[games_access] appealing to developers

Wed Sep 12 16:39:44 EDT 2007

So pleased that you discovered the Quasimoto controller, Jason. It's great 
when people find a way to play that really suits them. I do find it amazing 
though how few modern games allow you to redefine game controls. It's so 
pig-headed of developers...

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jason Price" <no1cwbyfan at cox.net>
To: "'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List'" <games_access at igda.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2006 9:26 PM
Subject: RE: [games_access] appealing to developers

> Hello,
>
> Let me first introduced myself.  My name is Jason Price, 32-year-old
> lifelong gamer and lifelong person with a disability.
>
> I have severe cerebral palsy (spastic triplegia to be specific).  This 
> keeps
> me from walking and also having normal dexterity in my left hand.  I'm a
> console gamer through and through, dating back to Atari.  My left hand is
> not able to hold a standard controller but I have always been able to get 
> by
> using laptop arcade/fighting sticks.  This all changed in early 2001 when
> all games began to utilize dual analog sticks as the preferred method for
> character manipulation.
>
> I was immediately excluded from gaming because there are essentially no
> arcade sticks available featuring two analog sticks and the buttons that 
> are
> accessed by pressing the analog sticks.  Enough of my rant, there has got 
> to
> be an answer.  It is very likely that we will find the answer by appealing
> to both the moral fibers as well as the bottom line for game developers.
>
> They must realize that there is a huge untapped market out there.  Gamers
> like myself play games not only to escape life with a disability, but also
> to engage our competitive nature.  For example I'm never going to play in
> the NFL or NBA but through gaming I have in the past been able to 
> experience
> sports on some level.  Anyway, I hope I'm able positively contribute to 
> this
> group and I thank you for your time.
>
> Jason Price
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org]
> On Behalf Of Reid Kimball
> Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2006 1:24 PM
> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [games_access] Complaint regarding Florian Eckhardt
>
> Thanks Kelly for your reply. I too felt motivated after I read
> comments from people who didn't think games should be closed
> captioned. People telling me I can't do something tends to be a
> motivator for me.
>
> I also agree that at this time our best option is to appeal to the
> emotional side of developers if we are going to win their support for
> accessible gaming. Most developers love gaming and want to share their
> passion with the rest of the world. Why leave out those that are
> disabled?
>
> A company could also generate a lot of customer loyalty if they make
> it known they support accessible gaming. A customer who isn't disabled
> may be supportive of the idea and therefore support the company's
> efforts by being a loyal customer.
>
> -Reid
>
> On 6/3/06, K <k at kellyrued.net> wrote:
>> >yikes. You know...why shouldn't we include some
>> >of these remarks in our talks?
>>
>> >From a dev perspective, I think those remarks are motivational- to help
>> developers view the issue as one of corporate citizenship and morality.
> That
>> is why I am interested in accessible gaming- because it's the right thing
> to
>> do, not because I really think it is an ENORMOUS market for my PARTICULAR
>> product. Our sales won't quadruple from designing accessibility features,
>> and while the more popular games (like a Doom title) would likely see a
>> measurable rise in sales (just because so many disabled gamers would want
> a
>> hit game, just by definition of what makes a hit game popular to gamers
>> without gameplay-impacting disabilities). But for most games, the
> commercial
>> benefits are a little more dubious/slippery to try to calculate.
>>
>> By appealing to developer morality in addition to the bottom line
> benefits,
>> you will be sending a message that I think will help motivate people who
> are
>> otherwise skeptical about the financial benefits of accessibility
> features.
>> If you tell me I can invest in feature x and sell to another 100 players,
>> I'd have to consider, overall, how that really does or doesn't impact us
> and
>> if it's worth it business-wise. But as I mentioned, I didn't have to stop
>> and consider ANYTHING when I first became aware of the accessibility
> issues
>> with games because helping people appeals to my basic morals. It's a very
>> easy way to pitch it in that sense. Who wouldn't read those comments and
>> want to put in accessibility features just to counter that unfortunate
>> element in society?
>>
>> -Kelly
>>
>> PS
>>
>> I am the indie dev who posted previously about how we can make our games
>> more accessible. We will have a free trial of the education game this
> coming
>> week for anyone who might want to play and give me feedback about what 
>> was
>> not accessibility friendly enough (it is a point-and-click interface
>> throughout, with very minimal keyboard entry for registration and 
>> entering
>> optional player names (you can accept the defaults) so it would require
> any
>> player to have a mouse or pointing device). I also have free review 
>> copies
>> now (full non-trial versions) for anyone who is interested and able to
>> provide accessibility feedback or a game review on their site linked to
> our
>> site. The product is an educational game for parents to play with teens,
>> called The Sex Ed Game. More info at www.isergames.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>
> _______________________________________________
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