Rebellion Celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2023
18th May 2023
Join Rebellion as we celebrate this year’s GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day)! Promoting and contributing to the online discussion surrounding digital access and inclusion, and the more than one billion people with disabilities/impairments around the world.
Did you know that one of the most common accessibility failures online is missing image Alt text? With that in mind…this year, we’re putting YOU to the test with our Alt Text competition!
Craft your best Alt text for the above image and share your results on Twitter using the hashtag #SniperAltLite. Alt text copy can be uploaded using Twitter’s in-built Alt text feature or via the main post copy.
Entries will be judged by @TheWobblyGamer – a visually impaired Streamer, Content Creator, Accessibility Advocate and Consultant and @EveryoneCanUK Ambassador (You might recognise him from playing Sniper Elite 5 for Everyone Can Game Together last October).
The winner of the contest will receive a key for Sniper Elite 5, Sniper Elite 5: Season 2 and a mammoth Sniper Elite 5 merch bundle, complete with a branded Army Rucksack, Ammo Tin, Canvas Map Bag, Dog Tags, A5 Notebook, T-Shirt, Hip Flask and more!
The competition is open to UK residents only and ends on Friday 19 May 2023, 5pm GMT. For information on how to enter and for our full terms & conditions, please click here.
What is Alt Text?
Alt Text means Alternative text and is text that describes the appearance or function of an image so screen readers (a tool that reads digital screens aloud) can communicate them to the user. People who use screen readers may have visual impairments or blindness, so unless Alt text is provided, they can’t “see” images. This makes them incredibly important!
Rebellion’s top tips for crafting Alt Text
Without Alt Text, this post would read:
Devs gotta do what devs gotta do! Smiling face with sunglasses emoji. Did you find them all? Unlabelled graphic.
For someone with a screen reader, there is no context for what “them” is.
This post does have Alt Text, so it reads:
Devs gotta do what devs gotta do! Smiling face with sunglasses emoji. Did you find them all? Graphic. Meme of Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal in two parts, on the left is an image of Nicolas Cage frowning looking towards Pedro Pascal, text “producer, ok seriously what easter eggs are we putting in our gritty world war two themed Sniper Elite game”, and on the right is Pedro Pascal, smiling widely and looking high, text “devs, what about garden gnomes?”.
Now someone using a screen reader can understand what “them” is referring to and enjoy the meme!
What should Alt Text include?
✅ Content of the image – what’s in it?
✅ Purpose & context of an image – what is important about it?
✅ Text in the image.
❌ Reference to the fact it’s an image, such as “an image of.” The screen reader will already say it’s a graphic.
❌ Information that’s not in the image, such as hiding a joke in the Alt Text.
❌ Be cautious of being overly wordy – often images can be summed up concisely.
For more information on how to craft Alt text, check out Microsoft’s helpful resource: Everything you need to know to write effective alt text – Microsoft Support.
Rebellion’s efforts towards more accessible social content
Since GAAD 2022, Rebellion has made strides to improve the accessibility of their social content so that more people can enjoy and engage with the content we produce via our social and community spaces.
We completed a workshop with Accessibility Specialist, Stacey Jenkins, on accessible community management. Here are some quotes from our Community Management team on the value of the workshop.
The workshop reiterated the need to consider accessibility from every angle. It wasn’t just about adding alt text, it was about exploring the various ways all users would engage with a post – and how even with the best intentions, your posts can exclude people from participating in challenges and discussions. The workshop has certainly had an impact on the kinds of social media competitions we’ve run since, as we aim to ensure we’re not excluding anyone from the chance to win keys and giveaways.
A lot of the value from Stacey’s workshop came from understanding where I could better embed myself into the online discourse surrounding accessibility. Stacey was able to share a lot of useful accounts, influencers and resources that I still use on a weekly basis now. As we all know, the accessibility space will continue to evolve and develop so it’s crucial that our ears are always on the ground in terms of how we [Rebellion] move with this change.
In addition to the impacts of the workshop, we now have live captions on our streams and engage with accessibility fundraising events like One Special Day and Everyone Can Game Together.
In-game accessibility features
Of course, accessibility doesn’t start and end with social media! If you want to find out how we support accessible features in our latest title Sniper Elite 5, head over to our brand new Accessibility Overview page by clicking here.
From Aim Toggle to Traversal Assistance, to our extensive difficulty customisation, Sniper Elite 5 boasts a range of customisable features making it the most accessible title in the franchise. We’re incredibly proud of what we have achieved and we can’t wait to build on this success for future titles.
Read More: https://rebellion.com/accessibility/sniper-elite-5/
How you can contribute to the conversation
If you’re interested in getting actively involved in the conversation surrounding Rebellion’s accessibility efforts, join our Discord server where the conversation keeps going all year round.
We regularly share updates and respond to feedback in our #accessibility channel, whilst also discussing crucial in-game accessibility features elsewhere in the server. Share your feedback, chat to developers and have your voice heard!
Can everyone play? Lessons from Rebellion’s Accessibility Journey
Fresh from delivering her talk at this year’s GDC, Senior Accessibility Designer Cari Watterton shares her thoughts on the past, present and future of accessibility at Rebellion via LinkedIn Live Stream.
Giving a sneak peak into Rebellion’s ambitions for a more inclusive future and reflecting on the work we’ve already carried out on existing titles. If you’re looking to inject a more accessibility aware energy into your workforce or if you’re simply interested in how Rebellion approaches accessibility, this is the stream for you!
Come armed with questions, reflections and suggestions on Thursday 18 May, 3pm GMT via LinkedIn. Register your interest via the LinkedIn event page here for a notification when we go live!
Furthering your learning
Whether you’re a gamer, a game dev or someone just passing through, there’s never been a better time to further your understanding of accessibility within the online and gaming landscape. Here are a few of our favourite resources to do just that: