[games_access] AbleGamers.com Awards Mythic Entertainment’s “Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning” the 2008 Accessible Game of the Year

[Mark Barlet]

Wanted to share this with the community. AbleGamers reached out to
WarHammer, gave them feedback from our community, and they responded. Taking
a very disabled friendly game, and making it better. They went so far as to
invite AbleGamers to the studio to make sure that the changes they made meet
the needs of the community. I know it is not 2008 anymore, but we are slow,
lots to do.

Thanks

Mark

___________________
Press Release AbleGamers.com Awards Mythic Entertainment's
"*Warhammer*Online: Age of Reckoning" the 2008 Accessible Game of the
Year

By far the most accessible MMO ever made.

Harpers Ferry WV, January 30, 2009:  AbleGamers.com the community for
disabled gamers awards Mythic Entertainment's MMO "Warhammer Online: Age of
Reckoning" our "2008 Game of the Year Award" for "Most Accessible Main
stream Game".

"The folks over at Mythic have really raised the bar when it comes to making
a game that has the flexibility needed to bring many disabled gamers into
battle.", says Mark Barlet, Editor-in-Chief of AbleGamers.com. "They are
proving that you can make a game that has mass appeal, and can still address
the needs of many disabled gamers."

"Speaking as a veteran of MMO RPGS dating back to Ultima Online; Mythic has
out done themselves by providing accessibility to so many different types of
disability. Warhammer allows the mouse speed sensitivity to be set higher
than I can control.  No other MMO RPG currently allows such control for the
mobility impaired." adds Steve Spohn, Senior Contributor for AbleGamers.com.

Mythic has created a game that offers one of the highest levels of
flexibility seen in a game. From having almost every action in the game
mappable to the keyboard, to creating a game that can be played with only a
mouse, they have given the disabled gamer more than one way to skin a Witch
Elf. The game has addressed the issues that are issues to many people with
disabilities including;

·         Hearing Impaired Community – With every  event key to
participation  not only printed in the text box, but also scrolling in the
center of the screen, accompanied with graphical events means deaf gamers
are not out of the know. They have also enabled plugins from 3rd party
developers to bring even more information to the screen.

·          Physically Disabled Community – The flexibility they have
engineered into this game means that many physically disabled gamers can use
special controllers made for their special needs to play the game. From very
flexible keyboard mapping, to fully mousable interface, many people with
physical disabilities can play this game.

·         Visual Disabilities – Mythic has used its own staff to make sure
that people who are colorblind can still play MMO.

·         Ongoing feedback loop – Mythic has reached out to the disabled
community in order to seek feedback and made changes to the game to better
accommodate the disabled community. They even went so far as to bring
AbleGamers into the office to verify that the issues had been addressed and
suitable.

*About AbleGamers:* AbleGamers.com is a community for disabled gamers
founded in 2004. AbleGamers mission is to bring people with disabilities
into the digital entertainment space and to reach out to producers in the
digital entertainment space in order to make their final product as
accessible as possible.

###

If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an
interview with Mark Barlet, or Steve Spohn please contact AbleGamers.com,
202-258-1937 or press at ablegamers.com


-- 
Mark C. Barlet
Editor-in-Chief
AbleGamers.com
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