I had one overwhelming obsession when I was a child. Video games. I grew up in the 70s when video games were just beginning to trespass on the consciousness of society. Whenever I saw one, which would usually be coin-ops either in Swansea Leisure Centre or the arcades of the Coney Beach Funfair in Porthcawl, I would be transfixed by it. The fact I was either too small to see the screen properly or my parents not being willing to waste their money when I could, only made me even more obsessed by them.
Growing up through the 80s I would be constantly distracted from my piano lessons by my instructor’s husband playing backgammon on his Atari 2600 behind me, and, whilst in secondary education, I would forego all my lunches during the school week in order to invest all the saved readies into the aforementioned Coney Beach arcades only a short bus ride from my home every Friday evening. Rastan Saga, Afterburner and Out Run formed almost as much of my early education as school, fuelling my imagination like nothing else could.
As a father of autistic sons, some of the most cherished moments I have had with my boys have been through video games, either playing together, helping them out through difficult levels when they were young, or by them thrashing me at Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart now I’m an awful lot older. I have had plenty of cherished moments that have had nothing to do with video games, of course. Yet gaming is a big part of our family and it is an excellent medium we can make use of to strengthen the bonds between us.
I can’t imagine what life would be like if, through some unfortunate accident, illness, or by a disability from birth, I was physically unable to play. I cannot fathom the depths of longing I would feel as I watched my able bodied siblings and friends happily enjoying themselves thus, while I watched on, dreaming of being able to partake of such wondrous fun, but having to accept that this is one of many dreams that can never be fulfilled.
This is just one of many ways the wonderfully inspiring charity, Special Effect, can immeasurably improve disabled people’s quality of life. They specialise in developing ingenious technology that allow disabled people to play video games, but their services don’t end there. Amongst many other services they also, for example, help improve the lives of people unable to verbally communicate or access listening to music and even, as we shall see later, allow a father having to live his life at a hostel, interact and spend time with his young family at home.
July has been a special time this year as people are being encouraged by the charity to participate in a “10k Your Way” challenge in which they can achieve 10k of anything, any way they please in order to raise money for these life changing projects. Much of the Elite dangerous community has risen to this challenge but…
…one involves a Buckyball Race!
There hasn’t been a Buckyball event for a while. After a few years of racing in them every month for eight or nine months only having the second one of the year happening as late as July feels….weird.
Yet the brilliantly colourful Cmdr. Psykit has ingeniously come up with a Buckyball race which is also a “10k My Way” challenge. And it’s called, yep, you guessed it, the “10k The Buckyball Way” race.
There is a starting point, the space station of Nye Terminal in the Pareda system, from which we can fly to three specific systems in any order, each of which has a tenth planet around which orbits a “k” moon. Planets around a star are numbered (for example Zi Yomi is the name of the star and the tenth planet will be called “Zi Yomi 10“. Zi Yomi 10 happens to have a lot of moons all the way from “A” to “K” therefore the moon we need to land on will be “Zi Yomi 10k” And we have to do this for the systems Tau Ursae Majoris and HIP 60953 too. Once all three have been visited we have to fly back to the start.
There is a specific installation at each of these moons where we have to land, deploy an SRV (Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle for all you non Elite Dangerous players) and drive to a distance 3,333m away from said installation, before calling our ships, docking the SRV and flying to the next stop. Three times 3.333m is, just about, 10,000m or….10k!
Again there are two classes of ships we can fly, the usual unlimited class (anything goes more or less) or a regulation ship, except this time, for the very first time, we have a new regulation vessel!
A Cobra Mk V!
There is an awful lot of trial and error when it comes to finding exactly the right setup to enable disabled gamers the freedom to be able enjoy the games we take for granted. There is a lot of time, money and devices going unused as seemingly potentially appropriate technologies just don’t work for a specific individual. And, as many disabled individuals’ conditions change, that technology needs to be updated. It is essential there is a dedicated service with expert analysts and technicians that can support individuals with these frustrations throughout their entire lives.
This is Miro!
