You have to be nimble with your hands when fighting enemies in the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMROPG) World of Warcraft. And even if you are just designing your latest avatar look, you have to at least have excellent coordination just to match up the apparel and the prototype.

But sadly not everyone have these gifts. We have brothers and sisters who have motor disabilities. Should this limit their ability to interact in virtual worlds – which should be devoid of prejudice and limitation in the first place?

The good news is no. These people can still take part in the virtual world experience thanks to a concept technology called a gaming-with-gaze software. Yes, you read that right. No controllers or keyboards needed…

…just your eyes.

This is one of the more exciting technologies which will emerge out of COGAIN, a network of excellence funded by the European Union. The priority here is to develop new communications tool to help people with handicaps to use their sight through eye-tracking technology.

What are the possible beneficiaries? The short list includes people who may be suffering from cerebral palsy, motor neurone disease (MND). Howell Istance notes that this can become a very liberating experience for such people.

“Until now, gaze-tracking technology has mainly been used for typing with visual keyboards, for browsing the web and other text-based applications. We have taken it to an entirely new level by using eye movements to control an avatar in a virtual environment, allowing people with disabilities to appear and interact just like able-bodied people if they wish,” explains Istance of De Montfort University in the United Kingdom.

The gaming-with-gaze software will work in collaboration with existing camera hardware which can track the movement of the eyes through a computer screen. The concept is quite radical when you come to think of it. The software tries to map a heat patterns in the eye which should be converted into various commands.

In short, the eye is the controller.

“It could be life changing for the large number of paralysed people whose only means of communicating is with their eyes. Second Life, for example, could really be a second life for them, providing not only entertainment but versatile electronic services, for example, education,” says Aulikki Hyrskykari, a researcher at Tampere University.

”Obviously there will be limitations to what users with disabilities can do – such as not being able to perform several actions simultaneously – but they can choose what activities they participate in. That is a choice they did not have before,” Istance adds.

This one is a really encouraging sign from scientists to make sure that people with disabilities can still participate in the latest technological advances. This is another testimony to how virtual worlds can open up communication and entertainment possibilities through some creative ideas.

In a few years, our 3D animation studio here in Mediafreaks hopes that people with motor disabilities can join the fun in virtual worlds.