[games_access] my response.

[Eelke Folmer]

Hi ,

Thanks for some people's support.

The mailinglist thing, it is kind of fishy that both my email  
adresses were removed. Fact now is that this discussion is now held  
in a small group of which many support michelle. So I doubt whether  
it is

I'd like to respond to some of the things that were said back and  
forth because I think some of the things said were unjust and frankly  
below the belt.

Michelle, about the "threaten to punch you incident", how you try to  
convert that into: "eelke is someone who kicks someone when they are  
down" doesnt make sense.  I have asked 3 times during GDC nicely  
whether or when we could talk, (even at the time slot scheduled for  
SIG meetings). First time you were to busy with lunch, second time  
you told me no other SIG does anything and the last time (hours  
before I left) you threatened to punch me in the face. Sadly I don't  
have a radar in my head that tells me what mood you are in. I don't  
know how to interpret that you trying to blame your mood on your  
disability. You were sick/tired/stressed that friday morning, but how  
much of that mood was caused because you were partying out late at  
the dutch party on thursday? I'm not denying your right to party, but  
if you are sick/tired/disabled wouldn't it have been a good idea to  
go to bed early? Using your disability as an excuse for your behavior  
just doesn't feel right to me and hurts people's respect for people  
that are disabled. If you can party and drink all week, carry around  
heavy suitcases, give interviews all the time, I'm sure you can be a  
professional for 5 minutes when people ask you a simple question. I  
also don't know how to interpret:  " -- some of us are here because  
we know that we are part of the target audience--"  So you are saying  
you are more likely to do a better job because you are disabled?  
Isn't disabilities all about being equal? People with disabilities  
should and want to be treated the same as people without, not less  
but certainly not more. The only reason for someone to do a better  
job than you would be because they are better qualified, regardless  
of being disabled or not. I have never heard of disabilities  
preventing anyone from just listening to other people. I don't think  
someone who has cancer is interested whether the person inventing a  
cure for cancer has cancer themselves, they just want a cure.

I keep hammering on results, because to me that is the most important  
thing, and I'd like to know what has this SIG achieved in its four  
years of existence? Hundreds and hundreds of commercial games have  
entered the market in those four years. Not one has been made more  
accessible because of this SIG. In those four years have you not been  
able to talk to one game designer and asked them to implement  
something simple such as closed captioning or reconfigurable  
controls? What has been done except some of us promoting themselves?

The missing extension-plugs and bad scheduling does not explain the  
low turnout at our events. I am not buying your excuse and frankly I  
think no one in this SIG does. The lack of promoting our events to  
game developers does. Ow there was lots of promotion alright you  
spend a significant time in front of local TV camera's, but honestly  
has that led to one more visitor to any of our events? Will it lead  
to more accessible games? I doubt it....  I talked more people in 5  
minutes before AI started. I have been criticized for going out to  
other events, but I merely looked at things that work and tried to  
spread the word on accessibility as best as I could. We are at GDC -- 
where thousands of game developers meet--if the game developers don't  
come to our meetings, well than we maybe it is time that we should go  
to theirs.

Michelle, you make running this SIG sound like you are building the  
chinese wall all by yourself. But frankly I don't think it is that  
much work. It could already start by focussing on things that are  
relevant and that lead to successes like I tried to suggest in my  
accessibility 2.0 plan. Less focus on self promotion and more focus  
on getting results. This SIG has become too much the "michelle and  
richard" show. It is both of your names on everything that is  
organized and the rest of us has no influence over what we do and who  
will be involved. I think there are numerous people in this group  
that deserve way more credit but they are modest and don't push  
themselves in the picture as much as the two of you. Why is half of  
the game accessibility wikipedia page about things that the two of  
you do? maybe you should compare your page with the web accessibility  
wikipedia page, that actually consists useful information rather than  
self promotion. Ask yourself if you are a game designer browsing the  
wikipedia on game accessibility wouldn't it be more useful to learn  
something on game accessibility rather than on the both of you and  
the projects you are involved in? Numerous people have contributed to  
web accessibility, do they have their own wikipedia pages? No!  
because they put other interests in front of themselves.

This SIG is not some sort of "happy friends" club where you can hang  
out with your overseas friends, You can have all the glitter and  
glamour you want as soon as we start seeing some accessible games.  
Game accessibility does not need a mother theresa or recognizable  
names, it needs results. And then you both have the nerve to  
criticize Robert and his video to be too self centered. Are you guys  
too afraid that someone who is really disabled steals away some of  
your precious air time? Robert could do more to promote game  
accessibility by just driving around at GDC than any of the events  
you have organized. If you must use him as a puppet for your events,  
at least show him some respect --he deserves that much.

You have created your own little circle by deciding what kind of  
games people with disabilities should play, maybe you should talk to  
some kids with disabilities and find out that they want to be able to  
play mainstream games like Gears of War. Now unless you both get your  
asses of the plush and out of the spotlight, and use some of your  
"famousness" to hand  game developers such as Cliffy B (though I  
doubt you know who he is) a small flyer with 10 little accessibility  
tips (without any self promotion on that flyer, remember this SIG is  
not about you) ..... then we might actually start seeing some results.

Cheers Eelke

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Eelke Folmer                                          Assistant  
Professor
Department of Computer Science &       Engineering/171
University of Nevada                         Reno, Nevada 89557
Game Quality                   usability|accessibility.eelke.com
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