[games_access] The Human Controller

Wed Jun 11 02:54:28 EDT 2008

Hi Eitan,

I actually disagree with Kestrell's "people first stand point" with "people 
with disabilities" (although I did used to use it myself). I've long since 
prefered "disabled people" linking to people being disabled by society / the 
inaccessibility of their environment.

Take a look through this item: 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3708576.stm.
Plus this on the Social Model and Medical Model of diability: 
http://inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/inclusionweek/articles/socmod.htm

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kestrell" <kestrell at panix.com>
To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:42 PM
Subject: Re: [games_access] The Human Controller

> Eitan,
>
> I seem to have missed your original post in which you posted the link, but 
> here are some thoughts on language and disability:
>
> Certain words and phrases tend to really be button words, as in they will 
> typically hit many readers' buttons, and the phrase "suffering from" is 
> definitely one of those phrases. Often the phrase can be deleted 
> altogether, leaving the phrase "people with disabilities" or "people with 
> visual impairments" or "visually-impaired gamers," etc. The informal rule 
> is that the individuals you are discussing are "people first," as 
> mentioned in this online article
> http://iod.unh.edu/press.html
>
> and here is a link which includes links to writing about disability, 
> language to use in interviewing people with disabilities, and more 
> resources
> http://ncdj.org/links.html
>
> Kes
>
> ---- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Eitan Glinert" <glinert at mit.edu>
> To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 4:29 PM
> Subject: Re: [games_access] The Human Controller
>
>
>> 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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