[games_access] Re: Top 10 accessibility features in mainstream games

[hinn at uiuc.edu]

ah yes, and one more point to add to my last "one more point"
is to provide the different disability communities with
increase awareness that these features are in there because so
many have been used to gaming not being an option. so we want
to create awareness for potential gamers as well!

michelle

---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:42:35 +0200
>From: "AudioGames.net" <richard at audiogames.net>  
>Subject: Re: [games_access] Re: Top 10 accessibility features
in mainstream games  
>To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List"
<games_access at igda.org>
>
>Hi Tim,
>
>Thanks for joining in. I just remembered that the purpose of
this Top10 list 
>might not be clear to those who did not come to the 2nd GDC
roundtable 
>conversation so here goes:
>
>While we were discussing the "Top 10 Ways To Improve Game
Accessibility" 
>during the roundtable, a new idea was formed. Instead of
telling the game 
>industry what they SHOULD do or what the industry is
currently doing WRONG, 
>we thought it would be a nice idea to tell the industry what
it is doing 
>RIGHT without them knowing so. We found during the
conversation (and we 
>really knew this all along) that there are several features
in mainstream 
>games that make games playable (even winable) for gamers with
an impairment. 
>And then we thought it would make a good Top-0 list.
>
>So the purpose of this Top10 list is to name 10 examples of
features in 
>mainstream games that accidentally make games (slightly) more
accessible. 
>The goal is the pat the industry on the shoulder and say
"wow, did you know 
>your [feature] is helping people with a cognitive impairment
to play ÿour 
>game?". So instead of listing problems in games (which we
should definately 
>do too in another Top10 list*) or listing possible future
solutions (this is 
>the Top10 list we already got*), this list concerns only
examples of 
>features that actually improve accessibility (by accident?)*.
>
>Greets,
>
>Richard
>
>
>* so to list the lists:
>
>1. Top 10 Ways To Improve Game Accessibility (we got this
already)
>2. Top 10 Features In Mainstream Games That (Accidentally)
Make Them More 
>Accessible (working on this right now)
>3. Top 10 Accessibility Problems In Mainstream Games (maybe
this should have 
>been the first list by the way ;)
>
>(4. Top 10 Issues Concerning Coffee Musical Songs - we should
definitely 
>work on this one too, although I already know #1: "make sure
you drank 
>enough the night before before composing the song in the
morning")
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Tim Chase" <agdev at thechases.com>
>To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List"
<games_access at igda.org>
>Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 5:26 PM
>Subject: [games_access] Re: Top 10 accessibility features in
mainstream 
>games
>
>
>> *Top 10 accessibility features in mainstream games (?) *
>>
>> /by Richard van Tol (and others…join in!) /
>
>Good stuff so far.  I'd add "remappable controls" or
>"keyboard access".  Some games do it well, some bomb at it.
>  Bad experiences:
>
>-I simply gave up playing Max Payne because it wouldn't
>allow me to remap controls.  It relied on the mouse...when
>playing on a laptop with a touchpad, it's just not quite the
>same.  I didn't have enough desktop space for a mouse, and
>was too lazy anyways to drag the mouse off an older computer
>just for a little gaming on my laptop.  Full keyboard
>accessibility would have made the game much less grating.
>
>-it took me forever when playing one of the Tomb Raider
>games to figure out how to "action" an item.  Turns out I
>had remapped the "action" key to the un-re-mappable "jump"
>key, and every time I tried to "action", Ms. Croft jumped
>out of the way of precisely where I wanted to be.  (no, I'm
>not still bitter about that)  I finally had to contort my
>preferences so they didn't interfere with their unremappables.
>
>-have you ever tried to play MS's stock games with just the
>keyboard?  Solitaire?  Hearts?  Minesweeper?  Just can't be
>done easily.
>
>Good experiences:
>-Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, Return to Castle
>Wolfenstein...pretty much anything by Id (they're usually
>quite good about it).  Played through the each of these
>games with just the keyboard...mapped to my prefferred
>keybindings.  I'm sure there are plenty of others who
>haven't been so bigoted towards their preferred keybindings.
>
>-the BSD games package on BSD/Linux...you can play cribbage,
>solitaire, etc all with just the keyboard.  Granted, playing
>them with just the mouse is all the more difficult.  A happy
>medium of doing both kbd and mouse accessibility would be
>even better.
>
>
>Just some fodder...
>
>-tim
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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.......................................
these are mediocre times and people are 
losing hope. it's hard for many people 
to believe that there are extraordinary 
things inside themselves, as well as 
others. i hope you can keep an open 
mind.
 -- "unbreakable"
.......................................