Chapter 2. Representations of disability in the visual layer and game mechanics
In this part of the article, two very important contexts of gaming disability have been addressed. By analyzing how both characters with disabilities and the settings in which they can be found are presented to game users, we have indicated visual tropes and figures related to representations of disability. Furthermore, as games are not static visual environments to be admired passively, we have also aimed at pointing out in what ways disability is represented by means of deep game mechanics. Our goal was to investigate how active characters with disabilities are in the game environment, to what extent we can talk about their interactivity, and how closely game mechanics reflect the ways of being in the real world of people with disabilities. It can be stated that in connection with the contexts of research on game characters distinguished in the literature on the subject, we have focused more on the ludological rather than narratological approach because it emphasizes the issues related to the rules of the gameplay and touches the process of playing itself. Therefore, we have indicated the contexts of characters related to what Schröter and Thon (2014, p. 49–50) called the “ludic experience” of the player who treats the characters in this approach as “elements of the game mechanics, as game pieces that are defined by game-related properties, such as ‘health points,’ ‘speed,’ ‘special abilities.’” On the other hand, the perspective of the character’s “playability” and interactivity and treating this character as a tool in the game also raise essential questions about the issue of simulation related to heroes with disabilities. As stated by Farris (2020, p. 178), simulation in disability studies is in disrepute because researchers see it as “an attempt to control or homogenize nonnormative identities [...] for giving a false or partial impression of what it is like to have a disability.” Nonetheless, the immanent feature of interactive characters in games are various forms of simulation, which is why we have investigated this issue in this section of the report.
Visual analysis of avatars with disabilities This part focuses on the formulation of typology of visual representations of disability in games. This typology intends to identify popular visual figures related to disability, along with a critical view of the strategies for using these themes as visual metaphors of disability. These
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