Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Do-Good Gamers Help Blind Man Beat 'Zelda,' We Get a Bit Misty

by Amar Toor on March 4, 2010 at 09:25 AM

What's harder than beating a tortuously long 'Zelda' game? Doing it blind. Just ask Jordan Verner. Two years and over 100,000 keystrokes after he set out on his bold mission, the blind student from Canada has finally conquered 'Ocarina of Time,' the first Nintendo 64 entry in the Zelda franchise. But he couldn't have done it without a little help from some total strangers.

It all started when avid gamer Roy Williams, from Wisconsin, came across a video that Verner had posted on
YouTube. In the video, Verner films himself struggling to get through the game, and asks for assistance from fellow gamers on direction. Williams, after seeing what he interpreted as a clear "cry for help," decided to reach out and guide him through the game. So, with the help of three other Zelda fanatics, he compiled an entire step-by-step transcript that documented, in painstaking detail, every keystroke necessary to beat the game. As he told CNN, "Every time we make a move, we roll, jump, do anything, we type down on the computer exactly what we're doing." Verner then took the manual and had his computer read it back to him as he played 'Ocarina.' After finally realizing his seemingly impossible goal two years later, Verner says, "I felt great, I felt strong. I felt like the sky's the limit."


He admits that he never really expected anyone to answer his calls for help. Finding someone willing to give so much time and effort to assist a complete stranger, Verner says, seemed "more fantasy than the game itself." So why did Williams and the others team up? Gamer fraternal kinship undoubtedly, and perhaps the desire to do something altruistic. But for Williams, there was a more personal underpinning. When he was a child, doctors told him he would eventually go blind. Fortunately, they were wrong, but Williams says he still remembers how scared he was, and how determined he was to "get through his disability." Williams says he just hopes that people see Jordan's accomplishment as further proof that "just because a person has a disability doesn't mean they can't do a normal thing -- like play a video game." Just because these dudes love Zelda doesn't mean they don't feel the plight of a fellow gamer. Our circuit-filled hearts are melting. [From: CNN, via: HuffPo]

Tags: blind, blindness, disability, gamers, jordan verner, JordanVerner, nintendo, ocarina-of-time, top, videogames, zelda

Comments

1

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular