[games_access] E For All, and other stuff

[Reid Kimball]

Hi, I have seen the x360 controller keypad add-on and think it's a
great move. I worry it won't be compatible with some games. I don't
think there is a way to type msgs in a game like Halo. Forget that
Halo is fast paced and people shouldn't type during play. There still
needs to be that option because as DJ pointed out, some deaf don't
speak clearly (not their fault). I would prefer games to offer a
variety of options for communicating.
1. voice chat
2. build sentences or choose complete sentences by choosing from a menu
3. text typing

Users could have the option of converting all incoming text to voice
if they choose. Unreal Tournament 2004 does this I think. Conversely,
voice to text would be great, but does need improvement and finally
straight text to text. I think that would help bridge the gap. It's
unfortunate deaf players avoid games that use voice communication. I
doubt many game devs are aware of this.

As for ADA law... I have to read up more on it, but I don't think it
covers games for entertainment purposes. We can warn devs of a future
scenario where they could one day face lawsuits, but that's not very
compelling.

-Reid



On 5/23/07, DJ Bono <ladysekhmet.dj at gmail.com> wrote:
> Whoa, I've been reading up on a lot of posts. So I have a few comments.
> This is from Tim "- 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
>
> 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."
>
> It's interesting that you said about voice chat and stuff. I don't know
> about other deafies, but for me, I could care less about having a chat mode.
> It's very distracting to try to play a game and read what other people are
> saying. I have never played a MMORPG before, so it may be a little bit
> different in that method.  Live and voice chats are the reason why I don't
> play online games such as Halo or whatever.  Besides, how would the program
> recongize MY voice?? I do speak english fluentlly, and people sometime don't
> even realize that I'm deaf. However, I have tried using my mom's voice
> recongization program, and it does squat. Not all deafies have great voices,
> and some don't speak at all....regardless, voice recognition is not the way
> to go to satisfy the needs of deaf people.  I don't have XBox360, but I've
> seen the new controller with the "sidekick" ripoff keyboard on the
> controller...does anyone have one and does it really work? There's a lot of
> deaf people that i know that can thumb type unbelievably at a high speed, so
> they do have a lot of dexiterity (woot!), to do both type chat and play
> games.
>     However, I do notice that there has been increasing games that are
> subtitled though. Closed Captioning is different from Subtitling....huge
> difference. :-) Sometimes I do get a little disappointed with certain games,
> but over the years of playing games I've come to term to accept them. One of
> the nicest thing anyone can do is to type out the words for the cutscenes of
> certain games (Resident Evil 4 comes in mind...one guy typed the entire
> script because his girlfriend is deaf).  We do have a long way to go, but
> we're getting there!
>     Reid - is there any way we can cry "ADA Law!" to these Game
> Developers??? :-)
>
>
> Secondly - I'm a bit of a noob...so forgive me.  How do one get invited to
> go to GDC? I would LOVE to go in 2008, but how do I get invited?  I'm
> thinking about going to E for All, but it may cost me quite a lot of money
> as I'm coming from New Jersey...hence why I may not be able to attend to E
> for All AND GDC.  Maybe I should move to California!
>
>      Also, the biggest concern I have is the ability to get interpreters.
> That's all that really matters to me. Many expos like this won't be willing
> to pay for interpreters just for one person or two, and they would need to
> hire at least 4 interpreters to rotate...otherwise THEY will have disabled
> hands, and that, my friends, costs a lot of money.
>
>
> Sorry for the long email....:-)
>
> DJ
>
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