Hitting a moving target: Iqbal’s flexible gaming setup
Monday, February 5th, 2024
Iqbal and his brothers are big CS:GO fans, and he was hoping to take up the challenge of some epic sibling rivalry with his brothers on his PC. He has muscular dystrophy, and although he could control a mouse with his right hand, he was finding it difficult to find a way to access the controller buttons.
Any kind of complex, fixed position controller setup wasn’t a viable option as Iqbal’s mattress moved regularly every few minutes to keep him comfortable, so our specialist therapists visited him to look for a controller solution that could sit on his mattress and move with him.
The solution that made the best of Iqbal’s movements consisted of five small switches carefully positioned on a bead-filled Velcro-covered tray in a such a way that he could rest his hand in just the right position to use them. The tray remained stable in use and accommodated a degree of mattress movement, but could also be easily repositioned if required.
Our specialist therapists are experienced in matching the elements of intricate game controller setups with limb and body positions/movements that potentially offer the safest, most efficient and most comfortable gaming for sustained periods. Many of these setups rely on very precise positioning of elements such as switches and joysticks and tend to most effective if the gamer is in pretty much the same position for the duration of a gaming session. Providing a solution that accommodated the movement in Iqbal’s environment was particularly gratifying for both him and the team, and we’re so glad that it enabled him to compete for brotherly bragging rights!