[games_access] MMOG Topics for Terra Nova?

Sun May 20 06:01:54 EDT 2007

Excellent post, Tim. I think you've covered most of it there.

I think it's worth posting up some information on 
http://www.ablegamers.com/ - as they are particullarly into Massively 
Multiplayer On-line Role Playing Games (MMORPG's). They aren't huge, but 
they seem a good bunch.

Bit more on them here: http://ablegamers.com/content/view/16/66/

I think that the partitioning idea may be essential for some gamers where 
they can play according to ability. I remember going to MegaZone 
(http://www.rayleighmegazone.co.uk/index.php?page=gallery&sub=picsub) where 
you wear a special flak jacket and carry a laser gun in a warehouse full of 
dry ice. My friends and I were obiliterated by 'hard-core gamers'. I.e. some 
pathetic geeky kids that probably spent all their spare time playing this 
game. We'd have had much more fun if they'd had their seperate gaming 
arena - and us - less-able - gamers our own. Can't see any problem at all in 
that for MMORPGs either.

Anyway, my witterings done - keep chipping away. Perhaps we really do need 
to reassure the insecure hard-core gamers with 12-year-old-boy mentality 
that they can still keep their zen-master settings and gameplay alongside 
others being able to play their game too.

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Chase" <agdev at thechases.com>
To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2007 1:36 AM
Subject: Re: [games_access] MMOG Topics for Terra Nova?

>> I have LOTS of ideas for posts but I don't think that they
>> will be received well by the Terra Nova crowd -- if anyone
>> can help me think through how to post about a particular
>> topic, even if it's only very narrowly related, I'd
>> appreciate it!
>
> In these forums (forae?) at TN and on other popular gaming
> boards, I repeatedly see a couple issues thrown in the face
> of efforts here:
>
> 1) adding accessibility features "dumbs down" the game
> removing the fun/challenge for the hard-core gamers;
>
> 2) equating the accomodation of all disabilities with
> accomodating even *some* disabilities; and
>
> 3) the difficulty of adding certain accessibility features
> to MMOG worlds
>
> Yes, it's hard to be all things to all people without it
> dominating the design of the game--an aspect that may churn
> the stomach of even the most socially-minded game designer.
> However, even small advances on any of these fronts may make
> significant headway for accessibility in gaming.
>
> For #1, there are repeated themes of how *certain* features
> added for accessibility benefit all gamers.  Things like
> remappable controls or [CC] are often mentioned.  Also, a
> variety of difficulty levels, though not mentioned quite as
> much, offer entry points for the casual gamer, but allow for
> deeper challenges for the "industrial-strength" gamer.
>
> Just because a game offers remappable controls doesn't mean
> hard-core gamers are going to be impared by it.  Just
> because someone can turn on [CC] and play with the audio off
> while their wife/kids are sleeping, doesn't mean they have
> some advantage over other folks.  And if a hard-core gamer
> finds the "easy" level too easy, well, that's their own dumb
> fault and they should crank up the difficulty.
>
> Requiring less complex controls (whether as drastic as
> one-switch or simply cutting back on the 20-buttons, 2
> D-pads, 2 analog sticks, and 6 DoF gyro controls) makes the
> game more accessibile not just to folks with mobility
> problems, but to casual gamers in general.  Cell-phone games
> and one-switch games seem to be made for each other and for
> marketing to the casual gamer.
>
> With #2, I think it would be helpful to enhance our
> suggestions/top-10 list with annotations regarding the
> difficulty to implement such a feature, how it impacts game
> design, and how it helps reach a larger demographic (and how
> large that market-increase is).  The idea of creating a game
> for the Who's _Tommy_ scares a lot of folks.  When we
> mention the word "accessibility", folks see a
> black-and-white world in which a game is either
> inaccessibile, or the "deaf, dumb, and blind kid [that] sure
> plays a mean pinball" can play it.  Perhaps clarifying that
> there's a gradient of accessibility would soften our
> message.  While, yes, it would be great to make games that
> Tommy can play against the hard-core gamer where they're
> both on an equal footing, there's also a range of less
> drastic measures that game designers can incorporate that
> allow them to retain freedom of design while still
> increasing their audience.
>
> The third item is one of the hardest and something that's
> not been discussed quite so much on the list.  A number of
> features for accessibility come at odds with these worlds,
> often because they mirror the same barriers that the real
> world presents.  Some of the items in our top-10 are
> difficult if not impossible to implement in such a world:
>
> - slowing the game down like bullet-time impacts the whole
>  world, or
> - giving everybody access to auto-aiming reduces the
>  challenge for those crazy hard-core gamers, and unlevels
>  some of the playing field
> - adding [CC] becomes more difficult because there's not
>  just a pre-scripted set of lines that the audio department
>  records, but you have live voice-chat that doesn't [CC]
>  easily
> - a broad range of difficulties is hard to implement when
>  the hard-core gamers are in the same world as those that
>  need easier challenges
>
> Theoretically, one could use voice recognition software to
> do dynamic [CC] of voice-chat, but voice recognition
> software still has a long way to go, and sucks up a lot of
> processor time/power from games that may want it.
>
> I understand that some MMOGs have a partitioned world in
> which the newbies (and those that need the "easy" setting)
> can gain their footing.  This is an elegant solution to the
> problem, that players can stay in such a world as long as
> they want/need, and venture into harder partitions as their
> skills grow or as they need more difficulty.
>
> Perhaps a way to address some of the disparity in the world
> is to make it publicly known which settings a person is
> using and perhaps partition players by assistive
> technologies; or reduce assistance as the player levels-up.
> Or newbie players in the sandbox world may have very sloppy
> aiming where auto-assist helps them.  However, as they level
> up, or adventure into more challenging sectors of the
> universe, the auto-assist features start dialing back.  This
> could allow a player that needs assistive features to still
> play, but also allow the hard-core gamers to get their fix
> of difficulty.
>
> Anyways, if you've read this far and haven't written me off
> as a loonie yet, thanks for playing the audience to my
> long-winded ramblings.  Michelle, I don't know if any of
> this is helpful fodder for future postings, but it's mostly
> a brain-dump of my reactions to some of these myths and
> mis-impressions I see on such gaming boards when the topic
> of accessibility comes up.
>
> -tim
>
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