Miro loved gaming on his PS5. It was one of his favourite hobbies. This has become more difficult over time for Miro. however, because of his spinal muscular atrophy. He found using the joysticks was fine but using his fingers to use all of the buttons on a standard Xbox controller was problematic, especially when fatigued. One of his favourite games to play is Baldur’s Gate 3 and he was finding some of the complex button patterns used to control the game impossible to achieve.
He had tried accessible gaming devices available on the market with unsatisfactory results and so contacted Special Effect, asking if there was any thing they could do to re-engage him with his gaming. A specialist team curated a series of technology loans enabling him an increasing amount of gaming abilities until a specialist controller setup, tailored just for Miro, could be developed.
Here we have a two controller setup, one with buttons and a highly adaptable range of switches designed for more intricate gaming, and one with lighter touch controls enabling him to play even when he’s tiring.
“It’s been liberating being able to play again,” said Miro, “Thank you so much for your support with all this”
Special Effect simply wouldn’t be able to offer this service if it wasn’t for some of the wonderful people in the global game industry and the gamers who raise money taking part in events such as 10k My Way!
I had fully intended to spend a whole week practising, put in runs every day while the race was active, and in both categories.
It began very well. Had a scout around in the Rhythm Method (pictured above, my racing Mandalay) and even with mucking about during the SRV sections I still managed to return to the finish in just over forty minutes. Then two things, completely beyond my control, derailed everything.
First, both my sons became ill, and my youngest (who is 26 and autistic with learning difficulties – giving him a mental age of 10-12 years old) became particularly ill. I was up with him every night while he was being sick and we both spent most nights on a sofa each downstairs as it was cooler and had easier access to the downstairs loo. No gaming. Especially no chance of uninterrupted gaming.
It was also very hot. I work with horses and the yard in which they are stabled is on a south facing hill and surrounded by trees. On a sunny summer day the temperature directly in front of the stable area can heat up to ten degrees centigrade above the ambient temperature from lunch time when the sun rises over their branches. Some afternoons the temperature was soaring past forty up there! So we all get there very early in the morning to turn out the horses and muck out before it gets too hot. The horses chill out in the shade of the trees at the bottom of the hill until it’s time to get them in during the relative cool of the late evening.
My gaming time was shot to bits.
In fact, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get a run in at all as, even though the illness was over and the weather cooled toward the last weekend of the race, I was too tired to get up early enough to have time to put in a run.
But then some worrying news appeared on the Buckyball discord. Something that worried all us Buckyballers terribly.
Suddenly, putting in at least one viable run became the most important thing I needed to do.
Back in 2014, a specialist team from Special Effect helped Adam, who suffered from muscular dystrophy, play games such as Assassin’s Creed on his laptop and PS3. despite him barely being able to use his fingers. With precise positioning, he was able to use a small joystick in one hand and buttons using both his head and the other hand.
But as Adam’s condition progressed, the games he loved became too tiring to play and he was unable to leave his room.
His laptop then became his life.
As his friend explained, “Adam’s entire life was spent online – watching gaming videos, watching movies, it let him sort his finances, write a book – but most importantly it kept him in touch with us.”
For six years the team returned time and time again, tinkering with the controls to give Adam the optimum chance to continue living his life through his laptop. Even when, by 2019, he had completely lost the use of his hand, Special Effect were still able to help him control the cursor via a very sensitive joystick controlled by Adam’s bottom lip.
“When everyone else would have said ‘That’s it now his condition has progressed too far to be able to control a mouse himself’ you found a way! And every time you did – his spirit continued. Every time it seemed to him all was lost, you found a solution and kept him going. His whole demeanour would change every time gave him the confidence to keep going. When his finger failed, I still remember how relieved and pleased he was at the amount of control he regained through using his lip.”
“Your multiple interventions over the years literally kept him in touch with the world. You spent time with him, tried so many solutions and even though his case was a very difficult one, you persevered and succeeded with him. This has had more impact on his quality and enjoyment of life than anything else. In the last few months, we would chat a few times a day, and that was thanks to your help. I am so grateful, and I know he was too.”
