It’s been a garbage week for the video game community. In one of the most unfortunate and disappointing turn of events (to understate it drastically), many players and subgroups have decided to harass and threaten a female game developer and a female game journalist (amongst many others). Releasing hate-filled, misogynistic invective along with escalating physical threats, this scum has revealed an incredibly dangerous dark side to gaming. What should be a chance for people to escape their lives by embracing digital avatars and immersing themselves in a world different from the one they inhabit has instead become another place infected by the petty prejudices and cowardly actions of the moronic few.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. A video was released earlier this week highlighting a man who regularly broadcasts his Diablo sessions on Twitch, an online platform for screening gaming sessions that was recently sold to Amazon. While only fairly skilled in Diablo, World Of Warcraft, and StarCraft, Ken Worrall (aka NoHandsKen) still attracts many viewers, donors, and fans from around the world. That is because Ken is a quadriplegic, having suffered an accident on a construction site 20 years ago, and plays the games using a Joust controller which he controls with his mouth. As he tells it, Ken has connected with many people across the globe by broadcasting his sessions, finding inspiration from all of the fans while providing plenty of his own to other disabled gamers. For more on how to help disabled gamers get modified controllers, as well as help game developers keep accessibility in mind when creating games, check out the AbleGamers Foundation. The moving video below doesn’t negate the horrendous events of the past week, but perhaps it can act as a rebuttal, shining a light on the potential that still exists within the video game community and why it’s worth fighting for.