Gaming for Accessibility - a Talk with the Web Developer Olivia Richter

In this interview, I speak with Olivia Richter about a playful approach to digital accessibility. Olivia has developed a series of games that can be found via her website. The transcript of the German text has been optimized using AI; any errors or inaccuracies are my own.

Domingos: Welcome to a new episode of our podcast on digital accessibility. Today, I have another exciting guest with me: Olivia Richter. Among other things, Olivia develops accessible websites—but you can tell us more about that yourself in a moment. First of all, thank you, Olivia, for taking the time for this podcast.

Olivia: Yes, thank you very much for the invitation, Domingos. I’m really happy to be here.

Olivia's Work

Domingos: You're very welcome! Why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners: What is your background, and how did you get into web development?

Olivia: I'd be happy to. I’m Olivia, and I create WordPress websites for freelancers as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. And then I have my "side quests": those are the games we'll be talking about a bit today.

How did I get into web design? I carry two sides within me: on the one hand, an artistic aspect that comes through every now and then, and on the other, a very technical side. Creating websites simply combines both wonderfully, which is why I decided on this path.

Domingos: What interests me is: did you teach yourself design and development, take a course, or did you study the subject?

Olivia: I’m actually self-taught. I teach myself everything in the sense of "learning by doing." In my opinion, that’s the best way to learn: you just do it, run into problems, look for solutions, and develop further step by step.

Domingos: Definitely. And how did you specifically come to the topic of digital accessibility?

Olivia: Inclusion and social justice are very important to me in general; I’ve always had people with disabilities in my social circle. When I started with web design, it was immediately clear to me that I didn't want to exclude anyone in the digital space either. So, accessibility was a set topic for me from the very beginning. I then gradually read deeper into it, tried out a lot, and learned more. And that's how I eventually ended up here.

Domingos: I see. But you serve both sides, right? Meaning, also customers who don’t explicitly come to you with a request for digital accessibility?

Olivia: Actually, people do approach me from time to time who just want "only a website." I tell them directly: I only offer accessible websites. Usually, the reaction is: "Oh yeah, I hadn't even thought about that, but you're right, that’s actually really important." With me, there simply isn't anything else—you basically can't buy barriers from me.

Domingos: Exactly, you offer a whole range of services in this area that go beyond pure web design. Perhaps you could outline that specifically?

Olivia: My main service is still creating websites. I work with WordPress and use the Bricks Builder because it gives me the best customization options. Beyond that, I offer talks, consulting, and workshops.

A current example—if I may do a bit of self-promotion here: At the Accessibility Club Summit, I am leading the workshop "Ready to Level Up: Design your own Accessibility Game" together with Leonie Theißen and Falko Melz. The goal is to develop your own prototype for a game on the topic of digital accessibility in one day. So, we are combining the playful element directly with the workshop format.

Domingos: That’s the Accessibility Club event in Würzburg, correct?

Olivia: Exactly, it takes place in May, on May 9th and 10th.

Domingos: You just touched on it briefly: who exactly is your main target group? Is it mostly individuals and small to medium-sized businesses, or are there other groups?

Olivia: Yes, that’s basically the main target group: self-employed people, often founders who are just starting out. Sometimes it's also established small businesses. That’s the core area I serve.

Domingos: It’s really interesting that your customers are so open to the topic of accessibility. To be honest, I’ve had rather the opposite experience in the past.

Olivia: I can understand that. As I said, some come to me and just want "a website." When I explain to them why accessibility is important, they often realize it for the first time. But most are very open-minded. Price-wise, I hardly differ from competitors who offer websites with barriers. And if you’re having a website built anyway, you should plan it to be accessible right from the start. That’s much more efficient and saves you a lot of trouble later on.

Approaching Accessibility Through Play

Domingos: Absolutely. Let’s talk about the games you’ve developed. I assume they are mainly used for raising awareness in talks and workshops? Perhaps you could explain yourself what exactly you’ve developed and what your intention was behind it.

Olivia: Yes, gladly. I started with the game "Barrierien" (Barriers). It’s a mini escape game where assistive technologies and standard technologies swap roles. My approach here was to simulate barriers instead of—as is often the case—simulating disabilities.

A classic real-world example: on many websites, everything works fine with a mouse, but certain elements cannot be operated with a keyboard. In my game, I turned the tables: you simply cannot click a certain button with the mouse, no matter what you try. With the keyboard, however, it works immediately.

The goal was to make people without disabilities aware of how annoying barriers are. In the game, they are of course surmountable so that you can progress, but in reality, that’s unfortunately not always the case. To solve the puzzle, you have to use various assistive technologies—but I don’t want to spoil too much. Technically speaking, the game itself is not perfectly accessible, but you can still play it with a screen reader, via keyboard, or with a hearing impairment. Those who use a keyboard anyway might wonder where the difficulty was in some puzzles, while other parts are trickier. But everything is solvable.

