[games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News

[John Bannick]

Barrie,

Way cool!
For some reason I'd never heard about the blogspot.

Thanks,

John

At 01:10 PM 12/1/2007, you wrote:
>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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>>>
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>>>
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>>
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>
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