[nabs-l] drastic change for video games

Sat May 29 01:55:41 UTC 2010

I love games.  Audiogames (which are getting quite a bit better), MUDS
and online games have allo taken quite a bit of my time.  :)  So I
have a cople thought.
First of all, the MUD thin isa problem sometimes because, as VAlory
said, most of them I'e played have had mostly blind people.  That
means small player base, most people having out of character drama,
etc.  Another problem, maybe worse, is the time you have to put in to
the games to be any good.  I remember one MUD I played whre you had to
spend weeks and weeks, hours each day, before you could compete fairly
with the top people in the game.  Maybe that's unavoidable, but I
don't like it.  I prefer a game where, after a few hours, I can at
least put up a fight.
Next are the online browser games.  These are usually really
accessible, and usually have a large, mostly sighted player base.
But, as with the MUDS, the people who have been playing longer
automaticly have the edge.  And, the interfaces usually get
predictable similar and boring.  I'm still looking for a text-based
browser game which is (A) entertaining and (B) realisticly fair.  Any
gamers out there have ny suggestions?

On 5/28/10, Ignasi Cambra <ignasicambra at gmail.com> wrote:
> I agree. Especially when it comes to open source software, I find that
> developers are willing to improve accessibility if one approaches them with
> a positive attitude. It's useless to tell them "you didn't do this and
> that". If you tell them that their software is great, but this and that are
> missing for it to be fully accessible, they will generally listen.
> On May 28, 2010, at 3:01 PM, Joe Orozco wrote:
>
>> I've found my own preferred online strategy game which I've enjoyed
>> playing
>> alongside sighted people.  I e-mailed the developer to give him my
>> complements, and even though he did not take accessibility into account
>> when
>> writing the program, he is now taking accessibility into account when he
>> releases the next version.  In general though I have found that writing to
>> companies and complementing their efforts really is a big boost for their
>> morale and helps them continue to make their products screen
>> reader-friendly.  It's one method I hope to put a tiny dent in this
>> over-priced adaptive technology market.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Joe
>>
>> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
>> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
>> [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Valerie Gibson
>> Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 10:26 AM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] drastic change for video games
>>
>> YAY, fellow gamer! :D
>>
>> I totally aggre with you.  But just as annoying as it is for me
>> to not be able to go out anb buy the same games my friends are
>> playing, it's equally, if not more, frustrating to play a
>> multi-user dungeon with NOTHING but blind people on there.  I
>> only say that because:
>> 1.  My sighted friends don't seem to understand teh concept of
>> muds, which is odd considering all their visual online games
>> came from the MUD.
>> 2.  The blind community is smal in comparison to the rest of
>> the world, and the game world is smaller in comparison to the
>> RL world. These two things combined is an ideal breeding ground
>> for dramma caused by people who can't separate RL from RP
>> (traditional or "hack and slash").
>>
>> And now that i've vented, i just hav eto say that i think
>> bridging the gap would be ideal, so that sighted people could
>> fight alongside the blind players in a MUD, or, so that we may
>> venture into the world of warcraft, secondlife, etc without
>> thinking, "oh, this is a game for blind people".
>>
>> One final thought, I am sort of impressed at some of  these
>> browser based games out there, that are completely acccesible
>> to the blind, and yo have mostly sighted players, compared to
>> the mud, which is more complex in my oppinon.
>> On May 28, 2010, at 8:49 AM, Josh wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> As I said before, first we gotta change the law. second,
>> decide on a standard for audio game programming. third, make a
>> good solid game company, made of multiple people, assigned
>> their own task or tasks to make game creation more effective.
>> perhaps collaborate through skype and dropbox. next change the
>> law so games in a specialised format for people with
>> disabilities may include sounds story lines plots music and
>> characters from video games as longg as the game is in a
>> specialised format for people who are blind visually impaired
>> or similar disability that prevents them from playing that
>> brand new accessible video game console.
>>> now, when the company has enough money, the company should
>> save some. now use that money to develop your own game console,
>> or take a standard console, re-flash and modify it for
>> accessibility by disabled people. now go to game conventions
>> and show off your new game console. eventually my brother and
>> sister's generation, and even my generation will get old, lose
>> eye-sight, and won't be able to play their favorite video
>> games. so lets make a kind of national library or international
>> library service nls for video games in specialised format.
>> Sorry guys I'm not a programmer, just putting out ideas. now to
>> make a great game, lets compare it to a book. a sighted person
>> can go out and read a harry potter book, get it in print, I can
>> sit down beside that person with my audio book or braille book
>> from nls and read it, talk about and enjoy it along with my
>> sighted friend. so lets incorporate that into games. first,
>> lets put games on instead lets put them on blueray disks, lots
>> of space, or maybe 32gig flash drives, read only flash memory.
>> lots of room there to store data. when a blind person wants to
>> play a game with his or her sighted friend, the person plugs
>> headphones in, the game turns on accessibility mode when the
>> console detects headphones plugged in. Point is we can't have
>> one guy here and another there trying to do it on their own. a
>> company, an organised company has to be started with both short
>> and longterm goals. laws gotta be changed so we can make and
>> sell good high quality games, we gotta take our games to the
>> conventions and really mount a presence there. weneed the nfb
>> and ACB both involved in this. who cares if you like them or
>> hate them point is they're a big big organizations and they can help!
>>> but will they?
>>> now if blind people can help design accessible games, game
>> consoles, and the like, working for soni or EA-games that'd be
>> great! for too long here is how we made games. on guy starts a
>> game company, uses visual basic, another starts his own company
>> uses a different language and another and another. most of
>> these die very fast because its usually too much work for one
>> guy to make a really good game or he doesn't have the skills.
>> we gotta organise, and either push game companiess to include
>> accessibility, or organise and make one or two big game
>> companies, have a standard, assign tasks, make our own or
>> modify existing game consoles for accessibility. not only will
>> it be enjoyable for the player but it'll make new jobs
>> available, and let the sighted community know by our presence
>> at gaming conventions that we want to be included in the video
>> game fun as well.
>>>
>>> Josh
>>>
>>> --
>>> Josh Kennedy jkenn337 at gmail.com
>>>
>>> --
>>> Josh Kennedy jkenn337 at gmail.com
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
>> info for nabs-l:
>>>
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/valandka
>> yla%40gmail.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
>> info for nabs-l:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/jsorozco
>> %40gmail.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nabs-l:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/ignasicambra%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/kirt.crazydude%40gmail.com
>