[games_access] The Human Controller

[Barrie Ellis]

Hi Eitan,

I actually disagree with Kestrell's "people first stand point" with "people 
with disabilities" (although I did used to use it myself). I've long since 
prefered "disabled people" linking to people being disabled by society / the 
inaccessibility of their environment.

Take a look through this item: 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3708576.stm.
Plus this on the Social Model and Medical Model of diability: 
http://inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/inclusionweek/articles/socmod.htm

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk








----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kestrell" <kestrell at panix.com>
To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:42 PM
Subject: Re: [games_access] The Human Controller



> Eitan,

>

> I seem to have missed your original post in which you posted the link, but 

> here are some thoughts on language and disability:

>

> Certain words and phrases tend to really be button words, as in they will 

> typically hit many readers' buttons, and the phrase "suffering from" is 

> definitely one of those phrases. Often the phrase can be deleted 

> altogether, leaving the phrase "people with disabilities" or "people with 

> visual impairments" or "visually-impaired gamers," etc. The informal rule 

> is that the individuals you are discussing are "people first," as 

> mentioned in this online article

> http://iod.unh.edu/press.html

>

> and here is a link which includes links to writing about disability, 

> language to use in interviewing people with disabilities, and more 

> resources

> http://ncdj.org/links.html

>

> Kes

>

> ---- Original Message ----- 

> From: "Eitan Glinert" <glinert at mit.edu>

> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>

> Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 4:29 PM

> Subject: Re: [games_access] The Human Controller

>

>

>> Wow, awesome! Thanks for the feedback, I think you are the only person

>> outside of MIT to have actually read this. Comments below.

>> Eitan

>>

>> On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 6:48 PM, Barrie Ellis

>> <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk> wrote:

>>> Hi Eitan,

>>>

>>> I've read through your thesis "The Human Controller"...

>>>

>>> Had these thoughts...

>>>

>>> Didn't like some of the language used. "Suffering from - impaired 

>>> people -

>>> handicapped". All pretty crusty old terms with negative connotations.

>>

>>>>>EG: Point taken. Any suggestions for better terms?<<<

>>

>>>

>>> Not sure about the controller analysis in Chapter 1 - there's been 

>>> Driving

>>> controllers and light guns since the 70's for many games consoles - 

>>> which

>>> are fairly natural feeling interfaces and have been popular in the past.

>>>

>>

>>>>>EG: I guess in chapter one I'm trying to draw general strokes about 

>>>>>UIs, saying that they generally weren't adopted by a mainstream 

>>>>>audience. Perhaps I should make this more explicit, though<<<

>>

>>> "Even if it is possible to remap controls it is not always advisable to 

>>> do

>>> so. Frequently part of the fun of a game is the interface, and changing 

>>> it

>>> without forethought is potentially detrimental. In the pervious example 

>>> of

>>> Wii Sports tennis part of the fun is actually swinging the controller as 

>>> if

>>> it were a racket. If this functionality were changed to pressing a 

>>> button

>>> then much of the game's charm and fun would be lost.". I'm not happy 

>>> with

>>> this statement personally - I'd like to see multiple-layers of 

>>> accessibility

>>> (much like Dimitris "Parallel Universes" theory). Why can't a four 

>>> player

>>> game of Wii Sports allow player 1 to use the Wii-remote - player 2 to 

>>> use a

>>> standard JoyPad - player 3 to use a single button and player 4 to use an

>>> adapted Wii-remote with blue-tooth stereo head-set to relay personalised

>>> timing sounds (think of live singers having a click track that only they 

>>> can

>>> hear) in an ideal world? You mention this type of thing later as if it's 

>>> a

>>> good thing - so I find this early statement a bit overly negative.

>>>

>>

>>>>>EG: I agree with what you say, which is why I discuss such themes in 

>>>>>chapter 2. I guess the reason I have that negative statement early on 

>>>>>is because I wanted to acknowledge the tradeoff early on, even before I 

>>>>>get to the sections on tradeoffs. I also wanted to make it clear that I 

>>>>>don't feel accessibility is a magic bullet, even if it is almost always 

>>>>>applicable.<<<

>>

>>> "Games have evolved tremendously over the past few decades, as 

>>> advancements

>>> in technology have led to amazingly realistic and engaging offerings, 

>>> while

>>> shifts in player demographics indicate the widespread popularity of 

>>> video

>>> games. Despite these changes many different disabled groups are still 

>>> unable

>>> to play most titles due to inaccessible UIs.." - Would argue that too. 

