to get at least one of everything, so users could skip certain plot points without worrying about losing out as much.

4. Add ways to make up for lost points after the last step of the plot It would be handy for users to be able to see how many points they lost while completing the plot, and then allow users to earn those points back. Ways they can earn them back can be varied, and perhaps even turned into sP sinks, or ways to delete excess items. I suppose someone might argue that if users could choose to earn back points by just dumping sP into the site, then there'd be no point in completing the plot, but I disagree; completing puzzles is far more fun than clicking a button to buy plot points. Besides that, what's really the difference between my ability to click a button faster and more accurately than someone who can't do the same?

5. Making it clear that skipping puzzles will lose points I don't really like this option, since ideally, no user should be forced into skipping because they physically cannot complete a plot step. However, it would at least be nice to have a disclaimer that choosing to skip a challenge would mean that you earn fewer points at the end of the plot. My computer lagged horribly on the dial-stopping challenges, and I was tempted to skip them out of pure frustration. (I didn't, but I know it would sting less to acknowledge that I was losing points, and choosing to lose them because I just disliked that challenge so much.)

A few of these would require more work and effort on the staff's part, but one thing I've admired about Subeta over the years is its commitment to making the site friendly and welcoming to folks. Subeta's been on the forefront of pet sites for a long time now, and has raised the standards for art, content, and community, so I think we could do the same for accessibility, as well. What are your thoughts, and what would you like to see implemented for future plots?

I think 2 is the least likely. We already don't get plots often due to the amount of art/coding. That being said, Neopets did something where you could be a supporter or a fighter for their Maraquan plot (something like that, idk). That could be an alternative, not necessarily steps that require additional art/programming.

3 seems really viable though - or a way to top off your points. I like the fact that it is still a game and not everyone wins everything sometimes (myself included) - but, that shouldn't be based on the step being inaccessible. I think these are the sort of things we need to be brainstorming.

Like you said, Subeta expressed interest in being inclusive, and I think they do a great job; I just think there's going to be a point where they'll have to let somebody down and we can't hold it against them unless they are purposefully being exclusive. Some of the complaints seem to think Subeta staff should be omnipotent and have the ability to forsee any and all issues that may arise for all users.

I agree with the basic suggestion. My own disability is arthritis in the neck which affects my coordination so there was no way I could do the dial puzzle although I did have a go. It turned out that it could give some people a migraine and there was a warning about this when it turned up again. It's unfortunate that some people might have lost out on plot points because the game made them feel ill.

The other downside to my own disability is physical discomfort and often a lot of pain. The pipe puzzle with no undo move option wore me out and I had to skip this. Other disabilities also cause physical discomfort/pain so it's unlikely that I'm the only user who lost out for this reason. (I never could win at solitaire so I'm not including this one because I'd have skipped it even without my disability.)

PS: A suggestion. After 5 failed attempts there's the option to continue with half points for the puzzle sections.

I managed to complete all of the puzzles through sheer bloodymindedness, but I've been saying for the last few plots that we should look into more inclusive interactive segments. The way we tend to do things now with the game-style puzzles create issues for a whole host of users -- blind/visually impaired users, colourblind users, users with coordination issues, users with arthritis, users with epilepsy, users with migraines, etc.

Subeta does such a great job being inclusive and diverse in most ways that it would be great if plots could offer some more options. I know that it would take longer while the staff create and institute more pathways through new plots, but that's fine. To me, the plots are pleasant surprises and not something I expect at particular intervals; I'm willing to wait if it means everybody gets to participate to the fullest.

Honestly, having an undo option for certain puzzles would have made them a lot less frustrating to complete. I dislike the fact that a misclick would make me have to restart the puzzle. I also thought it was unnecessarily punishing to have to completely restart the dial-stopping challenges if you missed the green sliver on one of them. Having puzzles be more forgiving would make them more accessible as well as enjoyable.

There are resources out there, we don't need to reinvent the wheel.

Perhaps of review of a website like: Game Accessibility might help in the development phase.

PDF document that discusses accessibility - way more in depth for whats needed here, but gives good info.

Just getting an ideas of what might be needed, how one can make a game thats fun and accessible for everyone, might mean you don't even have to change anything about how a plot runs or points are distributed, just make different choices in the first place.