Minecraft 1.14 Accessibility Changes -Ability Powered

Short talks about the recent Minecraft patch 1.14 that improves on its accessibility features. Image shows Minecraft's intro texts "Minecraft Java Edition 'Hotter than the Sun!'"

Minecraft 1.14!

Hello Ability Powered, gamers! Have you played Mojang’s Minecraft lately? If not, you should definitely check out the latest build of 1.14. This build adds tons of new things to the game. There are new plants, blocks, and animals to make the game even better! There is also a new button for us on the main menu…

New Accessibility Button!

We now have a dedicated accessibility button right on the loading page! I know there is some debate in the disabled gaming community about separating options generally used for accessibility since the options are useful for anyone. I totally see and understand their point of view, but, personally, I really like to have all the options that I do actually need for accessibility in one place. I just find it faster to go to one menu where I can enable everything at once without navigating through many different screens. So I was excited to see it.

If you are like me and had no idea that the little man icon on the main menu was for accessibility (seriously though, I have no idea who would), don’t worry you can navigate to the accessibility settings by clicking “Options…” too.

Image shows Minecraft 1.14 and its new accessibility settings options including narration, subtitles, and more!

The Search for Accessibility

Now everything is organized and (again just my opinion) so much easier to find. I didn’t know Minecraft even had subtitles for months when I started playing. I never had to go to the “Music & Sounds” menu to adjust volume and didn’t know it existed. Now that it is with accessibility options, it’s so much easier to find. They are also immensely useful for mobility reasons since it tells you the direction of the sounds. I no longer have to spin my camera all directions to see if I heard something.

Image shows an example of how the subtitles work in Mojang's Minecraft 1.14

I am glad to see accessibility is on the mind of developers after this many years. I am equally intrigued by the icon choice for the main menu button that sends you straight to accessibility!

Short seen sitting in her custom hand drawn World of Warcraft wheelchair updating us about the recent updates to Mojang's Minecraft 1.14