>>> I'd

>>> agree that most Blind gamers would be in that boat (those with very 

>>> little

>>> usable sight) - but a better statement might have been "many different

>>> disabled groups are faced with deeply frustrating barriers with many

>>> main-stream games". I know Deaf gamers might struggle at certain points 

>>> of

>>> certain games - and gamers using a single button frequently have to rely

>>> upon a friend/helper to take on extra controls and so on - but they can

>>> still play.

>>>

>>

>>>>>EG: Good suggestion, thanks! I might make a change to the argument on 

>>>>>the online version.<<<

>>

>>>

>>> Chaper 2

>>>

>>> "Game controls should be as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Not

>>> really sure what you're saying here.

>>>

>>

>>>>>EG: Simplicity is good, but you don't want to go overboard. You don't 

>>>>>want to cut out critical game elements or features in the name of a 

>>>>>"cleaner" UI. Maybe that's not clear? <<<

>>

>>>

>>> 2.5 "a rhythm title like Guitar Hero which focuses on music will not 

>>> work

>>> for the hearing impaired, and it is probably not possible to make an

>>> accessible version." - I don't agree with this. Deaf gamers as a whole

>>> covers a very broad range of hearing ability. There will be many deaf 

>>> gamers

>>> perfectly able to play Guitar Hero. Even those unable to hear at all 

>>> might

>>> enjoy such a game - did you see Deaf Gamers 8.5/10 review score:

>>> http://www.deafgamers.com/07reviews_a/gh3_x360.html

>>>

>>

>>>>>EG: Wow, I flubbed this one. I'm going to have to change the language 

>>>>>on this. Good catch, thanks!<<<

>>

>>> But aside from this, I frequently found myself in full agreement with 

>>> the

>>> majority of your thesis - and did enjoy reading it. Thanks for making it

>>> publicly available.

>>>

>>

>>>>>Great, thanks so much!<<<

>>

>>> Barrie

>>>

>>>

>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eitan Glinert" <glinert at mit.edu>

>>> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>

>>> Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 10:50 PM

>>> Subject: [games_access] The Human Controller

>>>

>>>

>>>> Good news, everyone! In a surprise twist, I'm graduating! I know a lot

>>>> of you are interested in my thesis, so you can check it out at

>>>> web.mit.edu/glinert/www/thesis . I'm happy to answer questions about

>>>> it, and I welcome feedback (both positive and negative). Special

>>>> thanks to Dimitris, Eelke, Michelle, and Reid for all their help

>>>> answering my questions over the months.

>>>>

>>>> In case you're not sure whether it is worth reading, here's some more

>>>> info:

>>>>

>>>> TITLE: The Human Controller: Usability and Accessibility in Video Game

>>>> Interfaces

>>>>

>>>> ABSTRACT:

>>>> Despite the advances in user interfaces and the new gaming genres, not

>>>> all people can play all games - disabled people are frequently

>>>> excluded from game play experiences. On the one hand this adds to the

>>>> list of discriminations disabled people face in our society, while on

>>>> the other hand actively including them potentially results in games

>>>> that are better for everyone. The largest hurdle to involvement is the

>>>> user interface, or how a player interacts with the game. Analyzing

>>>> usability and adhering to accessibility design principles makes it

>>>> both possible and practical to develop fun and engaging game user

>>>> interfaces that a broader range of the population can play. To

>>>> demonstrate these principles we created AudiOdyssey, a PC rhythm game

>>>> that is accessible to both sighted and non-sighted audiences. By

>>>> following accessibility guidelines we incorporated a novel combination

>>>> of features resulting in a similar play experience for both groups.

>>>> Testing AudiOdyssey yielded useful insights into which interface

>>>> elements work and which don't work for all users. Finally a case is

>>>> made for considering accessibility when designing future versions of

>>>> gaming user interfaces, and speculative scenarios are presented for

>>>> what such interfaces might look like.

>>>>

>>>> Eitan

>>>> _______________________________________________

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>>>

>>>

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