[games_access] GA Prejudices, question to our Game Designer and Game Developers

[Charlie Jackson]

Not even in just an accessibility way, to me a game should be playable to
anyone. As a game developer, sure I want people to hit the challenges I've
set, to struggle a little maybe, to get some tension or nervousness, but I
also want them to come away from the game with as full an experience as
possible, avoiding that "I'm never going to beat this, this is insane,
forget it!" moment.

As a game PLAYER, I can't stand something more than hitting a brick wall in
a game. I've seen way too many people get halfway through too many games
(myself included), then give up and have horrible thoughts about it forever.
"Is that a good game?" "Well, it's pretty cool but I never finished it. I
couldn't beat level four, and for a while I couldn't wait to see what would
happen next, but I got so stuck that I just read a walkthrough on it so I
could see how the rest of the game ends."

Everyone should be able to beat everything :)

I had always planned on hiding some kind of special item in each game I made
that'd make it winnable for anybody. For example, in an RPG I'd throw in
some special sword if you walked into an exact spot and did something
special... In a platformer, maybe something that makes you invincible
forever, or that creates a block under your feet when you press a button, or
lets you skip a level... etc. Granted, I've only made word games thus far,
so I haven't had the chance to test this :)

-------------

Charlie Jackson

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On Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 5:11 PM, Sandra Uhling <sandra_uhling at web.de> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> one very big big big prejudice about Game Accessibility
> seems to be:
>
> * Games are designed to be played in a certain way.
> => There should be no possibility to change them.
> => Gamers who face barriers should not play it.
> => Gamers who love the story, but do not like to learn fighting, should
> play
> another game.
> => When you cannot finish a game, you should not play it.
>  => Game are ment to achive something, and finishing a game is a part of
> this.
>
> I would really love to know what you think about this.
>
>
>
> FYI: Situation in Germany
> Well, at the Gamescom they said they are highly interested ....
> Looks like this was a lie.
>
> I also have some contacts who say: "Wow that is so important, why do they
> not do it?"
> But they would never say this in public.
>
> So activity and interest is 0 in Germany.
>
>
> Best regards,
> Sandra
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>
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