[games_access] Important Question: What is our meta aim?

Sun Dec 21 13:17:22 EST 2014

The problem with the thesis statement of "this is the way it's always
been," which is what you're saying, is that change is inevitable and
necessary.

SE & AG will continue to do what they do, as will the a valuable individual
advocates, the question was what should GA-SIG be when it grows up.

You think it's an awareness problem? No. It's a business problem. A problem
advocacy won't fix.

On Sat, Dec 20, 2014 at 9:25 PM, Ian Hamilton <i_h at hotmail.com> wrote:

>  Personally, I agree completely with the importance of all the below,
> however there is already an IGDA SIG with precisely that mandate - the
> diversity SIG.
>
>  Despite all of the great work done by not only AG & SE but also the many
> other other people involved in game accessibility advocacy (from vocal
> individual advocates such as Brian Bors and Brandon Cole through to
> industry/government bodies working behind the scenes, from gamers to
> researchers, from internal studio/publisher champions through to university
> educators), accessibility unfortunately is still not taken care of.
>
>  It's easy enough to see from other industries that you can never have
> too many people working towards the advancement of accessibility, and
> certainly as lack of awareness is still such an issue, every voice counts.
> There are many many alternative ideas and routes to take, more than could
> be addressed by the number of people working in the field at the moment,
> and I personally wouldn't want to see any move in the direction of less
> people focussing on it.
>
>  Diversity and accessibility are also two different topics with very
> different legal and practical knowledge required, people who know about
> accessibility aren't necessarily the best to be working on diversity, and
> vice versa - I've seen all of that first hand from internal corporate
> set-ups, it can go pretty wrong.
>
>  If the accessibility SIG was to establish closer ties with the diversity
> SIG that would be great, but that's something different again.
>
>  So in short, yes diversity is critically important, but I honestly don't
> think that changing the focus of an accessibility group to instead be about
> diversity is a good way to go about furthering it, especially when there's
> already a direct sister group that has that mandate - the IGDA obviously
> doesn't need / can't have two diversity SIGs.
>
>  Ian
>
> ----- Reply message -----
> From: "Steve Spohn" <steve at ablegamers.com>
> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
> Subject: [games_access] Important Question: What is our meta aim?
> Date: Sun, Dec 21, 2014 00:57
>
>  I, for one, would like to see and strongly believe *should *the SIG
> concentrate on getting people with disabilities employment opportunities
> within the game industry, while AbleGamers and SpecialEffect continue to
> lead the charge for gamers with disabilities. With much gratitude to an
> increasingly welcoming community, both organizations continue to gain steam
> in both funding and technological enhancements, effectively taking care of
> the making 'games accessible' push we would all care about.
>
>  It is my sincerest hope to see GA-SIG re-direct its efforts in 2015
> towards supporting game *developers* with disabilities. The employment
> statistics for people with disabilities are nightmarish, at best, and the
> number of game developers who identify as having a disability are extremely
> low. The bullet list below should not be the mission of this group, as it
> defines 75% of what AbleGamers and SpecialEffect already does. but rather
> than focus this group overlapping what is already being accomplished,
> GA-SIG could be making huge advancements in the support of developers with
> disabilities.
>
>  Imagine the incredible inside push that could be accomplished from this
> SIG, which is owned by the International Game *Developers* Association,
> if all of you (including lurkers who read and don't post) were to come
> together and start really advocating for developers with disabilities. Then
> game accessibility guidelines like Includification and Ian's guidelines
> become less critical because people who have disabilities will be in the
> industry, fighting from within, instead of us pushing from the outside in.
> The knowledge will already be inside the industry itself and therefore
> accessibility becomes a part of the gold standard instead of an initiative.
>
>  From someone who has been a part of this group for eight long years, it
> is always been a group about the long game. While SpecialEffect and
> AbleGamers are fighting in the trenches of here and now, you all are
> ensuring tomorrow will be a land of equal opportunity for game developers.
>
>  I cannot speak for SpecialEffect, but I can almost guarantee they would
> share my sentiment in that we would love for there to be no need for our
> organizations. We would love for games to be accessible to all and the
> technology to be covered by government insurance plans,. By supporting game
> developers with disabilities, you'll change the world of video games from
