Client: Parasports Québec
Date: January to March 2021
Type: Coordination and research project
“The past year has brought its share of challenges for Quebec athletes. Some of the more fragile para-athletes were hit even harder by the health measures implemented to counter COVID-19. To break their isolation, Parasports Québec is entering e-sports with the launch of a pilot project with the Rocket League game, offered to its powerchair soccer athletes.”
Press release: http://www.parasportsquebec.com/accueil.php?L=fr&N=1746
Although my initial involvement was limited to free consultation, we soon realized that there would be greater challenges in a facet that the vast majority of event organizers, including myself, take for granted… accessibility. Generally speaking, in a tournament or LAN, providing a keyboard and mouse (or joystick) for people to play with is never a problem. But here, every powerchair athlete has a unique reality that makes me ask questions and research issues I’ve never had to do before. It’s honestly a whole new facet of esports that I’m discovering at the moment.
With this in mind, I helped Parasports Québec meet these challenges directly. What’s more, since the Canada Research Chair on Digital Education (UdeM) has closed, I decided to take over and do the research myself, with an ethics certificate from UQAM.
The project consisted of four practices, a tournament, then a lot of coaching and adaptation.