[games_access] Game Accessibility Day

D. Michelle Hinn hinn at uiuc.edu
Fri Dec 4 15:07:37 EST 2009 

Already in the works! :)

On Dec 4, 2009, at 1:03 PM, AudioGames.net wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Haven't looked at the Gamma4 website, so maybe this is already on  
> there, but I'd strongly suggest publishing a list of one-button  
> games examples - preferably on the Gamma4 website next to the  
> contest description, or otherwise very near. This is based on my  
> experience with the Experimental Audio Games that were developed  
> each year by students at my work. The thing I learned was that  
> pointing people to AudioGames.net and saying "here're some examples  
> of what's already been done, have a look (or listen) and take it to  
> the next level" is not enough if you are after innovative audio/one  
> button games. The unfortunate result in my case was that most teams  
> came up with stuff that was already out there, and often better  
> already. In my experience showing designers a good overview of what  
> already has been done, is more likely to result in more innovative  
> game design, instead of leaving repetoire research up to the  
> designers.
>
> Greets,
>
> Richard
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: D. Michelle Hinn
> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
> Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 7:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [games_access] Game Accessibility Day
>
> It's a great idea and I think being able to plan this with a year  
> in advance is probably our best best for GAD 2010 :)
>
> I'll be at GDC and we can put this into SIG fliers, which we can  
> have at IGDA events and such for free. Otherwise there's the GDC  
> fee for having a flier and those are out of price range, as we know!
>
> Let's aim to have the contest at GDC 2011 and that way we have  
> plenty of time to talk to them, IGF, etc about this.
>
> As for this year's GDC (San Francisco -- the Mothership GDC!) in  
> March it was just announces that this year's Gamma contest at GDC  
> is for One Button Games (http://www.kokoromi.org/gamma4/)! Barrie  
> and I are working with them to make sure that all of the collective  
> "lessons learned" by Barrie and others at One Switch is given to  
> the contestants and we are hoping that they include a side award  
> for "most accessible" one button game. But they have already made  
> sure to make clear that these are PURE one button games by  
> excluding use of D pads, etc in the entire contest thanks to  
> Barrie! :)
>
> Good fortune that they chose that as their theme. An old friend of  
> mine is one of the "four" behind the mask! So she has already heard  
> me over the years of working with her in the IGDA and gets our  
> message! :)
>
> In case a post got lost about it, the Gamma 4 contest information  
> is at:
>
> http://www.kokoromi.org/gamma4/
>
> Deadline to enter is January 31st 2010 at 11:59pm US Pacific Time.  
> So all you one-switch game creators...GO FOR IT!!! :) And everyone  
> spread the word on your websites!
>
> And, yes, the SIG website is getting worked on -- anyone that would  
> like to help in this effort, please email me offlist at  
> hinn at uiuc.edu -- thanks!
>
> Michelle
>
> On Dec 4, 2009, at 2:02 AM, Thomas Westin wrote:
>
>> Thanks Barrie and Michelle,
>>
>> yeah the UN day is a great combo, wasn't aware that it was yesterday
>>
>> I propose we do it in the simplest way possible, just by
>> - deciding to use the UN day as the Game Accessibility Day (GAD)
>> - put into blogs, twitter etc that it will be a GAD 2010
>> - we can have flyers about it at the next GDC (anyone going?)
>>
>> We can even setup a contest with a prize for the best solution  
>> funded like this:
>> - the contestants pay say 100 USD to participate in the contest  
>> (this is how it works with the Independent Games Festiva)l Perhaps  
>> we could sync with IGF to have a GA prize? Either that or we have  
>> our own contest.
>> - the 100 USD from each contestant is used a prize money so the  
>> more contestants, the bigger the prize money.
>>
>> The good about the IGF approach is marketing; we can easily reach  
>> out to a large audience about the contest, and about the prize at  
>> GDC etc. The (possibly) bad thing about it may be that the IGF  
>> likely have some fees so we can't bring all the money from the  
>> contestants straight to the prize money but that could be a good  
>> enough trade off for the marketing and PR IGF provides.
>>
>> /Thomas
>>
>>
>>
>> On Dec 4, 2009, at 1:54 AM, D. Michelle Hinn wrote:
