[games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News

d. michelle hinn hinn at uiuc.edu
Fri Nov 30 14:00:44 EST 2007


Well, there's lots to do, that's for sure. We also can't forget that 
some of us (you, me, Richard, others) were hit by the GDC flu and/or 
had to go to hospital (my kidney nightmare) and the selection 
committee doesn't allow you to petition for that. That DRAMATICALLY 
impacted a lot of our sessions and Idol went way differently than 
we'd planned for. So we had a lot of bad luck last year that isn't 
the fault of anyone -- but it did impact how our proposals were 
viewed.

As a group, we just need to remember that we are a group. We are a 
volunteer group. But we are a group and we do a lot! And every time 
we get a chance we have to remember to talk about the group. Sure, we 
all have individual goals, jobs, lives, etc -- but if we all 
remembered to mention that we are a part of this group, this 
movement, I think it would go a long way....especially when it's 
something good! :)

Michelle

>Sounds like a challenge.  It's too bad there was a bad reputation 
>now about our group.  Just feels the fighter though to get the word 
>out about our initiatives even more.  Still baffles my mind like 
>game accessibility is just not excepted at all by the mainstream 
>game design community.  Until someday, some mainstream game 
>designers are injured and can't find their favorite games anymore 
>and then we'll see.  But apparently the last 20 years they've all 
>been pretty invulnerable.
>
>Robert
>
>
>From: games_access-bounces at igda.org 
>[mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of d. michelle hinn
>Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 12:48 PM
>To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News
>
>Hey,
>
>The only feedback I've gotten was informal from people I know who 
>work there -- the sessions weren't judged on content as much as 
>based on low numbers of attendees and a lot of bad press from GDC07 
>(many people on the advisory boards for each section (audio, design, 
>etc) gossiped, Idol participants complained...and, yeah, that web 
>archive was mentioned -- google, etc are not our friends). So we 
>live and learn. I'm not going to go into specifics because it will 
>hurt us to go into it and we don't need that -- There's too much to 
>do and we cannot spend the little time we have until GDC08 talking 
>about what happened after GDC07. I know I brought it up because, 
>yes, I was angry that morning because the low number of acceptances 
>for this year was what I was afraid might happen. But I was also 
>angry because I really, really killed myself over the proposals for 
>this year.
>
>Unfortunately, it's not academia so they won't ever provide us with 
>concrete comments or a feedback page about what we could have done 
>better/differently or even what they hated. And it's not a blind 
>review either. Basically this year we need to atone and re-earn 
>respect as a group. >From what I've heard, however, if you have 
>never had a proposal accepted that you turned in, they were EVEN 
>MORE likely to not take a chance on your proposal...so I guess we 
>are lucky that we got three sessions (two were solicited but even 
>those went through a bit of a review as well).
>
>So when you say you can pay your own way...do you mean that you want 
>to buy your own pass?
>
>We'll have accessibility arcade and the meet and greet to show some 
>stuff at -- we won't have as much room but we should have stuff for 
>people to look at and some of the stuff are great conversation 
>starters. So we won't need as much this year -- my broken controller 
>(the Quad Controller that has now been broken TWICE by airport 
>security so it really looks bad) is quite the conversation piece. I 
>think I could have just carried that around at FuturePlay all day to 
>get the word out about accessibility! :D
>
>Michelle
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>I'm sorry to hear about the passes. I'll be driving from Reno to SF 
>>so I can take all my accessible hardware if need be. (If there is 
>>space to demo them?)
>>
>>
>>
>>Michelle, did they provide us with specific feedback on those 
>>proposals? what were the main criteria for not accepting them?
>>
>>
>>
>>I can pay my own way to GDC since I have some money left from my 
>>grant that I need to spend before august, after UNR decided not to 
>>approve my travel request to Futureplay. Besides it's cheap for me 
>>to go there anyway.
>>
>>
>>
>>Cheers Eelke
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>On 27/11/2007, Reid Kimball 
>><<mailto:reid at rbkdesign.com>reid at rbkdesign.com> wrote:
>>While this is isn't the ideal situation it's not a total loss for the
>>group and we have to work within our resources to do the best we can.
>>
>>If only three of us can come, then I suggest we don't bring any
>>hardware accessories. Instead, let's create flyer's and brochures
>>about the accessories. Maybe even produce videos of people using them.
>>
