[games_access] GDC: in retrospect

Tue Mar 13 15:29:18 EDT 2007

I agree -- And I'm sorry that I threatened to punch you in the face, 
Eelke. Like that was going to work out well for me having to stand on 
the table to come close. Yikes. But as I said, that wasn't the right 
moment to talk about it (right after the last session when I was half 
dead) for me.

Yeah, while San Fran was fun, GDC was not. I didn't see a single 
session that I wasn't in. Not one. And I only was at the expo twice 
for a meeting each time. I didn't even get to walk around the expo 
floor. So my $2000 pass was completely wasted on me because I didn't 
go to anything. So yeah, I'm frustrated and my ego is getting in the 
way -- or at least the part where I take things personally. I'm 
trying to resolve that and I'll need help from everyone.

Michelle

>These kinds of discussions are valuable, I hope no one takes anything
>we discuss personally. We're all invested in this cause heavily and
>hopefully our egos don't get in the way. I think there are a number of
>areas we should identify that need improvement, such as
>
>- Communicating our message
>- Advertising our events
>- Developing and sharing resources
>- Creating industry partnerships
>- any thing else?
>
>Once we identify these areas, we can form plans/goals within each
>domain to help become successful in those specific areas.
>
>Eelke, I'm interested in seeing your ideas. I wouldn't say we are
>doing anything "wrong" but we can certainly improve. I agree that we
>need to help Michelle more. As she showed this GDC, she's capable of
>doing it all, but I bet it wasn't fun for her.
>
>-Reid
>
>On 3/13/07, Barrie Ellis <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk> wrote:
>>
>>
>>I think we need to build upon our past work - no doubt about it. And
>>definitely we need to plan our promotion in advanced in a more organised
>>way, without leaving everything on Michelle's doorstep.
>>
>>We do need to simplify what we are asking for from main-stream developers. I
>>think the concept of making all games highly accessible to all bamboozles
>>developers.
>>
>>Why don't we press for some of the things we'd most like to see, that are
>>easiest to implement, that would benefit more gamers - then stick to that
>>doggedly. For developers wishing to expand further into accessibility - we
>>should make that easy to understand too.
>>
>>I'd love to see us have some examples knocked up of generic games made
>>highly accessible with explanations, perhaps using the Design Patterns
>>format that Eelke uses:
>>http://www.eelke.com/research/accessibility.html
>>
>>Perhaps we should be demanding/developing guidelines for:
>>
>>Reconfigurable controls.
>>Consideration for alternative controllers/reduced controls.
>>Good menu design.
>>Speed control.
>>Some kind of Accessibility marking system.
>>
>>I think is plenty to be asking for to start off with.
>>
>>We need to keep building, but also become more and more transparant.
>>
>>Barrie
>>www.OneSwitch.org.uk
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: Eelke Folmer
>>To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
>>Cc: chris at chrisquinn.com
>>Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 7:59 AM
>>Subject: [games_access] GDC: in retrospect
>>
>>
>>Hi Everybody,
>>
>>
>>I hope everybody recovered from GDC and made it safely back home. I enjoyed
>>seeing everybody again and finally meeting up with some people in this SIG
>>(Reid/ Robert) that I hadn't met before.
>>
>>
>>First of all a big disclaimer: this email is not meant to hurt anyone or
>>crush anyones ego.
>>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>That being taken care off, I'd like to open up the discussion on the future
>>of this SIG, because frankly I am a bit worried where we are heading. First
>>of all, Michelle and numerous other SIG members have done a very good job
>>organizing all sorts of events in the past, but we can't ignore the fact
>>that the attendance at our events is still very low. This lack of attendance
>>(and I'm not even talking about how people rate our events) will affect our
>>ability to organize more events in the future. The media coverage we had at
>>this GDC is good, but whether that will reach the people that we are trying
>>to influence is open for discussion, unless will wright's parents watch
>>local tv ;-)  I wonder whether the time spent in front of the camera could
>>have been better spent handing out flyers for accessibility idol (like I
>>originally suggested to).
>>
>>
>>When only 25 people (of which 10 left) attend our top event (accessibility
>>idol) I think we cannot ignore the fact that we are doing something wrong.
>>We can blame the low attendance on poor scheduling but considering the large
>>number of events (6 in total) opening up a room with no talks scheduled, out
>>of 15.000 people present at GDC at least the same number of people should
>>randomly walk in. Now I don't know about figures in the past since I have
>>only joined 6 months ago (which I heard were even lower) but even "growing"
>>at this rate is not acceptable, because that would mean that we have to wait
>>until GDC 2020 before we have a 100 people, meaning that gears of war 5 god
>>of war 6 will still be inaccessible until then.
>>
>>
>>Accessibility is important now and the sooner we are successful the better
>>for gamers with disabilities. People pay good money to attend this
>>conference and they demand high quality talks that are beneficial to their
>>organization, we should recognize that. There is no reason to put the blame
>>one anyone, as no doubt everybody's intentions in this SIG are excellent,
>>but I think we fail as as an organization if we don't look back upon our
>>past events and identify what works and what doesn't work and let's all
>>decide on a shared vision on what we should organize, where, why and how. In
>>my opinion we have done the same trick over and over again without the
>>desired success. We tried to sell accessibility into different formats and
>>it still doesn't work, the low attendance of accessibility idols being proof
>>of that. We have the message but we don't have the audience. Why do we still
>>work on the message and not focus on getting the audience?
>>
>>
>>I have outlined a plan (which I dub ACCESSIBILITY 2.0) consisting of 5
>>action points & clear goals that will put this SIG back on track, make it as
>>successful as other SIGS (education/writing),  increase the attendance at
>>our events, and putting accessibility on the roadmap of game developers like
>>we set out to.
>>
>>
>>Before I share my vision with you i'd like to know whether I'm alone in the
>>observation that things should change. I don't want to waste anyone's time
>>and If people are happy to continue along the chosen path, I respect that.
>>Someone else has a different vision? share it!  at least the benefits of
>>writing this email is that we have a dialogue on the future of this SIG,
>>which can only be good, because we all want accessible games right?
>>
>>
>>Cheers Eelke
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Eelke Folmer                                          Assistant Professor
>>Department of Computer Science &       Engineering/171
>>University of Nevada                         Reno, Nevada 89557
>>Game Quality
>>usability|accessibility.eelke.com
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>>  ________________________________
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>games_access mailing list
>>games_access at igda.org
>>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
>>
>_______________________________________________
>games_access mailing list
>games_access at igda.org
>http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access