[games_access] Ideas for GDC 2008

Fri May 25 11:22:02 EDT 2007

I would much prefer to hand out fliers to people without having a loud
protest. I don't want to see people used as props. I think people
would be annoyed by our presence when they are outside trying to have
conversations.

On 5/25/07, Barrie Ellis <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk> wrote:
>
>
> I think this kind of thing can be effective. I know in this country D.A.N.
> (The Disability Action Network) handcuffed themselves to buses and the
> railings of parliament when they were protesting about the lack of access in
> public transport. I would say that transport is now a lot better in this
> country - not solely for their protests - but I think they helped sway
> oppinion. D.A.N. is very quiet/non-existant these days - but many of the
> activists from D.A.N. got absorbed by councils and so on with jobs where
> they could make changes from within. It would be great if more disabled
> people started to get jobs out of a GDC campaign and could make a difference
> in a similar way.
>
> Barrie
> www.OneSwitch.org.uk
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Eelke Folmer
> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 3:09 AM
> Subject: Re: [games_access] Ideas for GDC 2008
>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
> I think I pitched this idea sometime ago when we were having this big
> conflict ;-) but I'd like to pitch it again because I seriously would like
> you guys to consider this.
>
>
> It's pretty obvious after the low turnouts of our events that game
> developers are just not interested in what we have to say so why don't we do
> something more rebellious and just shove the facts in their face? My idea
> for next year's GDC would be to stand right outside the Moscone center
> (between the north and west pavilion where at least 5000 game developers
> walk by) with a number of disabled people holding signs saying WE WANT
> ACCESSIBLE GAMES.  If we really want to get attention I think this is what
> we should do. At the same time we can hand out small flyers. Lets make four
> different little flyers (so people can collect or trade them ;-) (combine it
> with the persona idea)  for each disability one little flyer which obviously
> states a) a problem b) a solution(s).  E.g. "tim" is a quadripleghic, sees
> gears of war on tv all the time but can't play it because it doesn't support
> his quad controller (maybe not use names of existing games not to piss of
> epic studios). Solutions :  "allow configurable keys and map actions to
> different buttons & use autoaim to minimize the amount of interaction".
>
>
> I don't know if you would be into this, or whether it would be appropriate
> but I think its an idea at least worth exploring.
>
>
> Cheers Eelke
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 23, 2007, at 1:25 PM, d. michelle hinn wrote:
>
>
> The main thing to consider (worry about) is that the fewer sessions we have
> (and the expo doesn't count), the fewer passes we get that allow us to get
> into the main part of GDC. So we reallllly have to think about the number of
> sessions we could realistically do (and perhaps this means that the SIG
> sponsors sessions that are meant for, say, "research on accessibility" that
> just a few people take and run with). So...I need to be
> tricky...er...innovative. ;)
>
>
> Michelle
>
>
>
> I like something along these lines for a GDC session title,
>
>
> Innovation: True Next Generation Gameplay for Everyone
>
>
> However, it risks sounding like marketing hype and devs see right
> through that. Anyway, this could be our "wow that's cool shit" type of
> presentation where we talk about the Demor sound based game for the
> blind and Brain Fingers and the Haptic device. We try to make this as
> flashy and cool as possible, even if tech isn't 100% there or games
> widely available. It should be entertaining for people who like to see
> what's around the corner and educational in showing people that there
> are those with disabilities that can't play their current games.
>
>
> Aside from that, I'd like to try the Expo booth more than a GDC
> session. There's only a few ways I can talk about closed captioning
> and I think I've tried them all.
>
>
> -Reid
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 5/21/07, d. michelle hinn <hinn at uiuc.edu> wrote:
>
> Ok...so now's the time to get the write ups going for the proposed
> SIG sessions for GDC 2008 (it always takes us a bit to get things
> finalized and GDC is even earlier in 2008) and I some ideas that I
> want to run past people.
>
>
> We've talked a lot already about applying accessibility to how it
> would help people that don't have a disability (like curb cuts that
> help bicyclists and parents with baby strollers, etc). What if we had
> a session called "Innovation: Game Accessibility for Able Gamers"
> with the session planned around taking what we know about
> accessibility and targeted the solutions for the "abled" in order to
> help them out by taking them out of the lull of "boring, predictable
> gaming"? This would be a session for the really "out there" stuff
> like biofeedback and games like demor. When I presented at last
> year's Montreal Game Summit, I found that it was the "wow" stuff that
> got people thinking about the whole issue of accessibility being
> "cool" -- it was the carrot that got them to listen to the more basic
> design information. After that, people came up to talk to me about