>>I also recommend that because we are a smaller group this year, we try
>>to have personal meetings with game developers to talk about how we
>>can help them.
>>
>>-Reid
>>
>>On Nov 27, 2007 12:25 PM, d. michelle hinn <<mailto:hinn at uiuc.edu> 
>>hinn at uiuc.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>  Ok...
>>>
>>>
>>>  So remember when I was writing for days straight for all the GDC 
>>>submissions
>>>  without a whole lot of help? All submissions have been accepted now so we
>>>  have some bad, bad music to face. I never did put up all the final
>>>  submissions on the WIKI -- I was too tired after the deadline and 
>>>it doesn't
>>>  matter as much now. I'll get them up for archive reasons.
>>>
>>>
>>>  Well...we've been hit by reality this year. I hate to bring this up again
>>>  but I feel that I have to -- A lot of public word got out about our big
>>>  post-GDC fight last year (it's archived on the net...). I'm not saying that
>>>  it was any one person or any one comment -- I can't even look at 
>>>the archive
>>
>>  > without beating myself up about it because I felt like I had 
>>really, really
>>>  let everyone down. I got the proposals and the passes but I couldn't make
>>>  our showing work in the best way possible. I couldn't be everywhere
>>>  advertising our sessions. I was far from perfect, we were all far from
>>>  perfect, we had big dreams but not enough people doing the work. I'm not
>>>  saying everything goes back to that but we had a big year last year, had
>>>  more than enough passes for everyone...and that was then. It's hard for
>>>  me...well, it's very sad for me to realize that we had it so 
>>>great last year
>>>  and we didn't recognize it, we didn't have enough real help when push came
>>>  to shove (or suitcase pulling came to suitcase pulling back and forth every
>>>  day to the convention center). All the "should of" "would have" 
>>>"could have"
>>>  things are coming back to haunt me. I stopped flogging myself about this a
>>>  while ago and thought that I had come to peace with it but I realize now
>>>  that I still haven't stopped flogging myself about not being superhuman. I
>>>  know. I know. Stop it.
>>>
>>>
>>>  So...we only had one proposal accepted. All the acceptances are in now.
>>>  Reid's [cc] poster (downgraded from a 20 minute talk but I think this will
>>>  get more people) submission.
>>>  [<https://www.cmpevents.com/GD08/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=6456> 
>>>https://www.cmpevents.com/GD08/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=6456 ]
>>>
>>>
>>>  The other two were IGDA solicited (ie, they did not go through the system)
>>>  -- accessibility arcade and the SIG meet and greet. That buys us two more
>>>  passes -- one is mine since I'm SIG chair and one was for Eelke 
>>>for the meet
>>>  and greet because he helped on the proposals.
>>>
>>>
>>>  I'm going to try and talk to everyone I can think of to try and get a few
>>>  more passes because one of those is a roundtable and was solicited by IGDA
>>>  (that was NOT in the proposal process) and it's accessibility arcade. To
>>>  pull that off, we need more people. I hope that this gets us a few more
>>>  passes.
>>>
>>>
>>>  The booth is out of question unless we can get some SERIOUS money 
>>>FAST. I am
>>>  trying every angle I can think of but so far no luck. The booth SPACE costs
>>>  $5100 for 10x10 booth -- add on about $3000 more for the "required" minimum
>>>  of stuff we have to provide...no way. IF we get an expo booth it 
>>>will get us
>>>  more EXPO passes, which will restrict those with these passes to just being
>>>  able to get into the expo area (no talks, etc). That's the reality.
>>>
>>>
>>>  I'm sorry to have to tell you this and I'm sorry for the 
>>>anger/sadness in my
>>  > tone. We are not going to be able to bring everyone we want to. 
>>I cannot say
>>>  when or if I'll hear if we can get more passes. I know some of you have
>>>  already made flight and hotel arrangements. If you are one of these people,
>>>  please check with your airlines, etc for the last date to cancel without
>>>  penalty.
>>>
>>>
>>>  So three passes...that's it. That's where we are at. I will let you know if
>>>  the pass situation changes but for now it doesn't look great. We now have
>>>  fifteen fewer passes so those of us in attendance are going to have to try
>>>  and talk our asses off at GDC.
>>>
>>>
>>>  Michelle
>>>  _______________________________________________
>>>  games_access mailing list
>>>  <mailto:games_access at igda.org>games_access at igda.org
>>> 
>>><http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access>http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Eelke Folmer                           Assistant Professor
>>Department of CS&E/171
>>University of Nevada              Reno, Nevada 89557
>>Game interaction 
>>design        <http://www.helpyouplay.com>www.helpyouplay.com
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
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