[games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News

[Barrie Ellis]

Count me in! And anyone that wishes to help with adding content to the GASIG 
Blog - please get in touch!

http://gameaccessibility.blogspot.com/

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "d. michelle hinn" <hinn at uiuc.edu>
To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 5:59 PM
Subject: Re: [games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News


> Who will be a part of "We"?
>
> Michelle
>
>>Hi John.  With what you said below I think you hit the nail on the head.
>>
>>Then we definitely need a web site and a forum.
>>Robert
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org]
>>On Behalf Of John Bannick
>>Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 11:05 AM
>>To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
>>Subject: Re: [games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News
>>
>>Reid is right.
>>
>>There are developers right now who want their work to be accessible.
>>
>>This SIG could right now facilitate that by:
>>
>>1. Providing, distributing, and publicizing a concise, specific set of
>>functional criteria that define what means accessible.
>>2. Compiling, publishing, and publicizing an annual list of which 
>>companies
>>and games meet those criteria.
>>3. Maintaining a forum (The currently rather drifting Game Accessibility
>>Project comes to mind) where developers can go for immediate help.
>>
>>I'm a developer of games that are accessible.
>>Have shipped 22 different revenue-generating products in a wide variety of
>>vertical markets in the last 30 years.
>>Am neither stupid nor lazy.
>>And don't see any of the 3 above items.
>>
>>None of the 3 items should take long to build as a first cut.
>>
>>And if not from this SIG, then from where?
>>
>>John Bannick
>>CTO
>>7-128 Software
>>
>>
>>At 02:26 AM 12/1/2007, you wrote:
>>>Please, can we stop with the negative talk about GDC and the game
>>>industry? I work in the game industry for LucasArts. Just last week I
>>>talked to a highly respected programmer and he's 100% behind us and
>>>wants to talk about what we can do to improve accessibility in our
>>>games after our current milestone is finished. There are dozens of
>>>people at LucasArts that support game accessibility. Nintendo totally
>>>gets it, EA Games totally gets it with their Family Play modes in
>>>their sports games. Peter Molyneux gets it, Will Wright... the list
>>>goes on and on.
>>>
>>>It's offensive to me when people of this SIG accuse developers of not
>>>caring because WE DO CARE. The last thing you want to do is insult the
>>>people you have to work with. It's the quickest way to turn them away
>>>from our cause.
>>>
>>>So, instead of complaining, lets do something about it! First,
>>>everyone here needs to understand what it's like for developers and
>>>why it's so hard for them to adopt accessibility features.
>>>
>>>1. Limited financial resources - Games are very expensive to make and
>>>any new features adds to the cost. Before you can add accessibility
>>>features you must have a game and that's where most of the money is
>>>spent first.
>>>
>>>2. Limited time - Game development is incredibly complex and hard to
>>>tame. No matter how much extra time gets budgeted into the production
>>>schedule, it always runs out well before all tasks are complete. When
>>>this happens, features get cut in order to save the core of the game
>>>and again, without a game, there can't be any accessibility features.
>>>Because this usually happens so late, there isn't enough time to work
>>>on accessibility features before the game has to ship.
>>>
>>>3. Limited information - Even if a developer was pro-active and
>>>scheduled the development of accessibility features into the games'
>>>development schedule, there's still a major lack of knowledge and
>>>tools that enable them to do their job. The SIG has been thinking
>>>about accessibility features for years and we have all the solutions,
>>>but developers don't yet. We need to make ourselves known and readily
>>>available to help them.
>>>
>>>What can we do to solve these issues? We need to develop our
>>>relationships with developers and offer our assistance. Our attempts
>>>to work with GarageGames is a good start. When a new game is announced
>>>we should contact them and offer our expertise.
>>>
>>>We have GOT to get a website up so that we can communicate our
>>>abilities and expertise to our target audiences (game developers).
>>>
>>>But there are technical issues and many of us are volunteers and so
>>  >things move very slowly.
>>>
>>>Several of us are writing guidelines for implementing certain features
>>>but again, this is a slow process. Others are doing research. Going to
>>>conferences is awesome. Writing articles to Gamasutra is great as
>>>well.
>>>
>>>Eitan is right, we have to "sell" our expertise. It's not that
>>>developers don't care, they don't know that they SHOULD care.
>>>
>>>-Reid
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>games_access mailing list
>>>games_access at igda.org
>>>http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>>
>>>
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>>>11/30/2007 12:12 PM
>>
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