[games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News

[Eitan Glinert]

It is law, at least federally:
http://www.section508.gov/

The gov't doesn't regulate private industry in this regard, and I don't
think lobbying is going to change that. The best way to get through to
industry is to show profitability; do so, and others will follow.

That said, I understand that many people spent a lot time working on the
proposals, and that it's sad that most got rejected. I also know that our
SIG's acceptance rate actually isn't that bad, GDC rejected *tons* of talks
this year, since so many people want to speak. So try not to worry too much
about talks that didn't get in, and let's focus on making the most out of
what we've got!

If we're concerned with low talk attendance numbers, let's figure out a new
way to sell this so that we can increase the number of people who show up
for our presentations.

Cheers,
Eitan

On Nov 30, 2007 9:10 PM, Robert Florio <arthit73 at cablespeed.com> wrote:

> Perhaps we should take the Hillary Clinton path?  Start soliciting or
> lobbying senators for a change.  Backed up by leading government and
> university research backing petitions to get the industry to respond by
> law?
> It is dramatic but it will be very effective.  Honestly it should the law
> I
> think.
>
> No if and or buts about it.  That's the job of our government to stand up
> for people who can't speak for themselves.  Countless other committees
> have
> gotten together and did speak up for those who couldn't, making sure that
> their rights were heard.  If the largest conference in the world will
> ignore
> us maybe we can get someone on our side that they can't.
>
> I have to say it really is disappointing to see the low numbers of
> attendees
> at that conference.  And then hear the response just walking around
> talking
> to developers they just seem clueless.
>
> Robert
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org]
> On Behalf Of Reid Kimball
> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 7:05 PM
> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News
>
> Talking to other audiences is fine and valuable but we can't abandon
> the main games industry. We've made a lot of progress. You can't see
> it right now, but I know we have. People have heard of us, they've
> seen our work. That's step one. Steps two and three will come. It
> often takes 10 years for an industry to adopt radically new ways of
> thinking and unfortunately, accessibility does complicate the design
> and tech requirements which requires developers to think differently.
>
> On Nov 30, 2007 3:01 PM, Thomas Westin <thomas at pininteractive.com> wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > just want to add I've started to become a bit cynical about GDC after
> four
> > years of low number of attendees. I'm also disappointed by this, but for
> > other reasons than the GDC judges
> >
> > Let's not forget GDC is just one conference, although the biggest it's
> > perhaps not the best - low numbers of attendees is really not our
> problem,
> > it's the industry's problem, that they can't see the importance of
> > accessibility for the future of the industry. We're here to help, but
> since
> > the industry (with a few exceptions/individuals) isn't listening at GDC,
> > they do listen elsewhere.
> >
> > I'd say we should aim for other conferences where people have interest
> and
> > time to listen to us. FuturePlay was a great success; let's focus on
> similar
> > conferences where we can succeed rather than getting disappointed at
> GDC.
> >
> > /Thomas
> >
> >
> >
> > 30 nov 2007 kl. 20.00 skrev d. michelle hinn:
> >
> >
> >
> > Well, there's lots to do, that's for sure. We also can't forget that
> some
> of
> > us (you, me, Richard, others) were hit by the GDC flu and/or had to go
> to
> > hospital (my kidney nightmare) and the selection committee doesn't allow
> you
> > to petition for that. That DRAMATICALLY impacted a lot of our sessions
> and
> > Idol went way differently than we'd planned for. So we had a lot of bad
> luck
> > last year that isn't the fault of anyone -- but it did impact how our
> > proposals were viewed.
> >
> >
> > As a group, we just need to remember that we are a group. We are a
> volunteer
> > group. But we are a group and we do a lot! And every time we get a
> chance
> we
> > have to remember to talk about the group. Sure, we all have individual
> > goals, jobs, lives, etc -- but if we all remembered to mention that we
> are
> a
> > part of this group, this movement, I think it would go a long
> > way....especially when it's something good! :)
> >
> >
> > Michelle
> >
> >
> > Sounds like a challenge.  It's too bad there was a bad reputation now
> about
> > our group.  Just feels the fighter though to get the word out about our
