[games_access] Fwd: Re Canadian Press article

[d. michelle hinn]

It was Neil Davidson from the Canadian Press (Canada's version of the 
Associated Press) -- he's a senior editor there and was covering the 
Montreal Game Summit. And, yes, that was who I was collecting 
pictures for. It wasn't that he didn't include our lines, I think, as 
much as he included some links that would get you TO everyone's 
links. So I can see why he did it -- a giant list of links in a 
newspaper doesn't do much good. I didn't have editorial control over 
the article, as it's a freedom of the press kind of thing so I didn't 
see it until today...the day after it came out.

The article is appended at the end of this email and the original 
email I sent out. If you go to:

http://wham.canoe.ca/news/2006/11/20/2430839-cp.html

You'll see that your picture is in the article, Robert. :) And your name.

Michelle


>Who wrote the article is my question is this the one that Michelle 

>was collecting photographs about quad controller that story?  It's a 

>little distressing that they didn't include our links.  I think the 

>readers would want to learn more about that and says that such a 

>hard sell area any information people can get gather for a would be 

>great but a kick that it might next time just to make sure the 

>people know they should really stress links to the people they're 

>putting articles on about.  Where can I read that anyway?

>

>No big deal here just great to know.  Thank you Michelle for that 

>effort still amazing always your effort is always appreciated.  One 

>great thing about our group we are always helping each other out not 

>arguing with each other getting no where and we can actually 

>accomplished a lot in this area of interest because it's all of our 

>goals.

>

>Robert

><http://www.robertflorio.com/>www.RobertFlorio.com

>

>

>

>

>From: games_access-bounces at igda.org 

>[mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Barrie Ellis

>Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 3:44 PM

>To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List

>Subject: Re: [games_access] Fwd: Re Canadian Press article

>

>Get a grip, Michelle! We know you're not a big-head. We won't let 

>you be! So feel easier about posting your narcissitic 

>accessibility articles(!).

>

>Seriously though, it's a very good article, and I personally see the 

>IGDA/GASIG and Game-Accessibility.com plugs as plugs for us all to 

>be honest.

>

>Barrie

>

>

>

>

>----- Original Message -----

>From: <mailto:hinn at uiuc.edu>d. michelle hinn

>To: <mailto:games_access at igda.org>games_access at igda.org

>Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 5:53 PM

>Subject: [games_access] Fwd: Re Canadian Press article

>

>Hi all,

>

>Ok...I didn't know that this article was going to be so focused on 

>me. And Reid...I'm sorry games [cc] wasn't on the links. And Robert, 

>I'm sorry that your site wasn't on the list either. And Barrie, and 

>etc, etc, etc. The author found a few overall links. But he's a very 

>nice guy and when we have major updates in the future, we should 

>definitely include him in our PR stuff. He's a good guy to be in 

>touch with for all of us!

>

>And Microsoft is gonna hate me. But I think Brannon (on this list) 

>would also agree that accessibility is a hard sell within gaming, 

>although it was great that he was able to talk about accessibility 

>at Game Fest.

>

>Oh...you know, it's really not easy for me to point out articles 

>that I'm included in. I'm trying to get over it but it took me a 

>while for me to feel ok about forwarding it...

>

><blush>

>

>Michelle

>Your press shy chairperson...

>

>

>>To: "'d. michelle hinn'" <hinn at uiuc.edu>

>>Subject: Re Canadian Press article

>>Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 12:27:52 -0500

>>

>Hi Michelle

>Our story moved yesterday. I have attached a link showing it on the 

>Sun newspaper chain website up here. Also a copy of the story is 

>below.

>

>Thanks for taking the time to speak to me and for helping with the 

>pictures. I wish you well and hope you will keep me updated on your 

>group. I would be interested in following up.

>

>Regards

>

>Neil Davidson

>

><http://wham.canoe.ca/news/2006/11/20/2430839-cp.html>http://wham.canoe.ca/news/2006/11/20/2430839-cp.html

>

>Michelle Hinn campaigns for more accessibility for disabled gamers 

>(GAMES-Disabled)

>Nov 20, 2006 11:51

>By Neil Davidson

>The Canadian Press

>Game developers take Michelle Hinn's phone calls these days. But 

>they may not always like what she has to say.

>Hinn is chair of a special interest group in game accessibility 

>that's part of the International Game Developers Association. The 

>adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

>is passionate about her cause, opening up video gaming to the 

>disabled.

>

>``This is a social justice issue, this is not just a gaming issue,'' 

>Hinn told a seminar at the recent Montreal International Game Summit.

>

>So Hinn campaigns for developers to think about captioning games, 

>allowing controllers to be remapped, offering easier modes of play, 

>better manuals _ and to rethink the kind of titles they make.

>

>The payoff can be rewarding.

>``We have one member who also has mobility impairment and said he 

>was able to dance for the first time in an online role-playing game 

>and that was amazing to him,'' Hinn said in an interview.

>

>Access to gaming can also promote a sense of inclusion, said Hinn, 

>citing the case of a blind gamer who just wanted to be able to say 

>to a friend ```Yeah, I got such and such score on that, what did you 

>get?'''

>

>``So we're no longer talking about `oh, this is my friend who has a 

>disability.' It's `this is my friend that just kicked my butt in 

>this game,''' said Hinn. ``It's a very interesting and very powerful 

>social tool, I think.''

