[games_access] Ideas for GDC 2008

Fri May 25 12:18:59 EDT 2007

Don't know that this method wouldn't see us kicked out of GDC for a long 
while to be honest... I'd have to be pursuaded that this is a good idea in 
this case.

Barrie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Reid Kimball" <reid at rbkdesign.com>
To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 4:22 PM
Subject: Re: [games_access] Ideas for GDC 2008

>I would much prefer to hand out fliers to people without having a loud
> protest. I don't want to see people used as props. I think people
> would be annoyed by our presence when they are outside trying to have
> conversations.
>
> On 5/25/07, Barrie Ellis <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I think this kind of thing can be effective. I know in this country 
>> D.A.N.
>> (The Disability Action Network) handcuffed themselves to buses and the
>> railings of parliament when they were protesting about the lack of access 
>> in
>> public transport. I would say that transport is now a lot better in this
>> country - not solely for their protests - but I think they helped sway
>> oppinion. D.A.N. is very quiet/non-existant these days - but many of the
>> activists from D.A.N. got absorbed by councils and so on with jobs where
>> they could make changes from within. It would be great if more disabled
>> people started to get jobs out of a GDC campaign and could make a 
>> difference
>> in a similar way.
>>
>> Barrie
>> www.OneSwitch.org.uk
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Eelke Folmer
>> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
>> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 3:09 AM
>> Subject: Re: [games_access] Ideas for GDC 2008
>>
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>>
>> I think I pitched this idea sometime ago when we were having this big
>> conflict ;-) but I'd like to pitch it again because I seriously would 
>> like
>> you guys to consider this.
>>
>>
>> It's pretty obvious after the low turnouts of our events that game
>> developers are just not interested in what we have to say so why don't we 
>> do
>> something more rebellious and just shove the facts in their face? My idea
>> for next year's GDC would be to stand right outside the Moscone center
>> (between the north and west pavilion where at least 5000 game developers
>> walk by) with a number of disabled people holding signs saying WE WANT
>> ACCESSIBLE GAMES.  If we really want to get attention I think this is 
>> what
>> we should do. At the same time we can hand out small flyers. Lets make 
>> four
>> different little flyers (so people can collect or trade them ;-) (combine 
>> it
>> with the persona idea)  for each disability one little flyer which 
>> obviously
>> states a) a problem b) a solution(s).  E.g. "tim" is a quadripleghic, 
>> sees
>> gears of war on tv all the time but can't play it because it doesn't 
>> support
>> his quad controller (maybe not use names of existing games not to piss of
>> epic studios). Solutions :  "allow configurable keys and map actions to
>> different buttons & use autoaim to minimize the amount of interaction".
>>
>>
>> I don't know if you would be into this, or whether it would be 
>> appropriate
>> but I think its an idea at least worth exploring.
>>
>>
>> Cheers Eelke
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On May 23, 2007, at 1:25 PM, d. michelle hinn wrote:
>>
>>
>> The main thing to consider (worry about) is that the fewer sessions we 
>> have
>> (and the expo doesn't count), the fewer passes we get that allow us to 
>> get
>> into the main part of GDC. So we reallllly have to think about the number 
>> of
>> sessions we could realistically do (and perhaps this means that the SIG
>> sponsors sessions that are meant for, say, "research on accessibility" 
>> that
>> just a few people take and run with). So...I need to be
>> tricky...er...innovative. ;)
>>
>>
>> Michelle
>>
>>
>>
>> I like something along these lines for a GDC session title,
>>
>>
>> Innovation: True Next Generation Gameplay for Everyone
>>
>>
>> However, it risks sounding like marketing hype and devs see right
>> through that. Anyway, this could be our "wow that's cool shit" type of
>> presentation where we talk about the Demor sound based game for the
>> blind and Brain Fingers and the Haptic device. We try to make this as
>> flashy and cool as possible, even if tech isn't 100% there or games
>> widely available. It should be entertaining for people who like to see
>> what's around the corner and educational in showing people that there
>> are those with disabilities that can't play their current games.
>>
>>
>> Aside from that, I'd like to try the Expo booth more than a GDC
>> session. There's only a few ways I can talk about closed captioning
>> and I think I've tried them all.
>>
>>
>> -Reid
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 5/21/07, d. michelle hinn <hinn at uiuc.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Ok...so now's the time to get the write ups going for the proposed
>> SIG sessions for GDC 2008 (it always takes us a bit to get things
>> finalized and GDC is even earlier in 2008) and I some ideas that I
>> want to run past people.
>>
>>
>> We've talked a lot already about applying accessibility to how it
>> would help people that don't have a disability (like curb cuts that
>> help bicyclists and parents with baby strollers, etc). What if we had
>> a session called "Innovation: Game Accessibility for Able Gamers"
>> with the session planned around taking what we know about
>> accessibility and targeted the solutions for the "abled" in order to
>> help them out by taking them out of the lull of "boring, predictable
>> gaming"? This would be a session for the really "out there" stuff
>> like biofeedback and games like demor. When I presented at last
>> year's Montreal Game Summit, I found that it was the "wow" stuff that
