[games_access] Gentle Petition

Wed Dec 5 11:52:39 EST 2007

Yes, going down a serious government track often ends up that way 
here too -- I think just getting the message out that games can help 
from a positive psychology standpoint helps raise awareness amongst 
legislators. I received an email yesterday -- the daily ECA bulletin 
-- apparently a report came out yesterday that put the game industry 
in hot water again. Apparently "games" are even worse for us than 
ever was the gist of this report and the ESRP got slammed. So the 
industry is STILL having to defend it's existance daily. So anything 
we can do to help put games in a positive light, I think the industry 
would get behind. So a "pledge of support" for game accessibility may 
be what we want our next move to be.

For more on the ECA (I'm a founding member!), go to 
http://www.theeca.com/ -- The IGDA has agreed (and are totally 
backing the ECA, which is consumer aimed rather than developer aimed) 
to let us partner with them in fighting to keep the game industry 
healthy. Reid and I talked with them at E for All and I've been 
emailing them -- they are helping us get some major names (I'll 
announce things officially when we have the written support) in 
gaming to join in with us.

I think to avoid the lawsuit mess that is tying up our courts and 
actually really messing over different entertainment industries 
because what they thought was a good idea actually ended up thrown 
back in their faces, we should definitely work on this "positive 
awareness" versus legislation idea. Robert has started things going 
-- if we could all take a little time in the next week or so (I know 
so many of us are slammed giving exams and/or taking exams right 
about now because we are either instructors or students (or both!) so 
this week and next is probably pretty rough on time) and help the 
petition become something we as a SIG can stand behind and feel that 
it is not anti-industry but that it is positive industry, that would 
be great.

You know...we've also never gotten the industry to get behind us in a 
formal way so why not take this energy and do this now? Sure, it's 
not about changing laws but it's perhaps even more important. Because 
the industry needs us and others that know that gaming is important 
because it's a route to leisure, which is what makes life, well, fun! 
:) So if we change our wording in the petition to something positive 
and inspiring, well that could really, really work. And remember -- 
GDC is SOON! And Robert is one of the few of us that has a pass 
(Thanks again to Eelke who generously gave his pass up so Robert 
could attend) so, hey, let's turn this opportunity into something we 
can go into to GDC with -- it's a great talking point!

Michelle

>a couple of years ago I tried to talk to the Swedish government with 
>a similar approach and get their attention by writing a letter to 
>the minister of culture, but only got a polite reply that they 
>didn't have time for a meeting to discuss with me
>
>perhaps things have changed now (new administration) so I can give 
>it a try again
>
>/Thomas
>
>5 dec 2007 kl. 00.49 skrev d. michelle hinn:
>
>>I agree -- We haven't gone down the road of the politics at all yet 
>>and I think if we approach it the right way that it would be well 
>>received and maybe even result in awareness amongst gamers, 
>>developers, and people who would be gamers but don't know that they 
>>could be. So a more gentle petition to say "hey, we agree that 
>>games are important and here's why adding accessibility is a good 
>>idea..."
>>
>>There's no reason we can't send an informative brief to let 
>>legislators know about game accessibility even in the US -- when 
>>done, this is a GOOD thing about games. We send the good things 
>>about game accessibility and games to start things out versus 
>>something that is anti-industry, which we don't want to do at this 
>>point.
>>
>>And, hey, maybe in 50 years there won't be a need for legislation 
>>because there will be some incredible breakthrough that none of us 
>>can even imagine yet! :)
>>
>>Michelle
>>
>>>Robert (and others) - regarding the petition why don't you consider a
>>>compromise? I know in the UK you can quite easily go down the political path
>>>to get things to the government:
>>>
>>><>http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SupportAT/
>>>
>>>What about starting a very simple petition - "We the undersigned want to see
>>>more accessibility features in games...." - with a bit of an explanation
>>>(But not too much) - and some translations into other languages.
>>>
>>>It would be nice to have something to take to developers, indies,
>>>home-coders to say lots do want this - it's not just us few people
>>>contacting you! And a few years down the line if we're still getting no
>>>where - but have everything in place that we can do - then maybe the
>>>political path is the way to go.
>>>
>>>Let's face it - in 50 years - accessibility in software will very likely be
>>>legislated for (and let's hope it will be so much easier to bring into
>>>being) - so Robert's not so far off the mark. It's just so.... slow....
>>>
>>>What do you think re. the gentle petition?
>>>
>>>Barrie
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>games_access mailing list
>>><mailto:games_access at igda.org>games_access at igda.org
>>><http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access>http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>games_access mailing list
>><mailto:games_access at igda.org>games_access at igda.org
>><http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access>http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>games_access mailing list
>games_access at igda.org
>http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist7.pair.net/pipermail/games_access/attachments/20071205/da924839/attachment.htm>