> within, and maybe, just maybe, lessen the strain on us nonprofits, enabling
> us to focus on gamers.
>
>  Have a great holiday season everyone,
>
>  Steve
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 20, 2014 at 5:14 PM, Thomas Westin <thomas at westin.nu> wrote:
>
>  Hi Sandra,
>
>  I think most people might have gone offline for holidays by now :) but
> adding to Ians thoughts, the description below (quoted from our website)
> have been the aim almost since the start in 2003 (perhaps slightly modified
> over the years), but your question is very legitimate:
> - some of the points in ”what we do” section have already been well
> achieved by members of the SIG and others; e.g. regarding points 2, 3 and 5
> (bold text): there are now various sets of guidelines, whitepaper, website,
> recurring attendance at GDC / other conferences, academic papers by various
> members of the SIG
> - Point 6, to develop a road map, well there is a session to look forward
> to
>
> http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/building-a-manifesto-for-game-accessibility
>
> - the final (seventh) point relates directly to your question :) and this,
> and the non-bold points are perhaps not so clear aims, more of what is
> needed to be done continiously to reach those aims
>
>   Our Mission Statement:
>
>    - “Computer and console games are an important cultural and quality of
>    life issue. By collaborating with the rest of the game development
>    community the Game Accessibility SIG intends to develop methods of making
>    all game genres universally accessible to all, regardless of disability. In
>    order to do this we will promote education of game developers in
>    accessibility design, tax incentives for accessible game developers,
>    corporate sponsorship and accessibility ratings.”
>
> What do we do:
>
>    - Work together as a community to make great games accessible.
>    - *Develop accessibility methods and share this knowledge within the
>    community.*
>    - *Define the needs raised by different disabilities and game genres.*
>    - Push the current game technology to its limits from an accessibility
>    perspective.
>    - *Learn from accessibility design in other areas.*
>    - *Develop a “road map” to what accessibility designs are possible
>    today and in the future.*
>    - Collaborate with professionals and students alike on what they can
>    do to make a difference.
>    - Develop the above goals further together.
>
>
>  Best regards,
> Thomas
>
>
>  20Dec 2014 kl. 20:29 skrev Sandra_Uhling <sandra_uhling at web.de>:
>
>    other thoughs?
>
>
>   *Von:* games_access [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org
> <games_access-bounces at igda.org>] *Im Auftrag von *Ian Hamilton
> *Gesendet:* Freitag, 19. Dezember 2014 23:28
> *An:* IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
> *Betreff:* Re: [games_access] Important Question: What is our meta aim?
>
>    For me, it is to get at close as realistically possible* to the only
> barriers to participation and enjoyment being those that are actually
> required as part of a mechanic.
>
> *it won't ever be completely possible, as developers and manufacturers
> won't ever stop having new ideas
>
> Ian
>
>    ------------------------------
>
> From: sandra_uhling at web.de
> To: games_access at igda.org
> Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 22:51:35 +0100
> Subject: [games_access] Important Question: What is our meta aim?
>  Hello,
>
>  one important question:
>  What is our meta aim?
>  What do we want to reach?
>
>  Kind regards,
>  Sandra
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________ games_access mailing list
> games_access at igda.org
> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access The main SIG
> website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>   _______________________________________________
> games_access mailing list
> games_access at igda.org
> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> games_access mailing list
> games_access at igda.org
> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>
>
>
>
>  --
>  Steve Spohn
>
>  *Chief Operations Officer*
>
>  AbleGamers Charity
> AbleGamers.com <http://www.ablegamers.com/> | Facebook
> <http://www.facebook.com/ablegamers> | Twitter
> <http://www.twitter.com/ablegamers>
>
>  Read the award-winning, critically acclaimed set of game accessibility
> guidelines for developers to create mainstream games that are accessible to
> *everyone*: Includification.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> games_access mailing list
> games_access at igda.org
> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>
>

-- 
Steve Spohn

*Chief Operations Officer*

AbleGamers Charity
AbleGamers.com <http://www.ablegamers.com/> | Facebook
<http://www.facebook.com/ablegamers> | Twitter
<http://www.twitter.com/ablegamers>

Read the award-winning, critically acclaimed set of game accessibility
guidelines for developers to create mainstream games that are accessible to
*everyone*: Includification.com
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