>>
>>> Oops -- caught this in the list net! Reposting!
>>>
>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>
>>>> From: Barrie Ellis <oneswitch at googlemail.com>
>>>> Date: December 3, 2009 6:32:32 PM CST
>>>> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List"  
>>>> <games_access at igda.org>
>>>> Subject: Re: [games_access] You Can Make a Difference
>>>> Reply-To: "Barrie Ellis" <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Really good idea, Thomas. Maybe tie it up with the UN's  
>>>> International Day of People with Disability, which was yesterday  
>>>> (depending on your time zone - 3rd December each year).
>>>>
>>>> http://blogs.watoday.com.au/digital-life/screenplay/2009/12/03/ 
>>>> makinggamesmo.html
>>>>
>>>> Maybe this kind of thing will make it mean something more than  
>>>> it does to some at present: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/opinion/ 
>>>> b1tch/db_v_internationaldaydisabled.shtml.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Barrie
>>>> www.OneSwitch.org.uk
>>>>
>>>> p.s. - This looks interesting - http://www.vision-audio.com/ 
>>>> ease_games.html
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> From: thomas at pininteractive.com
>>>> Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 12:12 AM
>>>> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
>>>> Subject: Re: [games_access] You Can Make a Difference
>>>>
>>>> good idea
>>>>
>>>> I have been thinking about establishing a Game Accessibility  
>>>> Day; during that day game companies should spend 8 hours to  
>>>> implement one access feature in (one of) their current game(s).  
>>>> That is 1/365 of their budget which for a million dollar game   
>>>> is approx 3000 dollars.
>>>>
>>>> Kind regards,
>>>> Thomas
>>>>
>>>> (Sent from my mobile)
>>>>
>>>> On 3 dec 2009, at 11.08, "John Bannick" <jbannick at 7128.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Folks,
>>>>>
>>>>> The SIG does more to make computer games accessible than  
>>>>> anywhere else I've found on the Web.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here's something additional we all can do this month.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1. Buy accessible games as gifts (Not necessarily ours, but  
>>>>> anyones’)
>>>>> 2. Suggest to friends and family that accessible games make  
>>>>> good gifts
>>>>> 3. And, most importantly, suggest to everyone who’ll stand  
>>>>> still for a minute that they tell game companies when they’ve  
>>>>> bought their game because it was accessible.
>>>>>
>>>>> Our own 7-128 Software recently released Visit Salem, a  
>>>>> travelogue game. It includes over 6 hours of audio  
>>>>> descriptions, history, architecture, music and interviews. It’s  
>>>>> also totally inaccessible to players who are blind, deaf, or  
>>>>> motion-impaired.
>>>>>
>>>>> Why? Because it would take an additional 6 months to make it  
>>>>> accessible. Even with a code base that includes a lot of  
>>>>> accessibility features and useful guidance from John Oliveira,  
>>>>> a colleague and head of our Massachusetts Commission for the  
>>>>> Blind, and from you and other folks I know in the accessibility  
>>>>> community.
>>>>>
>>>>> I’d love to make it accessible to players who are blind, or  
>>>>> deaf, or motion-impaired. But the consensus among our  
>>>>> management team is that there are too few potential sales to  
>>>>> justify the effort and expense, at least at this time.
>>>>>
>>>>> Game margins are razor slim. Electronic Arts lost tens of  
>>>>> millions of dollars this year, also last year. The difference  
>>>>> between profit and loss at our small mainstream company is tiny.
>>>>>
>>>>> Posts by other colleagues suggest that a few more sales could  
>>>>> help pay their light bills, too.
>>>>>
>>>>> Posts by Barrie, Dark, Mark Barlet, Brian Papineau, and my own  
>>>>> experience here suggest that some mainstream game companies do  
>>>>> respond positively when you tell them “I buy your stuff because  
>>>>> you make it work for me. I buy other people’s stuff when you  
>>>>> don’t” (Recent news notwithstanding)
>>>>>
>>>>> So, over the next few weeks you personally can make a  
>>>>> difference by bugging people to buy accessible games and for  
>>>>> them to tell developers when they do.
>>>>>
>>>>> John Bannick
>>>>> Chief Technical Officer
>>>>> 7-128 Software
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> games_access mailing list
>>>>> games_access at igda.org
>>>>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>>>
>>>>
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