[games_access] Game Accessibility - How to we get there?

Tue Jun 26 17:56:03 EDT 2012

I'm not aware of ignoring any of your e-mails, Steve. Things did become painfully sluggish with development of the system. Real-life got well in the way of the ideas getting resolved quickly. I don't remember any e-mail saying that AG walked away, but can understand that they'd only wait so long before becoming fed-up.

With my SE hat on, which is where I helped to develop this system, I'm no where near as free to do what I like. I thought it was a good idea at the time to bring together organisations with such similar goals, but SE preferred the idea of testing it first. It's in BETA, and earlier days than you may realise. I can respect their decision on this, especially in light of fielding opinion on the system, and especially in testing it ourselves to see if it works for us.

Responding to other points:

Again, bear in mind that the Joypad rider symbol use is a pilot project from SE's side. It's a trial. So there still is scope for tying together with people who do like the concept, where we can all just get-a-long! It is good to get people's views on it, as nothing is set in stone at this stage. I've not seen Eleanor's symbol, and would like to.

Re. the CUTO bear - that's part of the review system to denote "Content Unlikely To Offend". It's explained here: http://www.gamebase.info/magazine/read/specialeffect-game-accessibility-rating-system-beta_530.html. It doesn't mean that the game is accessible. Also wanted to give Atari a nod of respect for having the first ever labelling system linked to accessibility back in 1981.

The other symbols were designed to be as clear as we could make them. I don't think they are childish, and I like colour. I think they're eye-catching. Something we thought was very important was to take into account as broad a range of abilities as we could.

Another agree to disagree I guess.

Barrie

From: Steve Spohn 
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 9:46 PM
To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List 
Subject: Re: [games_access] Game Accessibility - How to we get there?

I can tell you with my AbleGamers hat on that we were in communication with Barrie to open up a third-party website where people could go to that saw the mutually agreed-upon symbol that would mean that the game had been given the seal of approval by AG or SE or Anyone (gamefwd 7-128 etc.). After a number of e-mails and no responses from Barrie, AbleGamers walked away from the project. (Can share with the emails with the group if you'd like) 

The important part of the discussion was a third-party non specific website that could house reviews from all websites and allow people to thoroughly explore the accessibility of games from many angles. So, I think specifying that you are going to lobby for a symbol to be placed on boxes that goes to GameBase is a bit much. 

There are a couple fundamental flaws with the symbol system. First, if you read the fine print on the website it says that the game only needs to be reviewed by SpecialEffect. It doesn't need to be accessible, good, friendly or easy to play, it simply means that is reviewed to some extent. That is not helpful at a glance. Second, the symbols you used Barrie are downright offensive. Eleanor's is a nice neutral symbol, although it still has a wheelchair in it, but the teddy bear symbol absolutely offends me, and every single disabled gamer I have asked so far said they would be offended seeing a teddy bear on the box meaning that  it is accessible.

A good question for everyone to think about is why are all of the symbols we see coming out that could mean accessibility filled with ultra-colorful, cartoonlike and childish symbols. Not all gamers with disabilities are children, in fact, the majority are not. 

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 3:59 PM, Barrie Ellis <oneswitch at gmail.com> wrote:

  @BlazeEagle - Glad you like the symbol, I do too. It's on trial with SpecialEffect at the moment. Maybe it will take hold and spread if they'll release it, maybe not. I'm hoping at the least it will sow more seeds for getting a labelling system going.

  Ultimately, this could be a free and loose system where anyone can use it to denote Game Accessibility Information, or tied up tighter in ELSPA/PEGI style-ee. I do know there was a lot of difference of opinion at the time of the symbol surfacing, but to us (with my SpecialEffect hat on now) - we liked this one best out of the ones we were allowed to use.

  I do recognise the feelings from Sandra and Dimitris of looking for something slightly less disability related. However, we did open this up for some time, looking for the best symbol we could, and speaking for myself, I saw nothing better at the time. I do like a white on black version we have, and the 3D version quite a bit too.

  What I did like about the symbol is that it can be interpreted in a number of ways (wheelchair user combined with joypad, laid-back gamer sitting on a giant joypad, person riding some steam-punk like machine).

  What I liked about the way it could be used, is the potential flexibility. It could be placed on its own with tiny link and/or QR code to send you to accessibility info where space is very limited. It could be placed next to future access symbols. It could send you off to GameBase. Maybe one day, it could send you off to a database pointing you to a variety of opinions (a bit like Amazon maybe).

