I was starting to have wrist problems after extended Xbox gaming sessions. Then I turned off vibration. No more problems.
Scotthal, via Arstechnica
One of my little “autism quirks” is being extremely sensitive to touch, which is one of the biggest reasons I leave vibration off.
APtheNerd, via Twitter
While it can be a useful accessibility aid, haptics – controller rumble etc – can cause discomfort, pain, and even injury. This is primarily due to its impact on conditions like RSI and carpal tunnel, but it can also present barriers to people with sensory processing impairments.
So at a minimum always offer the ability to turn of it off. This applies even for platforms that have a system wide toggle, as use of haptics varies from game to game and interacts with different people’s needs in different ways.
For the same reason, offering a slider to give fine grained game-specific control over the strength of haptic feedback can also be useful.
If you are using multiple types of haptics for different purposes (e.g. an occasional cue to warn you of enemy proximity alongside a frequent cue for atmospherics) allow each type to be controlled independently, in the same way as you might for volume sliders for different types of sound.
Best practice examples:
Additional information
Categories & Levels:
- Motor (Basic)
- Cognitive (Intermediate)