Adam passed away last year. But the commitment Special Effect give to offer ongoing, lifelong help is important to them. They made a fundamental, positive difference to Adam’s life.
One of the most regular and prominent participants in the BRC had been missing. Not only from the race but from the forum and BRC Discord, too. A few posts very early on but since then, nothing.
Toward the final weekend we received the worrying news Cmdr. Sulu had had a bad accident and had to be put into an induced coma to be safe. From the time I joined, Cmdr. Sulu has been one of the most essential members of the club. Always self depreciating, always funny, always making fun of the amount he abuses his racing ships. I had the pleasure of meeting him at last year’s ECM and warmed to him instantly. He is a close friend to all of us and this news was like being hit with a wrecking ball.
Now, it didn’t matter if I was tired. It didn’t matter if I had to be at the yard a little late, I had to put in at least one run. The following morning I had a look at the Rhythm Method and lightened her up as best I could, eventually opting for a size smaller fuel tank and, I discovered by using some of the many white dwarfs dotted around the course, I could save two jumps bringing my total down to nine. I figured out what would be, as far as I could tell, the optimum route, which would involve a risky cone boost manoeuvre at three white dwarfs. On the Friday morning, I turned on the video camera, entered a “FOR SULU!” into the comms box and launched.
The first cone boost was the most terrifying. The deadly white dwarf of Faust 3725. It’s cones barely reach out beyond the exclusion zone, and being forced out of supercruise whilst being tossed around like a leaf in the wind is a sobering possibility. For, once in normal space, the jet cone will very quickly destroy your ship. Several times the cone tried to twist me back around to face the terrible star whilst boosting, but once the FSD was supercharged, I found that briefly engaging the SCO whilst facing away was the cleanest way to get out of danger before jumping to the next system.
No meduim pad at Waudby Dredging Territory for the first stop so the rules state I have to land within 150m of the settlement before deploying the SRV, which is a lot closer than is comfortable. And it was on the night side, meaning I would have to rely on night vision – not ideal. The flyving from here, though, is pretty straightforward, even with night vision turned on. My skills have not moved all that much further on from previous races so I struggled a little but, for me, it wasn’t too bad.
I had to remember to turn off the cone boost option in the route planner for the next part as the next stop was three jumps away, even if you do try and boost from a white dwarf, so, as cone boosting can be time consuming, best to leave them out for this leg of the race.
The terrain surrounding the Cataldo Tourist Hostel is littered with huge boulders, making it rather challenging to build up any sort of momentum in the SRV. For the first two and a half thousand meters, I did really well, was going along quite nicely until I misjudged a landing a little too close to a hill. I should have come down about 100m before it rather than hop to boost over and lost about a minute of time re-orienting and spinning out of control. Made a bit of a mess recalling the ship and docking with it, too.
The penultimate route turned four jumps into three by the use of two white dwarfs. Keeping an eye on my fuel I needed to cone boost off both of them. Thankfully, the cones extended a relatively safe distance from the exclusion zone and neither were as much of a white knuckle ride as the first one.
Onishi Heights is icy, and it’s inside a large crater. Icy terrain is a pain to flyve over as it is so much easier to spin out every bounce. Plus, being inside a crater usually means a pretty steep gradient climb. Fortunately it’s possible to travel over a steep cliff to go deeper into the crater and this means a lot more air time, and it was in the light, reducing my run drastically. This was easily my quickest SRV section of the run!
Then, with relief, it was a short jump back to the start to finish the race. My approach to Nye Terminal was bang on (I’m becoming much more consistent with these orbital approaches) and finished with an okay time. I knew I could do better but I wanted to have a crack at regulation first, especially as I’d gone to all the trouble of outfitting a new ship for it.
Bex suffered a brain stem stroke and is, currently, unable to speak. She’s paralysed from the neck down, so she’s unable to use any standard equipment.
The hospital’s therapy team contacted Special Effect after hearing about their Stargaze Project. This harnesses Special Effect’s expertise in eyegaze and and other highly specialized assistive technology. Aiming to help people regain an optimum amount of communication and independence following a trauma, the team visited Bex armed with one such tablet.
