[games_access] Accessible Menus

Wed Jun 27 10:12:55 EDT 2012

In addition, If the game is computer based, make sure the menus are 
accessible to screen readers .  If a menu is in a Dbox structure, it is 
not accessible to screen readers.  They can just see the title of the Dbox.

Eleanor Robinson
7-128 Software

On 6/26/2012 4:45 PM, Barrie Ellis wrote:
> Really good points on watering down, and also issues on overly complex 
> menus. I'd love to see some deeper guidance written up to help people 
> with menus. I get the feeling that a lot of people hate creating menus 
> for games, so some good guidance would help a lot. A few wishes...
> 1. The menu can be navigated using the gameplay controls. Nothing 
> extra needed.
> 2. Option to have a simplified menu system. (Not seen much evidence of 
> this, but SAAB did with a "Night Panel" button, and I remember 
> removing the ability to quit).
> 3. Icons/symbols to represent key options (avoid pure text).
> 4. Spoken menus option.
> 5. Digital controls a possibility.
> 6. Alternative controller access to menus.
> Something a number of players have issues with is in starting games, 
> getting lost in menus and quitting accidentally. Always good to give 
> people protection from this when possible. Especially with one-switch 
> games from experience.
> Barrie
>
> *From:* Ian Hamilton <mailto:i_h at hotmail.com>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 26, 2012 12:05 PM
> *To:* games_access at igda.org <mailto:games_access at igda.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [games_access] Game Accessibility - How to we get 
> there?(Dimitris Grammenos)
>
> Elusive business case - it's immensely simple to achieve. Record the 
> cost of feature development, attach analytics to features, compare 
> cost of development to usage and player value. Obviously it only 
> applies to features that are controlled by options and only apples to 
> features that have a significant impact on being able to play, but if 
> all of us push for them in any games work we're associated with then 
> we'll get some useful aggregate data pretty quickly.
>
>
> Every one of those things (tracking costs, analytics, player value) is 
> already standard practice.
>
>
> Homogenizing and watering down - Dimitris, I've dropped you an email 
> separately about having a proper chat as I've been putting your 
> universally accessible game design principled into practice 
> (referenced here: 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/10/something_special_makaton_out_about_universal.html ). 
> I'm not permitted to share stats unfortunately but the end result 
> produced some really quite astonishing statistics proving conclusively 
> that the addition of the options produced something that was massively 
> more popular for the entire audience, rather than diluting it.
>
>
> There is a balance to be had between number of options and complexity 
> of interface (presets / advanced helps greatly with this), but in 
> general it just means providing a means to remove barriers that cause 
> difficultly for a great many people, disabled or otherwise, and not 
> removing fun or gameplay.
>
>
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:25:39 +0300
> > From: "Dimitris Grammenos" <gramenos at ics.forth.gr>
> > Subject: Re: [games_access] Game Accessibility - How to we get there?
> > To: "'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List'"
> > <games_access at igda.org>
> > Message-ID: <001b01cd537d$a7ef55f0$f7ce01d0$@ics.forth.gr>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >
> > First of all let me express my great pleasure of seeing such a vivid
> > conversation taking place again in our list!
> >
> > Now, I'll try to be brief - honestly.
> >
> > 1) Standardising information and symbols related to accessibility is 
> a good
> > thing - But I think using the wheelchair icon is a little bit 
> misleading, as
> > well as not very "sexy" from a marketing point of you. Why not using a
> > symbol that focuses on the fact that this game has extra 
> capabilities - use
> > a highly positive sign? E.g. have you seen all those labels on food 
> products
> > that have extra vitamins, minerals, etc? They are full of colorful plus
> > signs. I think accessibility capabilities should be advertised 
> similarly.
> > For example, you have "Football game" and "Football game++". The 
> notion is
> > that you get more for what you pay. "Play anyway you like" - I guess 
> you get
> > the idea. Else, game developers might be afraid that buyers will wrongly
> > perceive that their game is targeted to people with specific 
> disabilities.
> >
> > 2) In this respect, I agree with Richard's approach, that if we want to
> > "mainstream" accessibility then we need to see it from a game
> > features/capabilities perspective and not from a disabilities point 
> of view.
> > I believe for example that many people would like to know if a game 
> can be
> > played using an alternative controller, if it supports scalable 
> difficulty,
> > subtitles, etc.
> >
> > 3) I don't believe that legislation is the answer to game accessibility.
> > Obviously, finding that "elusive" business case would be the best. 
> So, one
> > thing we can do, and now it seems that we are many, we can try to 
> look for
> > it, or collaboratively build it up.
> >
> > 4) Ablegames and Gamebase are already doing a great job regarding game
> > reviews. I do not know if it would be possible to access mainstream game
> > magazines and offer to write for them a condensed version of your
> > accessibility reviews using less disability-oriented terminology, so 
> that
> > gradually accessibility gets mainstream in practice, but most 
> importantly
> > becomes integral part of their readers' "game culture".
> >
> > 5) It seems that there is a fundamental misunderstanding among people in
> > this list that game accessibility is about "homogenizing", "watering 
> down",
> > "lowest common denominators", etc. This - to some extent - may be 
> true for
> > the "real world" due to physical constraints, but in the digital 
> world it is
> > the exact opposite. Game accessibility is about freedom, diversity and
> > multiplicity of choices. It is about playing a game the way you like and
> > prefer, not about everyone playing the game exactly the same way 
> (what is
> > the current situation). It is about adapting to the player. So, 
> unless this
> > is completely made clear, then just like in our list, people who are 
> fully
> > supporting game accessibility, maybe skeptical about the extent to 
> which it
> > can and should be pursued. If you have some time you can have a look at
> > these:
> > - Unified Design of Universally Accessible Games (Say What?). URL:
> > http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20061207/grammenos_01.shtml
> > - The Theory of Parallel Game Universes: A Paradigm Shift in Multiplayer
> > Gaming and Game Accessibility. URL:
> > http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060817/grammenos_01.shtml
> > - Universally Accessible Games & Parallel Game Universes" (206 
> slides) PDF
> > format(15MB)
> > 
> http://www.ics.forth.gr/hci/ua-games/docs/DGrammenos_Universally_Accessible_
> > Games_and_Parallel_Game_Universes.pdf
> >
> >
> > I'll be back for more :-)
> >
> > Dimitris
> >
>
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