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Ideas to help my mom's handicapped boyfriend

M

morkus64

Diamond Member
So a few years back (sometime before they started dating) my mom's boyfriend recieved a package in the mail. When he opened it, it exploded. After all the reconstructive surgery and whatnot, he has limited use of his hands... basically he pinch things between his thumb and forefinger, but that's about it. He also doesn't have a terribly fast reaction time (fast enough to drive safely, but not fast enough for some games).

Anyhoo, a lot of times when i'm playing a game, he'll come look over my shoulder for a while, and eventually ask iif you need fast reflexes to play it, or some other such question basically means "do you think i'd be able to play it?" Unfortunately, most of the time it isn't really something that he could really do.

So I guess what I'm looking for is both suggestions of fun games that he could play, and suggestions of controllers or other ways for him to play some games. I can't remember many of the games he's wanted to play, but Pirates! was definitly one of them. I think there are definitly some slower paced games he might like... he's a thinking man, likes a good puzzle, but i think he'd also like to do something a little more action oriented, but unfortunately most game have some kind of fast paced sequence.

I wonder if he'd like text adventures... Could it be set up to do voice command with a text adventure?
 
How about RPGs? Like KOTOR. Intriguing story, and lots of "action", but you don't need fast reflexes since you just queue up moves.
 
Originally posted by: morkus64
I wonder if he'd like text adventures... Could it be set up to do voice command with a text adventure?
Click to expand...

I loved Zork back in the Atari computer days🙂

 
Turn based strategy games like Civilization - you can do it as slow as you want... still might have some ergonomic problems with his hands though.

Maybe you guys could play some games together - there are lots of non-twitch games which do really well with people watching and inviting their own opinions on how to procede. Your ability to accomidate him will make a big difference.
 
I can't be the only person curious as to if the person who sent him the package was ever caught or they know why it happened.

As far as game suggestions.... Most of the Legacy of Kain games weren't too fast paced, had good action, and fun gameplay. And Morrowind and possible Oblivion when it comes out if it's similar enough to its predecessor.
 
Simcity probably wouldn't work very well - you have to move around all the time - sure you can pause it, but the game would feel as though it were progressing at a snail's pace.
 
> most console rpgs and turn based games would work well.
Except for the minigames that you can't skip ( :| )

As suggested above, for the PC
RPGs: Fallout 1 - 2, Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate 1 - 2, Star Wars KOTOR
Strategy; MOO2, Civ, Heroes of Might & Magic 2 - 3
Tactics: Jagged Alliance 2, Fallout Tactics

Most of these will play on any PC, no 3D needed.

To run on XP, some will need DOSBox
 
i also recommend the heroes of might and magic games and the civ games.. and the master of orion games... all those turn based games would be good
 
Originally posted by: thraashman
I can't be the only person curious as to if the person who sent him the package was ever caught or they know why it happened.

As far as game suggestions.... Most of the Legacy of Kain games weren't too fast paced, had good action, and fun gameplay. And Morrowind and possible Oblivion when it comes out if it's similar enough to its predecessor.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure if he was ever caught... he and I have never really talked in depth about it. My mom's BF is a psychiatrist, so it could have been a former patient. Who knows?
 
Man this is such a sad story 🙁 It's cool to see you are trying to help him. I think you should try games that don't require quick speed. Even RTS like Command and Conquer are out of the question because say the enemy mounts an attack, you have to quickly respond to that.

I think turn based games are best. Try Fallout?
 

I think I'll try to see him this weekend so I can figure out exactly what his motions are... then maybe we can figure out some sort of controller for him, though I imagine voice command would be best.

It's a shame there's really no way for him to play a hockey game... He loves hockey.

I just found this piece of a newspaper article:

"Finally, on Nov. 16, ****** was released from the hospital, but he stopped off at Capital Centre on the way home. It was the first of two "****** Fund Nights." And ******, wearing his Caps hat and surgical mask, was not about to miss it."

