If you’ve never heard of AbleGamers, here’s the scoop: The organization, founded in 2004, focuses on bringing expensive accessibility technology to gamers with disabilities, thus enriching their lives by providing them with fun entertainment and a method for interacting with the online world. AbleGamers also lobbies for accessibility options in games that allow people with a variety of disabilities to more easily enjoy the titles.

Star Wars: The Old Republic has just been named AbleGamers’ 2011 Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year, a title that, while not catchy, recognizes the immense work Bioware put into making their massive MMO accessible to all gamers.

The charity cited full subtitles, colorblind graphics setups and flexible control schemes as the primary reasons for the award, with president Mark Barlet noting, “It's very rare to see a game of this caliber initially released with so many accessibility options.” He also stated that thanks to Bioware’s work on accessibility, the great majority of disabled gamers would still be able to enjoy SWTOR.

Nice work, Bioware!

Do you think developers have a responsibility to make their games accessible to individuals with disabilities?

[AbleGamers]

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