> how they never thought about accessibility as NOT limiting game
> design.
>
>
> I'm not totally sold on the title (I just came up with it now so
> catchier titles would be greatly appreciated!) but it would give us a
> way to present accessibility information pertaining to disabled
> gamers, sell it as something that helps more than just disabled
> gamers without straying too far from the fact that we are the game
> accessibility SIG.
>
>
> Another thing to think about is not how gamers is with disabilities
> are limited but, instead, how maybe the increased skill in another
> area makes them even MORE competitive and so "able" gamers should
> know about these -- it's a turn around of telling them what they are
> doing RIGHT in games by pointing out that they could even the score
> with regard to accessibility by keeping these things in their games
> (I know...that last one's trickier because it could lead to a
> developer thinking that they are unbalanced in their gameplay by
> making things easier for one user group...even though they already do
> that when they are INaccessible).
>
>
> I've seen how easy some find it to forget the original audience that
> a design was aiming for by making changes that end up not serving
> that original audience. So that's why I remain resistant to totally
> taking the word "accessibility" out -- I'm afraid of NOT reminding
> the industry to keep gamers with disabilities in mind because it's so
> easy for them to come down with selective amnesia. We've tried a LOT
> of tactics over the years -- from serious to humorous, from
> roundtables to much more ambitious workshops. So we need to think
> about what we've learned from the four years we've presented as a SIG
> at GDC. We won't do "accessibility idol" again but I think we
> *should* do another competition (and we can again -- we got the
> tentative "thumbs up" to do an hour-long competition, rather than the
> two hour overkill). I'll write another email about ideas for a
> competition that removes us from "idol" but helps us better make
> accessibility into a challenging creative design process rather than
> this "forced, non-creative" thing that it's rumored to be (and this
> year I know to jump on the signage and web advert issue immediately).
>
>
> BUT...as a SIG I think we should stick to a fun competition (with the
> devs that showed interest last year but couldn't do it but can this
> year), the expo (with the fall back of another "arcade" thing, only
> not three days worth), a "wacky session" like "innovation," and some
> sort of longer session (like a tutorial) where we can have "short
> burst" info about the things that SIG members have been doing -- ie,
> Eelke might take 20-30 minutes to discuss his stuff, Dimitris taking
> the same amount of time to overview his latest, Barrie and his stuff,
> etc, etc, etc. Then if any one person wants to do a longer
> presentation on their own stuff, they can do so at their own session,
> promoting it at the SIG workshop. And if it helps, we can present the
> more solo-acts as SIG-sponsored sessions to make sure it gets on the
> schedule better -- I know Reid and others have had a really hard time
> getting onto the schedule as solo acts. But in the end the longer
> presentations would be the onus of the person who is presenting their
> work and not something that the entire SIG needs to be there to set
> up for, etc (that doesn't mean that we all wouldn't try to be there
> for them!!).
>
>
> We learned in March that 78.4 SIG sessions (ok, 8) isn't the way to
> go but I also think going back to the single roundtable isn't the
> answer either. So now we have to find our happy medium that allows us
> to all ATTEND other sessions and help increase the buzz about all of
> our sessions, our existance, etc but also maximize our limited
> (simply by the fact that there are just a few of us that can make it
> to any one GDC) efforts in the sessions that we do. And we have to
> find our happy medium so it's not just a couple of us pulling
> all-nighters the weeks before! So instead of me being in charge of
> every session for the organization, we can share the wealth a bit by
> having some on the committee for the competition, others on the
> tutorial/workshop committee, and so forth. I realize that we aren't a
> big lot but even NON attendees can help serve on committees to help
> share ideas!
>
>
> Ok that's the end of this email that had started out short and sweet.
> :) Sorry -- just feeling the GDC pressure and I realllly want to get
> as many people involved as possible so we can present a more united
> effort and help best support one another!!
>
>
> Thoughts? Reactions? And, yes, I'm now very removed from the emotions
> of GDC 2007. :) But please be thoughtful in your suggestions --
> underneath that black leather jacket I keep wearing to GDCs (for good
> luck?), I can get rather down sometimes (yay! depression!) and I'd
> hate for us to have a flame war. I promise I will count to 10 before
> hitting the "send" button if I find myself taking things too
> personally. Ok, deal? :)
>
>
> Michelle
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Eelke Folmer                                          Assistant Professor
> Department of Computer Science &       Engineering/171
> University of Nevada                         Reno, Nevada 89557
> Game Quality
> usability|accessibility.eelke.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
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