[games_access] Sid Meier and Barry Caudill Sit Down With AbleGamers

[Ioo]

Thanks for the plug...


Mark Barlet


Barrie Ellis wrote:
> Great interview, cribbed from AbleGamers: 
> http://ablegamers.com/content/view/41/63/... We should get in touch 
> with them too I think...
>  
> Barrie
> www.OneSwitch.org.uk <http://www.OneSwitch.org.uk>
>  
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  
> Written by Mark C. Barlet   
> Saturday, 26 May 2007
>
> I have been working on getting able gamers an interview with the 
> legendary Sid Meier for over a year. Sending my first inquiry to 
> Firaxis on May 18, 2006. At the time we received a positive response, 
> but it seemed the activities around Railroads! caused our interview to 
> be derailed. So I was all excited when a little over a month ago I was 
> able to get the attention of the folks at Firaxis again. In short, 
> Ablegamers was able to get an interview from Firaxis, but Sid was to 
> busy for the interview. I admit I am disappointed, the views of 
> someone as legendary as Sid would help the plight of disabled gamers 
> all over the world, because when Sid talks, game developers listen. He 
> was able to give us an opening statement, and for that I am grateful.
>
> That being said, Barry Caudill, Executive Producer, Firaxis Games sat 
> down with us. Now I admire Barry a l lot, and he and I have a lot in 
> common, he is a musician, as am I. He also started life as in the 
> Quality Assurance department, and I have been in QA for 12 years, 
> currently heading a QA department here in the tech corridor of 
> Northern Virginia. Someday I hope to have Barry's job, just don't tell 
> him.
>
> I am still holding out for an interview with Sid...
>
> Sid Meier:
>
> Hello AbleGamers!
>
> We're happy that Mark approached us for an interview. Its been a great 
> introduction to your website and the start of what we hope to be a 
> mutually beneficial relationship with your community. We want our 
> games to be played and enjoyed by as many people as possible, and 
> we're always looking for ways to achieve that goal. Firaxis has a very 
> active and vocal fan community and the thoughts, ideas and concerns we 
> hear from them have a big impact on the games we make. We invite you 
> to become part of our community and look forward to hearing from you.
> Stay Civilized,
>
> Sid Meier
>
> *Ablegamers:* Do you take into account this large disabled segment of 
> the US population (comparable to other nations as well) when 
> developing games?
>
> *Barry Caudill: *We do make attempts to accommodate as many people as 
> possible when designing our games. For example, we did include the 
> ability to map any key to any action when we were developing Pirates. 
> Mostly we work to support the predominant control systems available 
> (keyboard, mouse, gamepad, joystick) wherever we can so people can 
> choose what they want to use where it makes sense. We would be 
> interested in hearing more about what the disabled community needs 
> from our games.
>
> *AG:* Do you think that the disabled demographic is an underutilized 
> market for mainstream games?
>
> *BC:* I have no frame of reference from which to answer this question. 
> I think you'd be a better judge of that.
>
> *AG:* What is Firaxis Games doing to support the people with 
> disabilities within the gaming community?
>
> *BC:* There is such a wide range of disabilities which makes it 
> challenging to know exactly what players with disabilities need in 
> games. We've made some accommodations with keyboard mapping, better 
> user interfaces, and more graphic visuals and sound. Again, we're open 
> to hearing more from disabled folks in the gaming community, we want 
> everyone to enjoy our games
>
> *AG:* When you take a game into beta testing, have you ever 
> intentionally brought people in that are disabled?
>
> *BC:* No we haven't specifically looked for people with disabilities 
> for our beta testing teams. We want folks who are passionate about our 
> games - we don't ask questions about their physical and mental 
> abilities when looking for testers. Having said that, there may well 
> be folks with disabilities on our beta teams, they just haven't 
> identified themselves as such.
>
> *AG:* I know a few that would help (*Wink*)
>
> *BC:* We can always use more help (wink right back atcha ;) and we'd 
> welcome your participation.
>
> *AG: *Simple changes to game interfaces, such as the ability to custom 
> map actions to the keyboard or other input devices on the market (many 
> for people with disabilities), or alternatives to the drag and drop 
> (very hard for many) could make games better gamers with disabilities 
> as well as those without.
>
> Do you think it is worth a developer's time to add these features to 
> games?
>
> *BC:* I think we are in favor of adding anything that helps people 
> play the game - provided it doesn't somehow hamper the overall 
> intended game experience.
>
> *AG:* Nate, my partner in crime on AbleGamers.com, has a 
> motor/muscular disorder; he says the best way for a fully able bodies 
> person to understand what it is like to suffer from tremors or tactile 
> issues is to try imagining the following scenarios: That one or both 
> of your arms has fallen asleep, how well could you play the game? That 
> you are shivering from the cold, how would that affect playability?
>
> Imagining that, would you still want to play the games you loved? If 
> so, how would you do it?
>
> *BC: *I don't have a clue. It's incredibly hard for me to imagine 
> exactly how I would feel under such circumstances and it's equally 
> hard to imagine not being able to play the games I love. If Nate has 
> some ideas to share with us we'd like to hear them.
>
> *AG:* Let me ask you something that has stumped me. There are 7.9 
> Million people in the US who have a vision-related disability, with 
> 1.8 million unable to see at all (according to the US Census Bureau), 
> do you think main-stream gaming industry could do a better job trying 
> to make games accessible to the visually impaired? Any ideas how?
>
> *BC:* The mainstream gaming industry is a very visual medium so it's 
> definitely a challenge figuring out how to create the full game 
> experience for the visually impaired. I think there could be an 
> alternative kind of game designed around auditory clues or other forms 
> of sensory perception. Games like this would probably require some 
> form of private funding to get off the ground.
>
> *AG:* In addition, before we go, we at AbleGamers.com want to thank 
> you for your time, I am sure that you are a very busy man with the 
> expansion to Civ4 and maybe a Railroads! expansion also being worked on.
>
> So my last few questions:
>
> Has this interview made you further consider the issue of people with 
> disabilities and how they play video games?
>
> *BC:* Yes it has. I'm looking forward to hearing more from the 
> community with ideas on how we can make our games more accessible.
>
> *AG:* Will you factor that thought into currently developing games, or 
> future works?
>
> *BC:* It will remain a part of the design discussions and we will do 
> our best to make accommodations where we can.
>
> *AG:* Any final thoughts on this subject?
>
> *BC:* Thanks for the interview and keep the feedback coming.
>
> *AG:* What are you working on now? What can we look forward to from 
> such a famed game designer?
>
> *BC:* We're working on a game that could very well be the best game 
> we've ever made. Stay tuned for more details soon!
>
>  
>
> Last Updated ( Saturday, 16 June 2007 )
>
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