Gaming

One of my big passions in life is gaming.

The first game that hooked me was Super Mario World on the SNES, I played it for hours trying to complete everything and being amazed by the secret levels. Now that I look back, I realise the simple act of running & jumping allowed me the freedom of movement that was limited to me in the ‘real’ world.

Adventure games or RPGs are my favourite genres, anything sci-fi or with strong stories is important to me. The Mass Effect series is my number 1 game franchise, creating your own character, great story, brilliant squad members and immersing yourself in an incredible universe.

I’ve owned a variety of Game Boys, an Xbox, PS2, Xbox360, PS3, PS4. Over the years I’ve slowly had my Duchenne affect my gaming enjoyment. I’ve been unable to quickly press R3 or L3 buttons on my PS3 controller but I could press them if I held the controller in a twisted position or I just didn’t use those buttons so it was slightly limiting or made me a better gamer.  During my teenager phase this impact would have created anger & frustration but now I feel that it’s always a new challenge to find a workable solution. This epiphany was brought on by purchasing a PS4 and catalysed the disappointment I felt after holding the controller. The problems I observed were: Pressing the Options button, R3 & L3 buttons, the gap between the R1 & R2/L1 & L2 being too big to slide my finger quickly between them and the convex shape of the R1 & L1. It seemed liked a colossal task to face, I thought I wasted my money, (this feeling was echoed by friends).

Who could adapt my PS4 controller? I searched the internet and found this page (www.instructables.com/id/PS4-Controller-Modified-for-a-Disabled-User). The amazing thing was that the adaptation was done by ReMap who have been an important part of my life as they have created many items such as a table that went over my bed or adapting my wheelchair over the years. I never realised that ReMap could adapt electrical equipment or game console controllers.

A ReMap engineer visited my house after I completed a referral form, he listened to all my issues and took the PS4 controller away for a week.

The pictures above illustrates the wonderful adaptations. The analog sticks are used as normal but the gold sticks I tap for R3 or L3 and the R1 & L1 are modelled concave using SuGru. I’ve now shared this with my friends or Muscular Dystrophy UK. ReMap have since adapted my friend David’s controller by moving the R1 & R2 underneath so now I’ve stolen the idea (Haha) and asked ReMap to do the same for me.

I want to praise the wonderful engineers at ReMap for improving my quality of life. I will never stop being a gamer!