14 DAY TRIAL // Sometimes, people try to bite more than they can chew and then complain about the sore jaw. One such person could be Alexander Stern. The gamer suffers from a visual impairment and yet insists that he not only play video games, which is a God-given right to anybody, but that Sony make its games more accessible for those that can't tell if the computer's monitor is turned on or off. Stern filed a lawsuit against Sony, Sony Online Entertainment, and Sony Computer Entertainment America in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, accusing the company that its games treated the visually impaired in an unfair manner.
By his claims, the company is in direct violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as it refused to make its titles more available to the visually impaired gamers. According to the official document, "No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation."
The lawsuit doesn't point out any particular SOE titles, but seems to focus mainly on massively multiplayer online games and also points out other companies and their titles that do include special features to enable the visually impaired to get more out of the experience. World of Warcraft is one such mentioned title that enables third-party program support and that has generated several aid add-ons. Also mentioned is Terraformers, Pin Interactive's action adventure for the PC, which features an audio compass, voice-over detailing items collected in the game and high-contrast 3D graphics modes.
"Sony has constructed the products in a way that is inaccessible to [the] plaintiff; maintains the products in this inaccessible form; and has failed to take any action whatsoever to correct these barriers even after being repeatedly notified of the discrimination that such barriers cause," the lawsuit states. Another accusation made towards Sony is that the titles have caused such impaired gamers to suffer a financial loss, through the online auctions that enable them to trade in-game items for real-life money. As such, these players find themselves unable to take full advantage of this feature and, as a result, they end up losing money. If Stern thinks this is Sony's fault, then he clearly can't see the real problem here.