[games_access] Re: [AGDev-discuss] Statistics (was: AgDev in the news)

[hinn at uiuc.edu]

just got back from gdc! yes, i think that we should start 
working to get a question into these industry surveys for 
sure. i'm filled with all kinds of ideas after gdc! also, we 
had about 5 microsoft people in for our roundtable and one 
of them was one of my old leads when i worked there. he 
works in user research for microsoft games and is very 
interested in helping us figure out how the sig and 
microsoft can work together in games accessibility. both the 
igda and large publishers like microsoft games are in a 
position to help us try and figure out how to get some good 
solid baseline demographics info.

michelle

---- Original message ----
>Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 20:14:59 -0500
>From: Reid Kimball <rkimball at gmail.com>  
>Subject: Re: [games_access] Re: [AGDev-discuss] Statistics 
(was: AgDev in the news)  
>To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List 
<games_access at igda.org>
>
>I ran into the same issues when a reporter asked me about 
my Doom3 mod
>for closed captioning. I did initial research and there are 
roughly
>28million people in the US that are hard of hearing or 
deaf. There are
>also another 28 million in the UK.
>
>Out of that number, how many of those are gamers? No way of 
knowing.
>I've thought about maybe talking to the organizations that 
survey who
>is deaf and seeing if there's a way we can collaborate and 
collect
>additional data about their gaming habits.
>
>-Reid
>
>
>On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:32:38 -0600, hinn at uiuc.edu 
<hinn at uiuc.edu> wrote:
>> hi matthew, thanks for your post -- i just joined your
>> listserv as well in order to find out more about your 
group.
>> stats is something that game publishers at microsoft, etc
>> asked us about at the roundtables so there's definitely a
>> need for a serious survey. more ideas on this shortly but
>> one thing i'm going to try and see if we can get into is
>> some of the entertainment industry surveys -- it would be
>> great if we could get a question about disabilities into
>> their extremely well funded surveys!
>> 
>> please do join us more actively when you have the chance -
-
>> we all understand busy times! best of luck with finishing 
up
>> your degree.
>> 
>> michelle
>> chair
>> igda games accessibility sig
>> 
>> ---- Original message ----
>> >Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:19:33 +0000
>> >From: "Matthew T. Atkinson" <matthew at agrip.org.uk>
>> >Subject: Re: [games_access] Re: [AGDev-discuss] 
Statistics
>> (was: AgDev in the news)
>> >To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
>> <games_access at igda.org>
>> >
>> >Hello,
>> >
>> >This is my first post; I joined with the intention of 
*not*
>> posting for
>> >a while because I am very busy with University work
>> currently -- and
>> >wanted to start posting only when I could start
>> contributing regularly.
>> >However, seeing as Richard brought up this point I 
thought
>> I'd post my
>> >reply here, too.
>> >
>> >First, though, it might be an idea for you to know who I
>> am :-).  I'm a
>> >co-founder of and lead developer for the AGRIP project 
[1]
>> which seeks
>> >to make mainstream games for the sighted accessible to
>> blind and
>> >vision-impaired gamers.  Currently we have made Quake and
>> QuakeWorld
>> >accessible.  I also recently set up AGDev.org, with help
>> from a number
>> >of other accessible game developers.
>> >
>> >I am confident that at least some of the other developers
>> on AGDev will
>> >agree with what I've said below -- hopefully we can get
>> something sorted
>> >out between our two groups.
>> >
>> >Edited version of my reply to Richard, posted to AGDev-
>> discuss:
>> >----------
>> >Hello Richard, all,
>> >
>> >Sadly I don't have time at the moment to give this the
>> response that it
>> >deserves, so I'll just say this: Excellent idea! I would 
be
>> all for us
>> >producing such a questionnaire and getting anyone and
>> everyone to fill
>> >it in. I mean, we could find that the market is huuuuge, 
in
>> such case
>> >mainstream games companies would be all the more 
interested.
>> >
>> >I suspect that, at least in th UK, the market is largely
>> untapped. I
>> >was shocked (negatively) at Sight Village last year to 
find
>> most people
>> >didn't even know they could play computer games at all
>> (hence we spent a
>> >large amount of time pointing them towards AudioGames.net
>> and a number
>> >of development companies).
>> >
>> >So, yes, this (statistics) is a great idea and I hope we
>> can sort
>> >something out soon.
>> >----------
>> >
>> >Unfortunately I don't have time at the moment to act as
>> liaison between
>> >AGDev and the IGDA, but you're welcome to join us.
>> Currently we are
>> >limiting direct sign-ups to accessible games developers,
>> but we can
>> >certainly nominate one of you guys to join if you like.
>> Alternatively,
>> >I could try to arrange a contact member within AGDev for
>> you (Richard is
>> >welcome to take the job, but I think he's even busier 
than
>> I am at the
>> >moment :-)).
>> >
>> >I hope to actively contribute to the IGDA after I 
graduate
>> later this
>> >year; I should have a little more free time then.  There
>> are a few
>> >things I'm really looking forward to discussing.  Until
>> then, please let
>> >me or Richard know if AGDev can help you out.  I'll try 
and
>> keep up with
>> >discussion here and I look forward to becoming a proper
>> part of your
>> >group in the future!
>> >
>> >bye just now,
>> >
>> >
>> >[1] The AGRIP Project -- http://www.agrip.org.uk/
>> >--
>> >Matthew T. Atkinson <matthew at agrip.org.uk>
>> >
>> >_______________________________________________
>> >games_access mailing list
>> >games_access at igda.org
>> >http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
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