[games_access] Game accessibility survey journal article

Eelke Folmer eelke.folmer at gmail.com
Tue Jul 6 12:21:44 EDT 2010 

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll pass it along to Bei.

On 05/07/2010, Steve Spohn <steve at ablegamers.com> wrote:

> Actually 7-128 software and the AbleGamers foundation put out a white paper
> on those statistics which can be found at
> http://www.aging.ablegamers.org

Good point. Unfortunately this whitepaper came out a few weeks ago and
our paper had been accepted for publication sometime in November of
2009, upon which we were unable to include new material.

> As a side note, I find one thing disheartening about research papers is that
> I have gotten to know several thousand disabled gamers in my multiple year
> career fighting for disability, as I'm sure many of you have. Yet, these
> type of papers tend to lump gamers into generalized categories that are only
> vaguely accurate at best.

I understand your point. However, as game accessibility is a
relatively young field, rather than coming up with our own categories,
we follow guidelines as set out by the community of universal access
researchers see:
http://www.sigaccess.org/community/writing_guidelines/

Best Eelke




> Subject: Re: [games_access] Game accessibility survey journal article
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Just finished reading the Game Accessibility survey. Very good! I found the
> bulk of it really smartly explained, with excellent diagrams and tables.
> Very useful. Very Nice!
>
>
>
>  My 10 pence worth...
>
>  p7. 3.1.1: One-handed controller typically provides only one analogue
> input... Apart from the Wii, the only game console one-handed controllers in
> recent production I'm aware of have both analogue sticks available (Access
> controller and "one hand controller" -
> http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/1/AGS/AGS-onehand.htm).
>
>
>  p8. 3.1.2: OneSwitch.org.uk isn't actually non-profit, although there is
> tons of free stuff. Over 100 one-switch games now for free. Thank you for
> the mention!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  p9. 3.1.3: Frogger - all good points about this game, but might have been
> worth mentioning that you can move left and right, when you hop on the
> moving logs and turtles.
>
>
>  p14 3.5: Universal design does not indicate that all impairments are
> supported, but rather that multiple types of impairments are supported... I
> always thought it did, but simply hasn't been managed yet. Doesn't seem to
> make sense to me otherwise.
>
>
>  p16: For example, a one-switch racing game does not allow the player to
> brake or speed up because certain input options may have been removed to
> allow for one-switch
>  input... Can be done. Using the 4Noah utility and Destruction Derby on a
> PSone emulator, at Kit 4 Kidz in Leeds earlier this year, we had tap to
> cycle between left-nothing-right-nothing-(and repeat) for
> steering, and hold for a couple of seconds then release to cycle between
> accelerate-nothing-reverse-nothing-(and repeat). Because
> Destruction Derby has helpful barriers all around the track to help keep you
> on course, plus a self-righting system if you get spun in the wrong way,
> it's quite playable for someone with really accurate one-switch skills. You
> could also have a game with auto-braking (e.g. F355 Challenge and Forza 3),
> and perhaps Mario Kart style speed ups on the track.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  p16 4.3: ...severe motor and visually impaired players can only play games
> within a limited number of game genres. Popular game genres [20] such as
> strategy, sports and role playing games are not yet available to those
> groups. Unlike hearing impaired players, severe motor impaired and visually
> impaired players typically face critical barriers preventing them from
> playing the game.... I guess it depends upon the degree of visually
> impairment, but wonder if some of these would be playable:
> http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/sd-sport.htm ?
>
>
> My final thoughts links to the lack of games for cognitively impaired
> players. I do agree that it's a complicated area, but when taking into
> account learning disabled users, I'm surprised only a handful of games were
> found:
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.helpkidzlearn.com/games.html
>
>
> http://www.graemesfreegames.com/
>
>
> http://nanogames.com/index.htm
>
>
> http://www.inclusive.co.uk/catalogue/acatalog/switch_friendly_games.html
>
>
> http://www.priorywoods.middlesbrough.sch.uk/page_viewer.asp?page=Free+Program+Resources&pid=161
>
>
> http://www.scottmckay.com/
>
>
> http://www.marblesoft.com/products.php?group=1
>
>
> http://www.shinylearning.co.uk/
>
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/games/switch/
>
>
>
>
>
> In my experience, a lot of more severely "learning disabled" people have
> reacted well to some one-switch games, or games that use relatively simple
> interfaces, such as eye-toy and basic joysticks. Some of course get on
> better than I do with complicated games.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
>
>
> Barrie.
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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>
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>
>
>  --------------------------------------------------
>  From: "Michelle Hinn" <hinn at uiuc.edu>
>  Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2010 9:02 PM
>  To: "IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List" <games_access at igda.org>
>  Subject: Re: [games_access] Game accessibility survey journal article
>
>  > I've read the article and it is very, very good! Because the permissions
> are owned by the journal, he cannot post it online because they (Springer)
> are very strict with permissions. But he can send you a copy as he said. :)
> Eelke didn't mention it but he's second author on it and although it goes
> without saying...the quality is excellent!
>  >
>  > Michelle
>  >
>  > On Jul 4, 2010, at 1:53 PM, Brannon Zahand wrote:
>  >
>  >> Eelke,
>  >>
>  >> Can I get a copy as well?
>  >>
>  >> Thanks,
>  >> Brannon
>  >>
>  >> -----Original Message-----
>  >> From: games_access-bounces at igda.org
> [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of
> Kestrell
>  >> Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 7:15 AM
>  >> To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
>  >> Subject: Re: [games_access] Game accessibility survey journal article
>  >>
>  >> Eelke,
>  >>
>  >> May I request an electronic copy of your student's paper on game
> accessibility?
>  >>
>  >> Thanks!
>  >>
>  >> Kestrell
>  >>
>  >>
>  >> ----- Original Message -----
>  >> From: "Eelke Folmer" <eelke.folmer at gmail.com>
>  >> To: <games_access at igda.org>
>  >> Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 2:13 AM
>  >> Subject: [games_access] Game accessibility survey journal article
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>> Hi,
>  >>>
>  >>> For those of you interested in: 1) a comprehensive overview of
>  >>> academic literature on game accessibility; 2) a synthesis of
>  >>> strategies used to make games for sensory, motor and cognitive
>  >>> impairments; and 3) data on how many people in the US are unable or
>  >>> limited in playing video games per type of impairment, a journal paper
>  >>> called: "Game Accessibility: a Survey" written by my student Bei Yuan
>  >>> is available online at:
>  >>>
> http://www.springerlink.com/content/a0273kw751q71332/?p=3116a648a3a545a5b5f805933963a70f&pi=0
>  >>>
>  >>> Email me offline if you would like a copy of this paper and you don't
>  >>> have access through a university library.
>  >>>
>  >>> --
>  >>> Best, Eelke
>  >>>
>  >>> Eelke Folmer
>  >>> Assistant Professor
>  >>> Department of Computer Science and Engineering
>  >>> University of Nevada, Reno
>  >>> http://www.eelke.com
>  >>> _______________________________________________
>  >>> 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
>  >>
>  >> _______________________________________________
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>  >> games_access at igda.org
>  >> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>  >
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-- 
Best, Eelke

Eelke Folmer
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Nevada, Reno
http://www.eelke.com

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