[games_access] Question concerning making force feedback accessible?

[Eelke Folmer]

Interesting diagram. I've proposed something similar in one of the
grants that I recently submitted but its more focused on an iterative
interaction model. I like the breadth approach you take showing all
the possible conversions you possibly need. E.g. deaf players unable
to hear audio so you would need to convert audio to text or haptic
feedback kind of creating different channels or modes on top of your
game. I've merely focused on showing the tuples of solutions you would
need for each stimulus (audio/video/haptic) that the player lacks
since players only lack one of these and how this affects gameplay.

I know force feedback is used in racing games to indicate your'e going
over a bump or something but its usually intended to negatively affect
your ability to control the game. E.g. it is used as a penalty
mechanism in addition to feedback. Maybe something similar can be done
for players unable to perceive force feedback. (maybe jitter their
controls a bit?)

Cheers Eelke


On 17/12/2007, AudioGames.net <richard at audiogames.net> wrote:
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm busy making a diagram of how to map one medium to another medium, for
> instance the path from auditory information to a text description of this
> auditory information in the form of a closed caption. I was
> enthousiastically drawing a path for adapting force-feedback information to
> other media like sound and visuals when it dawned on me: does this
> information need to be adapted to other media?
>
> On one hand I'd say yes, if it communicates important information which is
> not communicated by the game through other means and thus not available when
> force feedback cannot be perceived (for instance because the player uses
> output hardware that do not support force feedback). But I was thinking of
> examples of this and couldn't think of any. Does anyone have an example of
> where force feedback is used to communicate important information that is
> not communicated via other means (like sound or visuals) by the game?
>
> Also: do you think it is important to consider making force feedback
> information accessible by adapting it to different media, even though it
> might not be used much? Or would you simply say to game designers: "Do not
> communicate important information through force feedback ONLY, but also add
> an alternative"?
>
> Greets,
>
> Richard
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>


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Eelke Folmer                           Assistant Professor
Department of CS&E/171
University of Nevada              Reno, Nevada 89557
Game interaction design        www.helpyouplay.com
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