> > initiatives even more.  Still baffles my mind like game accessibility is
> > just not excepted at all by the mainstream game design community.  Until
> > someday, some mainstream game designers are injured and can't find their
> > favorite games anymore and then we'll see.  But apparently the last 20
> years
> > they've all been pretty invulnerable.
> >
> > Robert
> >
> >  ________________________________
> >
> > From: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:
> games_access-bounces at igda.org]
> > On Behalf Of d. michelle hinn
> >  Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 12:48 PM
> >  To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
> >  Subject: Re: [games_access] GDC 2008: VERY Bad News
> >
> > Hey,
> >
> > The only feedback I've gotten was informal from people I know who work
> there
> > -- the sessions weren't judged on content as much as based on low
> numbers
> of
> > attendees and a lot of bad press from GDC07 (many people on the advisory
> > boards for each section (audio, design, etc) gossiped, Idol participants
> > complained...and, yeah, that web archive was mentioned -- google, etc
> are
> > not our friends). So we live and learn. I'm not going to go into
> specifics
> > because it will hurt us to go into it and we don't need that -- There's
> too
> > much to do and we cannot spend the little time we have until GDC08
> talking
> > about what happened after GDC07. I know I brought it up because, yes, I
> was
> > angry that morning because the low number of acceptances for this year
> was
> > what I was afraid might happen. But I was also angry because I really,
> > really killed myself over the proposals for this year.
> >
> > Unfortunately, it's not academia so they won't ever provide us with
> concrete
> > comments or a feedback page about what we could have done
> better/differently
> > or even what they hated. And it's not a blind review either. Basically
> this
> > year we need to atone and re-earn respect as a group. >From what I've
> heard,
> > however, if you have never had a proposal accepted that you turned in,
> they
> > were EVEN MORE likely to not take a chance on your proposal...so I guess
> we
> > are lucky that we got three sessions (two were solicited but even those
> went
> > through a bit of a review as well).
> >
> > So when you say you can pay your own way...do you mean that you want to
> buy
> > your own pass?
> >
> > We'll have accessibility arcade and the meet and greet to show some
> stuff
> at
> > -- we won't have as much room but we should have stuff for people to
> look
> at
> > and some of the stuff are great conversation starters. So we won't need
> as
> > much this year -- my broken controller (the Quad Controller that has now
> > been broken TWICE by airport security so it really looks bad) is quite
> the
> > conversation piece. I think I could have just carried that around at
> > FuturePlay all day to get the word out about accessibility! :D
> >
> > Michelle
> >
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I'm sorry to hear about the passes. I'll be driving from Reno to SF so I
> can
> > take all my accessible hardware if need be. (If there is space to demo
> > them?)
> >
> >
> >
> > Michelle, did they provide us with specific feedback on those proposals?
> > what were the main criteria for not accepting them?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I can pay my own way to GDC since I have some money left from my grant
> that
> > I need to spend before august, after UNR decided not to approve my
> travel
> > request to Futureplay. Besides it's cheap for me to go there anyway.
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers Eelke
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 27/11/2007, Reid Kimball <reid at rbkdesign.com> wrote:
> > While this is isn't the ideal situation it's not a total loss for the
> >  group and we have to work within our resources to do the best we can.
> >
> >  If only three of us can come, then I suggest we don't bring any
> >  hardware accessories. Instead, let's create flyer's and brochures
> >  about the accessories. Maybe even produce videos of people using them.
> >
> >  I also recommend that because we are a smaller group this year, we try
> >  to have personal meetings with game developers to talk about how we
> >  can help them.
> >
> >  -Reid
> >
> >  On Nov 27, 2007 12:25 PM, d. michelle hinn < hinn at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > Ok...
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > So remember when I was writing for days straight for all the GDC
> > submissions
> >  > without a whole lot of help? All submissions have been accepted now
> so
> we
> >  > have some bad, bad music to face. I never did put up all the final
> >  > submissions on the WIKI -- I was too tired after the deadline and it