(name deleted for privacy's sake)
 
I don't quite know how his hands work these days; but I'll toss out a couple of suggestions:

If he can drive a real car, many driving games, at least on easier difficulty, might well be possible if he got a proper wheel and pedal controller set.

You also might want to look into games that can be made to work with joysticks. If you can clutch an object between thumb and forefinger, you can presumably hold onto a joystick and move it with your arm. Again, at least on easier difficulty, that might be easier than keyboard directional controls, which require more functional fingers.

Depending on where the motion is in his hand e.g. more in the thumb or more in the forefinger, you might also consider getting a mouse with side buttons, and remapping so that the left side button, easy to press with the thumb, is leftclick, and left mouse button is rightclick, or something along those lines. A larger mouse might also be easier. He probably wouldn't have the best mouse technique, but he could at least click and move the mouse with his arm, while resting his hand on it.

I also saw an interesting review one time, of a curious pointing device: http://www.dansdata.com/trackir.htm Not exactly god's gift to action heroes; but might well be good for slower stuff, or in concert with a joystick for flight sims.

Games: Any turn based strategy or RPG. Possibly flight sims if his joystick technique is ok. Certain fairly slow paced strategy games, especially if pausible: Dungeon Keeper II, Black and White. Maybe he would like DDR? Fast pace and popular; but no hands needed.
 
Originally posted by: phisrow
I don't quite know how his hands work these days; but I'll toss out a couple of suggestions:

If he can drive a real car, many driving games, at least on easier difficulty, might well be possible if he got a proper wheel and pedal controller set.

You also might want to look into games that can be made to work with joysticks. If you can clutch an object between thumb and forefinger, you can presumably hold onto a joystick and move it with your arm. Again, at least on easier difficulty, that might be easier than keyboard directional controls, which require more functional fingers.

Depending on where the motion is in his hand e.g. more in the thumb or more in the forefinger, you might also consider getting a mouse with side buttons, and remapping so that the left side button, easy to press with the thumb, is leftclick, and left mouse button is rightclick, or something along those lines. A larger mouse might also be easier. He probably wouldn't have the best mouse technique, but he could at least click and move the mouse with his arm, while resting his hand on it.

I also saw an interesting review one time, of a curious pointing device: http://www.dansdata.com/trackir.htm Not exactly god's gift to action heroes; but might well be good for slower stuff, or in concert with a joystick for flight sims.

Games: Any turn based strategy or RPG. Possibly flight sims if his joystick technique is ok. Certain fairly slow paced strategy games, especially if pausible: Dungeon Keeper II, Black and White. Maybe he would like DDR? Fast pace and popular; but no hands needed.
Click to expand...

actually, the thumb and forefinger is more like when you make a C with your hand, but there is only about an inch or so between at most I think
 
Originally posted by: thraashman
I can't be the only person curious as to if the person who sent him the package was ever caught or they know why it happened.

As far as game suggestions.... Most of the Legacy of Kain games weren't too fast paced, had good action, and fun gameplay. And Morrowind and possible Oblivion when it comes out if it's similar enough to its predecessor.
Click to expand...

haha, seriously. that's a true sign that this forum has some serious dor... uh, gamers on it!
 
I agree with the turn-based games. Civilization for example.

What about the Nintendo Revolution controller? Would be be able to operate that?
Two small sensors placed near the TV and a chip inside the controller track its position and orientation, allowing the player to manipulate the action on screen by physically moving the controller itself. For example, you could slash an in-game sword by actually swinging the controller from side to side, turn a race car just by twisting your wrist, or aim your gun in a shooter by pointing the controller where you want to fire.
Click to expand...
 
I would suggest looking into floor mats like people use for DDR, racing pedals, steering wheels, even gyroscopic wireless mice if he still has decent wrist motion. Most of these you can bind to keyboard commands. Most games only need a couple of buttons to play especially those on consoles.
 
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