The eyegaze tablet enables her to construct sentences, play games, control basic functions of her TV and access YouTube content. She even has access to her favourite music. It’s hard for Bex to move her eyes to all areas of the screen, so much of the team’s support has involved using their experience to design bespoke screen layouts that give her access to all these activities. Several follow-up visits have also enabled them to increase the accuracy of the calibration of the equipment, show others how to use it, and help Bex develop her skills. And when Bex left hospital, they continued to offer assistance.
“Special Effect is highly recommended,” said her family. “A great resource.”
The following morning. No news yet on how Sulu was doing. I readied my brand new Cobra Mk V, outfitted to the new regulation standard, started the camera, entered another “FOR SULU!” in the comms box, and launched.
I didn’t have time to plan an optimum route with this. I just used the same bookmarks I used for the unlimited class and went for it.
It felt like I was taking too many jumps, and my SRV control was better although not all that much faster than before. But I made it around the course, even through the white dwarf cone boosting seemed twice as terrifying, it being much harder and taking much longer to point the nose of Der Trommler away from the exclusion zone in the maelstrom of the jet cones.
Despite the awful run it was nice to be able to announce “Regulation run submitted” in the Buckyball Discord for the first time in years.
Finally, this is George, father of two young boys and, “husband to a beautiful wife.” George is now confined to a care home because of motor neurone disease and can no longer live with his family. It has taken away his ability to walk, talk, eat and breathe.
He was referred to Special Effect who provided eyegaze technology, enabling him to play games with his children back home.
“But,” says George, “it has become so much more.”
Special Effect provided George with another eyegaze computer which allows him to control a robot.
Using eye movement alone George can drive it around the house and talk to his family through it. It allows him to be more like a normal Dad. Far more than he otherwise would be able to be.
Through this robot, George can take part in daily family life, interacting with his children in their own home, talking with them, playing with them, being there for them.
George used to run around a lot with his eldest son but now he can no longer physically do this. Special Effect have developed an eyegaze control method for Minecraft and now George can run around with, mine, craft, build, fight zombies and fly with him which, says George, “feels amazing!”
“Working with Special Effect has been life changing!”, he beams, “The work they do is amazing. The value of giving people with physical disabilities the freedom to move and play around cannot be underestimated. And the robots offer the ability to explore the real world even if all you can move is your eyes.”
George has put it in a nutshell here. The work Special Effect do is essential. They completely transform disabled people’s lives. They allow them to be able to partake in pastimes many of us adore yet take for granted, they allow them to be able to interact with the world and their families even when eye movement is the only physical movement they can manage.
Please, please, give something. If you want to donate a single amount Psykit’s Buckyball 10k donation page is still open. Or if you would like to make a more regular donation you can nominate a small, monthly gift.
Whatever you donate, however small, will go towards making huge differences in peoples’ lives. And it’s worth considering that any of us could one day be in need of the incredible service they provide.
So! How did I do? Lets see. Regulation class first, I think…
Well, last place! Over a minute behind 13th! Told you it was an awful run!
Ok now for unlimited class…
Actually, 13th here isn’t too bad! Especially for a first run.
Huge thanks to Cmdr. Psykit. What a great idea for a “10k” type race. It was a lot of fun, and I wish I could have had a much better go of it. I feel I would have learned an awful lot. Congrats, of course to the podium places in both classes. As usual, there are some crazy times in there.
But there has been a shadow over everything. Sulu had been in the back of our minds the whole time.
Since the race ended, the dreadful news has come through that Cmdr. Ikaru Sulu isn’t expected to make it.. We stand to loose a dear brother. And…I don’t know what else to say. We are all devastated. He was so kind, funny, friendly.
And there are tears filling my eyes as I write this: In case you don’t make it, Sulu, then good bye, dear Commander. May you race with reckless abandon forever in the Black.
Then whenever I race in the future, I will take a part of you with me.
O7
Elite Dangerous RUSH FLEET 
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