[games_access] Blizzard, WoW, and Accessibility Concerns

[AudioGames.net]

Hi,

Good news! I once started collecting accessibility(-friendly) macro's and 
addon-s for Wow but I found that the functionality of many early addons that 
allowed for better accessibility (like auto-movement, auto-attack) were 
disabled in later patches. Even something simple as knowing when the 
"sneak"-sound is played (which one could use to make your own closed caption 
caption) is unavailable. I have a wish list somewhere I could send you... ?

But before I get in on how to make WoW accessible, I have always been 
wondering whatever happened to Rock Band? Several of us gave (critical) 
feedback but I never heard from it again... ? I really like you bringing in 
real-world cases to the SIG, Michelle, but I don't really like it that when 
we give possible solutions and suggestions, the rest of the conversation is 
seemingly behind closed doors? Or was there no further conversation?

Greets,

Richard




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "d. michelle hinn" <hinn at uiuc.edu>
To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 7:01 AM
Subject: [games_access] Blizzard, WoW, and Accessibility Concerns


> Hi all,
>
> It's been brought to my attention that there are some gamers with mobility 
> impairments who have been blocked from playing World of Warcraft due to a 
> policy that is in place that "kicks off" any gamer who is using something 
> that looks like a cheat when meanwhile it's actually an accessibility mod 
> that works with an accessible controller or some such.
>
> I'm happy to say that thanks to Jason Della Rocca's help (IGDA Exec 
> Director) I now have direct contact with the COO of Blizzard who is 
> extremely dismayed by the fact that some gamers with disabilities have 
> been blocked from playing WoW and by the reaction(s) they have allegedly 
> received from the company's tech support, etc. Paul Sams , Blizzard COO, 
> would like me to put all gamers who have been experiencing this issue in 
> direct contact with him so that a mutually agreeable solution can be 
> found. This is one of those rare chances that we have to talk to one of 
> the highest higher ups at a company to help correct accessibility 
> problems. To quote him: "(he) will take this seriously!"
>
> If you or someone you know has a disability and has been banned from play 
> WoW due to the use of an accessible controller or key remapping, please 
> contact or have them contact me directly at hinn at uiuc.edu and we will get 
> this worked out with Blizzard. As I said, Paul was extremely upset when he 
> learned that there may be someone (or some people) on his team that, 
> according to what I have heard, did not make this issue a priority and 
> instead handled the issue with a lack of grace. I have the confidence that 
> this is an accessibility issue that can be fixed but we need the full 
> details from the gamers that have been impacted so that Blizzard knows how 
> to (1) fix the problem and (2) address the issue(s) related to the 
> responses given and/or the outright ignoring of the issue in the chain of 
> command.
>
> So please drop me an email if you've or someone you know has been impacted 
> by this and we will get this issue on the way to being fixed! And please 
> let gamers on any forums or lists know that they should contact me (go 
> ahead and put in my email address) so that I can introduce them to Paul.
>
> Thanks everyone!
> Michelle
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