As a next project, I created an advent calendar last year. You often hear that automated tools don’t find all the barriers on a website. To prove this in practice, I built a page that shows zero errors in an "axe DevTools" check. Nevertheless, it is full of barriers. Every day in the advent calendar, I presented at least one of them—in total, there were even more than 24. I wanted to show: don’t rely blindly on automation; it doesn’t find everything by a long shot.

And as mentioned before, I’m currently working with Leonie and Falko on a new, story-based game. We are currently in the testing phase, so it’s not public yet. As soon as it’s ready, I will of course post it and show it.

Domingos: Very cool! How do you specifically use these games in your daily work?

Olivia: I presented the game "Barrierien," for example, at various talks, including last year at the Accessibility Club Summit and at WordPress Accessibility Day. There, I also went deeper into the theoretical background—such as the concept of simulating barriers instead of mimicking disabilities.

I also present such games in formats like the "Plätzchen-Talk" (Cookie Talk). In general, I collect games that deal with digital accessibility and inclusion because I find the topic extremely exciting myself and also enjoy gaming privately. So, if anyone has tips or recommendations, I’m always very open to them! I also list these finds on my website so that everyone can try them out.

In doing so, I’d like to emphasize an important distinction again: there is a big difference between whether a game deals with the topic of accessibility or whether it is technically programmed to be accessible itself. There have been some misunderstandings about that in the past. My focus is currently particularly on games that actively convey the topic.

Domingos: M-hm, yes, that’s a clear distinction.

Olivia: Exactly. As for further use: regarding the advent calendar, I received a message afterward from a university lecturer. She wants to use the project in the coming semester to show her students in a practical way that automated tools simply cannot find all errors. Such feedback obviously makes me very happy!

Domingos: Where do you see the specific advantage of games over "classic" awareness methods? And what reactions have you received from participants so far?

Olivia: The most obvious point is: games are fun. It’s much easier to get people excited about a topic if they can discover it playfully. What games are also extremely good at is normalizing or defusing mistakes. In real life, a mistake often leads directly to problems. In a game, on the other hand, it’s completely okay not to succeed at something immediately. You see failure as a normality, just try again, and keep testing your way forward. This takes away the fear of failure and makes getting started with the topic much easier. I personally just love playing games, so I find this approach ideal.

As for the reactions to my game "Barrierien": there, you have to use a screen reader, among other things. The most common reaction was: "Oh my God, this screen reader is so annoying, it talks non-stop!" Of course, you have to practice using a screen reader first; you don’t learn that overnight. But the learning effect at the end is: barriers are a massive disturbance, and we should avoid them.

In this particular game, you are deliberately thrown into the deep end and receive no instructions. That’s why we are currently developing the new game with Leonie and Falko—there is a bit more guidance there so that the start isn't quite so abrupt.

A particularly interesting reaction came from a person who doesn’t work in IT at all: in one level, you have to use the browser's zoom function. She didn’t even know before that you could enlarge websites via keyboard. Now she uses this function constantly in her everyday life because it helps her. That wasn’t the intended main message of the game, but it’s nice to see that people also draw very practical benefits for themselves from it. You just learn many small things. For professionals, there might not be much new technical territory, but for beginners, it’s an exciting introduction to play through everything yourself once.

Domingos: Do you also see the advantage in the fact that people feel less "lectured" with games? In my experience, people often feel looked down upon when you explain something to them about accessibility. Does the playful approach help to break down this mental barrier?

Olivia: I would absolutely agree with that. At least no one has ever expressed to me that they felt lectured by a game. You approach the topic in a more relaxed and lighthearted way. Of course, you have to be careful that the seriousness of the topic isn't lost—it’s about finding the right balance. But as long as you keep that in mind, it’s an ideal door opener. It’s often lower-threshold to just try out a game than to sit directly in a workshop or listen to a talk.

Olivia's Channels

Domingos: Definitely. Thank you for this insight! Finally: where is the best place to follow you?

Olivia: The best place to find me is on LinkedIn under Olivia Richter or via my website ideenquelle-webdesign.de. There you will find links to all my projects, the games, and also a list of external games for anyone who wants to browse for themselves. There is quite a lot planned for the future!

Domingos: Perfect, I’ll put the links in the shownotes as always. Thank you for the exciting conversation, Olivia. We are very curious to see what you develop next, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your future projects!

Olivia: Thank you very much! I was very happy to be here and to be able to talk about my work.

Talks with Accessibility Specialists