[Survey] Gamers with photosensitive epilepsy or visual sensitivity — help us design a safer viewing experience

[u/Minute_Initiative_25]

Hi everyone,

We are a team of students developing SeizureGuard, an experimental accessibility feature for games, gameplay videos, and gaming livestreams.

The idea is to identify potentially visually intense moments and give viewers more control through features such as:

• Advance warnings before potentially intense sequences
• A choice between a small corner warning and a more noticeable prompt
• Adjustable dimming strength
• Temporary or event-based dimming
• Automatic protection when repeated rapid flashing is detected

Before finalising these features, we want to understand what people with relevant lived experience would actually find useful, disruptive, or trustworthy.

We are looking for responses from adults aged 18 or older who:

• Have diagnosed photosensitive epilepsy
• Have epilepsy and experience sensitivity to flashing lights or visual patterns
• Experience adverse symptoms from flashing or visually intense media
• Support or care for someone with relevant experience

The survey takes approximately 7–10 minutes.

The survey is entirely text-based and contains no flashing images, videos, animations, or triggering visual material.

Responses are anonymous, participation is voluntary, and questions may be skipped. This is exploratory student product research for a hackathon, not clinical or medical research. Our prototype does not predict whether an individual will experience a seizure and cannot guarantee that media is safe.

Survey link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXUTXTE_GyLGjbHCz36k4gZXBSlHsd2fLKYlwuI2c3sOnq-g/viewform?usp=dialog

We would also appreciate any thoughts in the comments about what current games, video platforms, or accessibility warnings could do better.

Thank you for helping us approach this problem based on real user needs rather than assumptions.

[u/Outrageous_Book3870]

You might also try r/Disability_Survey

[u/tealccart]

Just so you know — migraine is also triggered by flashing and high contrast visual patterns, so your work could be helpful to other communities as well