>

>Part of her group's job is also to share information and tips _ and 

>to correct false assumptions.

>Hinn's group has been active as a fully fledged special interest 

>group for about four years now. She speaks to major gaming 

>conferences and works behind the scenes with console manufacturers 

>and game developers.

>

>While there is much more work to be done, the developers now know who she is.

>``Yes, I'm getting e-mails back from people, like Will Wright who 

>created The Sims,'' Hinn said, with a slight sense of disbelief.

>

>And there have been success stories. Hinn points to such enlightened 

>developers as Namco and Valve, which after getting complaints 

>offered full captioning on the hit game Half-Life 2.

>

>In some cases, it's a matter of convincing developers that thinking 

>of the disabled does not have to mean not including game features 

>but rather new ways to access these features. And to have them think 

>out of the box.

>

>Hinn cites the game DEMOR for the vision-impaired _ imagine a 

>sophisticated pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game that uses GPS. She 

>also notes that games that only call for one button, currently 

>popular in cellphone games, have been used by quadriplegic gamers 

>``forever.''

>

>

>

>Hinn's group is also trying new ways to get developers involved. One 

>of the current projects is dubbed Accessibility Idol and involves 

>inviting some big-name developers to show up at the Game Developers 

>Conference with an idea for a game for the mobility-impaired.

>

>``We're thinking of an avid gamer who was in an accident and is now 

>quadriplegic and loves to play games and loves to play games with 

>his friends who don't have disabilities,'' Hinn explained.

>

>Many developers are astounded at the lengths that people will go to 

>play their game. At GDC, they showed developer David Perry footage 

>of a quadriplegic gamer playing The Matrix: Path of Neo using a quad 

>controller that uses ``sip and puff'' tubes to control the action.

>

>``The look on his face was astounding,'' Hinn said of Perry. 

>``Because it's touching when you see something that you've created 

>and see what someone does in order to access your game because they 

>think that it's so important to their lives.''

>

>``I think it really puts some things into perspective of what kind 

>of impact the gaming industry has on people's psychological 

>well-being.''

>

>Hinn's unpaid game accessibility work is piggybacked on top of an 

>already busy schedule. She teaches courses on video game design at 

>the University of Illinois and runs a ``living-learning community,'' 

>which she explains is like a small college within the university for 

>women majoring in math, science and engineering.

>

>Hinn, who has a BA in music performance, a B.Sc. in psychology and 

>MA in multimedia in design, was recently named one of the ``Game 

>Industry's 100 Most Influential Women'' by the online magazine Next 

>Generation.

>

>``I'm always looking for injustice and trying to do research that in 

>some ways helps,'' Hinn explained. ``OK, maybe this is not the most 

>important issue in the universe but for some people it is.''

>

>Hinn has dealt with problems of her own. She is dyslexic, although 

>she wasn't diagnosed until she was about to graduate from 

>undergraduate school.

>

>``I guess I felt a kind of personal tug in my heart, knowing I had 

>somehow gotten through school with good grades despite having this 

>reading disability.''

>

>``Then later I started developing a condition that gives me chronic 

>pain. It just happens here and there and so I've become more aware 

>in recent years of my own body kind of shutting down on itself and 

>the importance of having things to do when that happens, I mean who 

>wants to just sit there with nothing to do?''

>

>The term disabled run the gamut _ from vision-, hearing- and 

>mobility-impaired issues to those caused by aging, genetics or 

>accidents.

>

>Hinn says she gets e-mails all the times from parents or doctors 

>asking about how to get hold of a certain controller.

>``Those are the heartbreaker e-mails,'' she said. ``You hate that's 

>what brought a parent into the field but if we can help, just keep a 

>child from being depressed, helping them feel more included in the 

>world and in touch with friend groups, if more online multiplayer 

>games were more accessible, that would open up a huge range of 

>social possibilities.''

>

>``We're always talking about bad things that happen on the web and 

>online games but that's one of the positives, no one knows you're 

>disabled online.''

>

>But the sands are ever shifting. Progress is made on one console, 

>only to have a new one come out with new challenges for disabled 

>gamers.

>

>Hinn, who once worked as an intern at Microsoft, sees progress among 

>independent developers but says the larger console manufacturers 

>have lagged behind.

>

>``Microsoft had not done very much which is disappointing ... 

>because they have done a lot with accessibility with regards to 

>their operating systems and other programs but when it comes to 

>gaming not so much. And the same with Sony and Nintendo, although I 

>think Nintendo has more of an understanding, especially games for 

>the elderly with games like Brain Age, etc.''

>

>Each small victory is savoured by Hinn, whose passion shines through.

>``I've always been an advocate of social justice and that's why I'm 

>involved in a lot of programs that help foster women in the game 

>industry and women in technology,'' she explained.

>

>

>

>``So yeah. the pay's not so great but it feels worthy, for me it's 

>the right choice.

>___

>For more information, visit:

>_ www.igda.org/accessibility 

><<http://www.igda.org/accessibility>http://www.igda.org/accessibility>

>_ www.gameaccessibility.com 

><<http://www.gameaccessibility.com>http://www.gameaccessibility.com>

>_ www.deafgamers.com <<http://www.deafgamers.com>http://www.deafgamers.com>

>_ www.audiogames.net <<http://www.audiogames.net>http://www.audiogames.net>

>

>

>

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