  What would be really great, if there was a system people could get familiar with, broadly adopted, and agreed, Lynsey - it could be a positive system of encouraging developers/publishers to think a bit more about accessibility. I've always been supportive of a multi-pronged effort to improve accessibility.

  Barrie.

  --------------------------------------------------
  From: "Lynsey Graham" <lgraham at blitzgamesstudios.com>
  Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 10:39 AM
  To: "'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List'" <games_access at igda.org> 

  Subject: Re: [games_access] Game Accessibility - How to we get there?

    I think it'd be useful (certainly for 'mainstream' games) if accessibility criteria and symbols could be incorporated into the existing rating systems, such as PEGI and the ESRB, that are supposed to inform consumers of a game's suitability.

    http://rashedgamedev.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/pegi_ratings_system.png

    As well as being more informative for the consumer, it might raise publisher/developer awareness if there was an extra set of boxes to tick on the rating submission form.  Given that you have to check 'Yes' or 'No', it might actually embarrass some developers/publishers to realise how even the most basic accessibility measures such as subtitles and colour blind friendly mechanics have been overlooked...

    -----Original Message-----
    From: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Dimitris Grammenos
    Sent: 26 June 2012 10:26
    To: 'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List'
    Subject: Re: [games_access] Game Accessibility - How to we get there?

    First of all let me express my great pleasure of seeing such a vivid conversation taking place again in our list!

    Now, I'll try to be brief - honestly.

    1) Standardising information and symbols related to accessibility  is a good thing - But I think using the wheelchair icon is a little bit misleading, as well as not very "sexy" from a marketing point of you. Why not using a symbol that focuses on the fact that this game has extra capabilities - use a highly positive sign? E.g. have you seen all those labels on food products that have extra vitamins, minerals, etc? They are full of colorful plus signs. I think accessibility capabilities should be advertised similarly.
    For example, you have "Football game" and  "Football game++". The notion is that you get more for what you pay. "Play anyway you like" - I guess you get the idea. Else, game developers might be afraid that buyers will wrongly perceive that their game is targeted to people with specific disabilities.

    2) In this respect, I agree with Richard's approach, that if we want to "mainstream" accessibility then we need to see it from a game features/capabilities perspective and not from a disabilities point of view.
    I believe for example that many people would like to know if a game can be played using an alternative controller, if it supports scalable difficulty, subtitles, etc.

    3) I don't believe that legislation is the answer to game accessibility.
    Obviously, finding that "elusive" business case would be the best. So, one thing we can do, and now it seems that we are many, we can try to look for it, or collaboratively build it up.

    4) Ablegames and Gamebase are already doing a great job regarding game reviews. I do not know if it would be possible to access mainstream game magazines and offer to write for them a condensed version of your accessibility reviews using less disability-oriented terminology, so that gradually accessibility gets mainstream in practice, but most importantly becomes integral part of their readers' "game culture".

    5) It seems that there is a fundamental misunderstanding among people in this list that game accessibility is about "homogenizing", "watering down", "lowest common denominators", etc. This - to some extent - may be true for the "real world" due to physical constraints, but in the digital world it is the exact opposite. Game accessibility is about freedom, diversity and multiplicity of choices. It is about playing a game the way you like and prefer, not about everyone playing the game exactly the same way (what is the current situation). It is about adapting to the player. So, unless this is completely made clear, then just like in our list, people who are fully supporting game accessibility, maybe skeptical about the extent to which it can and should be pursued.  If you have some time you can have a look at
    these:
    - Unified Design of Universally Accessible Games (Say What?). URL:
    http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20061207/grammenos_01.shtml
    - The Theory of Parallel Game Universes: A Paradigm Shift in Multiplayer Gaming and Game Accessibility. URL:
    http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060817/grammenos_01.shtml
    - Universally Accessible Games & Parallel Game Universes" (206 slides) PDF
    format(15MB)
    http://www.ics.forth.gr/hci/ua-games/docs/DGrammenos_Universally_Accessible_
    Games_and_Parallel_Game_Universes.pdf

    I'll be back for more :-)

    Dimitris

    _______________________________________________
    games_access mailing list
    games_access at igda.org
    http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
    The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org

    _______________________________________________
    games_access mailing list
    games_access at igda.org
    http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
    The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org

  _______________________________________________
  games_access mailing list
  games_access at igda.org
  http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
  The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org

-- 
Steve Spohn 
Editor-In-Chief
The AbleGamers Foundation
AbleGamers.com | AbleGamers.org | Facebook | Twitter 

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

_______________________________________________
games_access mailing list
games_access at igda.org
http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist7.pair.net/pipermail/games_access/attachments/20120626/9b58dfc6/attachment.htm>