Web Export ADA Compliance

General
1

I’m curious as to how any USA-based (or citizens of other nations with similarly strict accessibility guidelines) handle web exports of their games. Assume the following:

1.) I have my main website associated with my business at domain.tld
2.) My site’s homepage is domain.tld/index.html and it, along with all other non-game content, is fully ADA compliant
3.) A top menu banner always has an option for “Games” which goes to domain.tld/games/index.html
4.) When the user clicks on a game they go to domain.tld/games/game_name/index.html
5.) The resulting index.html from #4 iframe-s the actual web export of my game from domain.tld/games/game_name/game_name.html

I reached out to my business’ retained lawyer (same LLC entity for my IT/Cloud business, but my game dev stuff is a different DBA) and they really couldn’t give me an answer without paying them some time to look into it, even at a good rate since they have contacts who specialize in it.

As far as we understand at this time, in the USA video games themselves are never required to be ADA compliant. However, given the games would be hosted by my business’ website (even if not my main business’ site, it would still be a site operated by my business) and my overall LLC entity is open to the public (I have a public use brick and mortar storefront) any websites I host in a public-facing manner must be ADA compliant.

But my main question is: If the entirety of my non-game content is ADA compliant, and only the web export itself is uncompliant, am I good to go?

I looked for examples from other hosts and while I couldn’t find them being engaged in any lawsuits, it still doesn’t seem airtight:

Sample #1: Cool Math Games

Conformance Status
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA.
The Coolmath Games website itself is compliant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards, however note that some game content published on our site which is created by third-parties does not adhere to the same standards.

Sample #2: itch.io

No accessibility/ADA/WCAG disclaimers, FAQs, etc.

Sample #3: miniclip.com

No accessibility/ADA/WCAG disclaimers, FAQs, etc.

Sample #4: kongregate.com

No accessibility/ADA/WCAG disclaimers, FAQs, etc.

Sample #5: totaljerkface.com

No accessibility/ADA/WCAG disclaimers, FAQs, etc.

And at that, technically Steam, even the desktop app, is a website which merely downloads and allows you to play games, and not even Valve as any official disclaimers, FAQs, etc. on the subject.

With all this said, I’d like to note that I am NOT against pushing for accessibility, localization, etc. in my upcoming products. However, I don’t want to fall victim to the common indie pitfall of “never releasing until perfection” i.e. not releasing at all, and the web export gives me a nimble way to deliver tech demos, asset store walkthroughs, smaller games, etc.

Does the community find it a sensible assumption that as long as your site at large is ADA compliant that embedding your game should be fine? Are there any other considerations to be aware of?

2

I have read a lot about accessibility and the web and it’s definitely a quagmire. Dealt with it back in the Flash/Flex days of the RIA internet and writing custom components.

I am no lawyer etc. etc. but the fact WebGL had never been accessible, I would say as it is you are good to go.

I ran across this the other day, it’s an interesting read and kind of gives credence to your question.

TLDR: You are doing your due diligence to make your content as good as it can be.

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That website is cool, and the info on the subject is great to boot, if it’s yours huge kudos! And the big difference I’m talking about is that site as an example is reactive-JS-driven, all taking place in the browser’s DOM which can still be interacted with via accessibility tools. But Godot and other WASM apps do a lot of input blocking/DOM manipulation, nullifying a lot of potential accessibility tools. I also feel safe assuming the risk with my proposed flow along with the fact that none of these larger/historical sites have faced any lawsuits, at least from my searches in the USA. Still curious if there’s anything I could do to really go the extra mile for such users but at the end of the day, many of my actual prod projects will be audio/visual-driven unfortunately.

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4

Nah not mine, but yeah props to the web dev (which is the author of the post).

Well it’s actually this framework;

Astro

I am re-writting my site in it reminds me of Flex, I am not a js junky but I went through the blog tutorial and said, hell yeah, a static web site generator that speaks to me.

if there’s anything I could do to really go the extra mile for such users

Honestly, KEEP ADVOCATING like we are here. In a billion dollar industry and not even games it’s obvious why we are even still talking about this. I was talking about this 20 years ago and it’s still crap. :slight_smile:

PS Ironically back in 2001 I had a desktop Flash fla that was just like that on the web, time flies and web tech is still the biggest waste on earth. :rofl: :sweat_smile:

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