From the backyards where we played hide and seek or blind
man's bluff to the homes where we are chased throughout space or
underneath the deep sea through a screen.
The way in which young people
entertain themselves has changed quite a bit in the past decades, and so
has society and technology.
There was a time streets were the favourite battlefield of
generations of kids who grew up without danger while parents looked on,
today cities have become more perilous in a way and we prefer that our
kids stay inside where, thanks to the TV or computer screen, they
have access to rich virtual worlds full of adventures. For blind children,
used for a long time to contained independence, the introduction of these
games on the computer or other consoles available on the market has opened
new horizons.
It is well-known that playing is important for harmonious
growth, allowing the exploration of the outside world, the experimentation
of interpersonal relationships, the development of one's own abilities and
the possibility to play in an entertaining and educational
context.
There has always been table games adapted to the needs of
people living with vision loss (cards, chess, battleship) like games
intended to stimulate perceptual channels other than vision (touch through
books with images in raised lines, hearing through games with sounds like
balls, toy cars or dolls). Then came the first technology-based games
designed specifically for children with vision loss. MIT (Massachusets
Institute of Technology) was among the first to focus their interest on
this phenomenon in 2002, by presenting the prototype of a Lego
construction model equipped with a programmable microchip to produce
specific sounds or carry out specific actions. The dynamics and the fun
involved in building your own world made of houses, cars, and people, that
had always been played with blocks, is made possible for all kids thanks
to the Bricket system designed by Rahul Bhargava, a graduate student at
MIT. The true revolution is here however with the development of video
games and their applications, now so wide-ranging that they seem
irresistible to adults as well as the younger crowds. Today, it is
possible to simulate any experience and share it with friends. To
undertaking animal breeding or the conquest of lost worlds, to creating
cities or Formula 1 racing, everything is possible using the keyboard or
even your own body, thanks to a remote.
Those young people who have never gotten up to change the channel on tv, who have never written and mailed a letter, who don't know the yellow pages or encyclopedias. To those who see more or less, new generation games are essential tools for growth, socialization and development in general, even physical.
This project was first introduced this year at the University of Nevada for a game called VI Fit that, using the now famous technologies of the Nintendo Wii consoles, applied to sports, allow visually impaired children to play tennis and bowling thanks to more audio and vibrotactile functionalities that, transmitted in the remote, indicate when the objective is reached (for more information: www.vifit.org). Playing remains one of man's most beautiful activities. Big or small, blind or sighted, we are all united by the pleasure provided by games, freeing us from the anguish and preoccupations in our lives, governed by chance and rules like any game, able, as Tolstoy said, to reveal a person's true character, and maybe to make us winners even if it is only a game.
