[games_access] We must get data sooner than later

[Reid Kimball]

Great, because looking over the stats Thomas posted, I'm afraid those
are out dated by now? I don't know, but I'd like us to investigate if
we need to update our figures. Then we need to come up with some
"talking points" so that we can effectively debate the issue and back
up our claims with the correct stats. Maybe write an article talking
about the stats. Most of our articles I think have mostly been using
the emotional approach. Not that the emotional/moral approach isn't
working, I think it is, but it doesn't work for everyone we talk to
and we'll need stats to convince those other people.

-Reid

On 5/3/07, hinn at uiuc.edu <hinn at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> Let me ping my mentee from this year's GDC -- her fiancee works for the US Census and might be able to get us more pinpointed stats that are more specific than the 16-64 year old range! He's also a statistician, which is what we need. I'm a qualitative researcher...I'm a "words" person ;)
>
> Michelle
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Thu, 3 May 2007 10:53:50 -0700
> >From: "Reid Kimball" <reid at rbkdesign.com>
> >Subject: [games_access] We must get data sooner than later
> >To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
> >
> >Kotaku posted the Quest video on their site
> >http://kotaku.com/gaming/games-for-all/clip-making-games-more-accessible-256981.php
> >
> >One comment from a poster:
> >"The problem is that it's not cost effective to tweak and add special
> >options and controls for disabled gamers. The amount of time, effort,
> >and money it takes to add all that doesn't produce a financial reward
> >in the end for the company who makes the game because disabled gamers
> >aren't exactly a sizeable demographic."
> >
> >I see this point made over and over again and no one knows the truth.
> >We really need to find out the truth. I'm hopeful the facts will
> >reveal that in fact it will be very cost effective for developers.
> >
> >Dimitris, do you have any data on how much it cost you to add all the
> >accessible for Terrestrial Invaders vs. how much the game would have
> >cost if you left them out?
> >
> >Does anyone have any good research skills? I've tried before to find a
> >recent statistic on how many disabled people there are in the US,
> >Europe, Asia, and so on. Ideally we'd have the following stats,
> >
> >in each territory US, UK, Europe, Asia, etc
> ># of disabled blind
> ># of disabled deaf/hard of hearing
> ># of people with any mobility issues, from arthritis to quadriplegia
> ># of cognitive disabled
> >
> ># of male populations that play games
> ># of female populations that play games
> >
> >Age groups of people that play games
> >
> >Any more categories? I'm hoping with all the data we can piece things
> >together and say something equivalent to, "we know that 30% of the
> >male population between the ages of 16 and 33 in the US, which is
> >25,000,000 mil, of those 10% are blind, 25% have some type of hearing
> >disability and shockingly 35% have mobility impairments. Then we can
> >break it down into actual estimated numbers. We really need some way
> >to combat these assumptions that there isn't a market and it's not
> >cost productive.
> >
> >I spent zero money developing Doom3[CC]. It only took time on nights
> >and weekends while I worked a full time job. It has been downloaded
> >over 19,000 times since release. If I had charged $5 dollars for it I
> >could have profited $95,000 dollars. That's a one year salary for a
> >talented programmer in some parts of the US, who could make huge
> >impacts at a company.
> >
> >-Reid
> >_______________________________________________
> >games_access mailing list
> >games_access at igda.org
> >http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
> .......................................
> these are mediocre times and people are
> losing hope. it's hard for many people
> to believe that there are extraordinary
> things inside themselves, as well as
> others. i hope you can keep an open
> mind.
>  -- "unbreakable"
> .......................................
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