>> got people thinking about the whole issue of accessibility being
>> "cool" -- it was the carrot that got them to listen to the more basic
>> design information. After that, people came up to talk to me about
>> how they never thought about accessibility as NOT limiting game
>> design.
>>
>>
>> I'm not totally sold on the title (I just came up with it now so
>> catchier titles would be greatly appreciated!) but it would give us a
>> way to present accessibility information pertaining to disabled
>> gamers, sell it as something that helps more than just disabled
>> gamers without straying too far from the fact that we are the game
>> accessibility SIG.
>>
>>
>> Another thing to think about is not how gamers is with disabilities
>> are limited but, instead, how maybe the increased skill in another
>> area makes them even MORE competitive and so "able" gamers should
>> know about these -- it's a turn around of telling them what they are
>> doing RIGHT in games by pointing out that they could even the score
>> with regard to accessibility by keeping these things in their games
>> (I know...that last one's trickier because it could lead to a
>> developer thinking that they are unbalanced in their gameplay by
>> making things easier for one user group...even though they already do
>> that when they are INaccessible).
>>
>>
>> I've seen how easy some find it to forget the original audience that
>> a design was aiming for by making changes that end up not serving
>> that original audience. So that's why I remain resistant to totally
>> taking the word "accessibility" out -- I'm afraid of NOT reminding
>> the industry to keep gamers with disabilities in mind because it's so
>> easy for them to come down with selective amnesia. We've tried a LOT
>> of tactics over the years -- from serious to humorous, from
>> roundtables to much more ambitious workshops. So we need to think
>> about what we've learned from the four years we've presented as a SIG
>> at GDC. We won't do "accessibility idol" again but I think we
>> *should* do another competition (and we can again -- we got the
>> tentative "thumbs up" to do an hour-long competition, rather than the
>> two hour overkill). I'll write another email about ideas for a
>> competition that removes us from "idol" but helps us better make
>> accessibility into a challenging creative design process rather than
>> this "forced, non-creative" thing that it's rumored to be (and this
>> year I know to jump on the signage and web advert issue immediately).
>>
>>
>> BUT...as a SIG I think we should stick to a fun competition (with the
>> devs that showed interest last year but couldn't do it but can this
>> year), the expo (with the fall back of another "arcade" thing, only
>> not three days worth), a "wacky session" like "innovation," and some
>> sort of longer session (like a tutorial) where we can have "short
>> burst" info about the things that SIG members have been doing -- ie,
>> Eelke might take 20-30 minutes to discuss his stuff, Dimitris taking
>> the same amount of time to overview his latest, Barrie and his stuff,
>> etc, etc, etc. Then if any one person wants to do a longer
>> presentation on their own stuff, they can do so at their own session,
>> promoting it at the SIG workshop. And if it helps, we can present the
>> more solo-acts as SIG-sponsored sessions to make sure it gets on the
>> schedule better -- I know Reid and others have had a really hard time
>> getting onto the schedule as solo acts. But in the end the longer
>> presentations would be the onus of the person who is presenting their
>> work and not something that the entire SIG needs to be there to set
>> up for, etc (that doesn't mean that we all wouldn't try to be there
>> for them!!).
>>
>>
>> We learned in March that 78.4 SIG sessions (ok, 8) isn't the way to
>> go but I also think going back to the single roundtable isn't the
>> answer either. So now we have to find our happy medium that allows us
>> to all ATTEND other sessions and help increase the buzz about all of
>> our sessions, our existance, etc but also maximize our limited
>> (simply by the fact that there are just a few of us that can make it
>> to any one GDC) efforts in the sessions that we do. And we have to
>> find our happy medium so it's not just a couple of us pulling
>> all-nighters the weeks before! So instead of me being in charge of
>> every session for the organization, we can share the wealth a bit by
>> having some on the committee for the competition, others on the
>> tutorial/workshop committee, and so forth. I realize that we aren't a
>> big lot but even NON attendees can help serve on committees to help
>> share ideas!
>>
>>
>> Ok that's the end of this email that had started out short and sweet.
>> :) Sorry -- just feeling the GDC pressure and I realllly want to get
>> as many people involved as possible so we can present a more united
>> effort and help best support one another!!
>>
>>
>> Thoughts? Reactions? And, yes, I'm now very removed from the emotions
>> of GDC 2007. :) But please be thoughtful in your suggestions --
>> underneath that black leather jacket I keep wearing to GDCs (for good
>> luck?), I can get rather down sometimes (yay! depression!) and I'd
>> hate for us to have a flame war. I promise I will count to 10 before
>> hitting the "send" button if I find myself taking things too
>> personally. Ok, deal? :)
>>
>>
>> Michelle
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Eelke Folmer                                          Assistant Professor
>> Department of Computer Science &       Engineering/171
>> University of Nevada                         Reno, Nevada 89557
>> Game Quality
>> usability|accessibility.eelke.com
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>>  ________________________________
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> games_access mailing list
> games_access at igda.org
> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>
> 