> > doesn't
> >  > matter as much now. I'll get them up for archive reasons.
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > Well...we've been hit by reality this year. I hate to bring this up
> again
> >  > but I feel that I have to -- A lot of public word got out about our
> big
> >  > post-GDC fight last year (it's archived on the net...). I'm not
> saying
> > that
> >  > it was any one person or any one comment -- I can't even look at the
> > archive
> >
> > > without beating myself up about it because I felt like I had really,
> > really
> >  > let everyone down. I got the proposals and the passes but I couldn't
> make
> >  > our showing work in the best way possible. I couldn't be everywhere
> >  > advertising our sessions. I was far from perfect, we were all far
> from
> >  > perfect, we had big dreams but not enough people doing the work. I'm
> not
> >  > saying everything goes back to that but we had a big year last year,
> had
> >  > more than enough passes for everyone...and that was then. It's hard
> for
> >  > me...well, it's very sad for me to realize that we had it so great
> last
> > year
> >  > and we didn't recognize it, we didn't have enough real help when push
> > came
> >  > to shove (or suitcase pulling came to suitcase pulling back and forth
> > every
> >  > day to the convention center). All the "should of" "would have"
> "could
> > have"
> >  > things are coming back to haunt me. I stopped flogging myself about
> this
> > a
> >  > while ago and thought that I had come to peace with it but I realize
> now
> >  > that I still haven't stopped flogging myself about not being
> superhuman.
> > I
> >  > know. I know. Stop it.
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > So...we only had one proposal accepted. All the acceptances are in
> now.
> >  > Reid's [cc] poster (downgraded from a 20 minute talk but I think this
> > will
> >  > get more people) submission.
> >  > [ https://www.cmpevents.com/GD08/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=6456 ]
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > The other two were IGDA solicited (ie, they did not go through the
> > system)
> >  > -- accessibility arcade and the SIG meet and greet. That buys us two
> more
> >  > passes -- one is mine since I'm SIG chair and one was for Eelke for
> the
> > meet
> >  > and greet because he helped on the proposals.
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > I'm going to try and talk to everyone I can think of to try and get a
> few
> >  > more passes because one of those is a roundtable and was solicited by
> > IGDA
> >  > (that was NOT in the proposal process) and it's accessibility arcade.
> To
> >  > pull that off, we need more people. I hope that this gets us a few
> more
> >  > passes.
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > The booth is out of question unless we can get some SERIOUS money
> FAST.
> I
> > am
> >  > trying every angle I can think of but so far no luck. The booth SPACE
> > costs
> >  > $5100 for 10x10 booth -- add on about $3000 more for the "required"
> > minimum
> >  > of stuff we have to provide...no way. IF we get an expo booth it will
> get
> > us
> >  > more EXPO passes, which will restrict those with these passes to just
> > being
> >  > able to get into the expo area (no talks, etc). That's the reality.
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > I'm sorry to have to tell you this and I'm sorry for the
> anger/sadness
> in
> > my
> > > tone. We are not going to be able to bring everyone we want to. I
> cannot
> > say
> >  > when or if I'll hear if we can get more passes. I know some of you
> have
> >  > already made flight and hotel arrangements. If you are one of these
> > people,
> >  > please check with your airlines, etc for the last date to cancel
> without
> >  > penalty.
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > So three passes...that's it. That's where we are at. I will let you
> know
> > if
> >  > the pass situation changes but for now it doesn't look great. We now
> have
> >  > fifteen fewer passes so those of us in attendance are going to have
> to
> > try
> >  > and talk our asses off at GDC.
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > Michelle
> >  > _______________________________________________
> >  > 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  --
> >
> >
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >  Eelke Folmer                           Assistant Professor
> >  Department of CS&E/171
> >  University of Nevada              Reno, Nevada 89557
> >  Game interaction design        www.helpyouplay.com
> >
> >
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
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> >
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