[games_access] The Human Controller

Tue Jun 10 16:29:19 EDT 2008

Wow, awesome! Thanks for the feedback, I think you are the only person
outside of MIT to have actually read this. Comments below.
Eitan

On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 6:48 PM, Barrie Ellis
<barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk> wrote:
> Hi Eitan,
>
> I've read through your thesis "The Human Controller"...
>
> Had these thoughts...
>
> Didn't like some of the language used. "Suffering from - impaired people -
> handicapped". All pretty crusty old terms with negative connotations.

>>>EG: Point taken. Any suggestions for better terms?<<<

>
> Not sure about the controller analysis in Chapter 1 - there's been Driving
> controllers and light guns since the 70's for many games consoles - which
> are fairly natural feeling interfaces and have been popular in the past.
>

>>>EG: I guess in chapter one I'm trying to draw general strokes about UIs, saying that they generally weren't adopted by a mainstream audience. Perhaps I should make this more explicit, though<<<

> "Even if it is possible to remap controls it is not always advisable to do
> so. Frequently part of the fun of a game is the interface, and changing it
> without forethought is potentially detrimental. In the pervious example of
> Wii Sports tennis part of the fun is actually swinging the controller as if
> it were a racket. If this functionality were changed to pressing a button
> then much of the game's charm and fun would be lost.". I'm not happy with
> this statement personally - I'd like to see multiple-layers of accessibility
> (much like Dimitris "Parallel Universes" theory). Why can't a four player
> game of Wii Sports allow player 1 to use the Wii-remote - player 2 to use a
> standard JoyPad - player 3 to use a single button and player 4 to use an
> adapted Wii-remote with blue-tooth stereo head-set to relay personalised
> timing sounds (think of live singers having a click track that only they can
> hear) in an ideal world? You mention this type of thing later as if it's a
> good thing - so I find this early statement a bit overly negative.
>

>>>EG: I agree with what you say, which is why I discuss such themes in chapter 2. I guess the reason I have that negative statement early on is because I wanted to acknowledge the tradeoff early on, even before I get to the sections on tradeoffs. I also wanted to make it clear that I don't feel accessibility is a magic bullet, even if it is almost always applicable.<<<

> "Games have evolved tremendously over the past few decades, as advancements
> in technology have led to amazingly realistic and engaging offerings, while
> shifts in player demographics indicate the widespread popularity of video
> games. Despite these changes many different disabled groups are still unable
> to play most titles due to inaccessible UIs.." - Would argue that too. I'd
> agree that most Blind gamers would be in that boat (those with very little
> usable sight) - but a better statement might have been "many different
> disabled groups are faced with deeply frustrating barriers with many
> main-stream games". I know Deaf gamers might struggle at certain points of
> certain games - and gamers using a single button frequently have to rely
> upon a friend/helper to take on extra controls and so on - but they can
> still play.
>

>>>EG: Good suggestion, thanks! I might make a change to the argument on the online version.<<<

>
> Chaper 2
>
> "Game controls should be as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Not
> really sure what you're saying here.
>

>>>EG: Simplicity is good, but you don't want to go overboard. You don't want to cut out critical game elements or features in the name of a "cleaner" UI. Maybe that's not clear? <<<

>
> 2.5 "a rhythm title like Guitar Hero which focuses on music will not work
> for the hearing impaired, and it is probably not possible to make an
> accessible version." - I don't agree with this. Deaf gamers as a whole
> covers a very broad range of hearing ability. There will be many deaf gamers
> perfectly able to play Guitar Hero. Even those unable to hear at all might
> enjoy such a game - did you see Deaf Gamers 8.5/10 review score:
> http://www.deafgamers.com/07reviews_a/gh3_x360.html
>

>>>EG: Wow, I flubbed this one. I'm going to have to change the language on this. Good catch, thanks!<<<

> But aside from this, I frequently found myself in full agreement with the
> majority of your thesis - and did enjoy reading it. Thanks for making it
> publicly available.
>

>>>Great, thanks so much!<<<

> Barrie
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eitan Glinert" <glinert at mit.edu>
> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 10:50 PM
> Subject: [games_access] The Human Controller
>
>
>> Good news, everyone! In a surprise twist, I'm graduating! I know a lot
>> of you are interested in my thesis, so you can check it out at
>> web.mit.edu/glinert/www/thesis . I'm happy to answer questions about
>> it, and I welcome feedback (both positive and negative). Special
>> thanks to Dimitris, Eelke, Michelle, and Reid for all their help
>> answering my questions over the months.
>>
>> In case you're not sure whether it is worth reading, here's some more
>> info:
>>
>> TITLE: The Human Controller: Usability and Accessibility in Video Game
>> Interfaces
>>
>> ABSTRACT:
>> Despite the advances in user interfaces and the new gaming genres, not
>> all people can play all games - disabled people are frequently
>> excluded from game play experiences. On the one hand this adds to the
>> list of discriminations disabled people face in our society, while on
>> the other hand actively including them potentially results in games
>> that are better for everyone. The largest hurdle to involvement is the
>> user interface, or how a player interacts with the game. Analyzing
>> usability and adhering to accessibility design principles makes it
>> both possible and practical to develop fun and engaging game user
>> interfaces that a broader range of the population can play. To
>> demonstrate these principles we created AudiOdyssey, a PC rhythm game
>> that is accessible to both sighted and non-sighted audiences. By
>> following accessibility guidelines we incorporated a novel combination
>> of features resulting in a similar play experience for both groups.
>> Testing AudiOdyssey yielded useful insights into which interface
>> elements work and which don't work for all users. Finally a case is
>> made for considering accessibility when designing future versions of
>> gaming user interfaces, and speculative scenarios are presented for
>> what such interfaces might look like.
>>
>> Eitan
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>
>
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