I'm a little hesitant to respond to Michael Feir's excellent article about
the demise of James North's efforts to provide games for the blind. This
subject seems to provoke deep and irrational emotional responses from many
in this community, and their usefulness has long passed. I also had no
stake in the outcome as none of the titles (with the possible exception of
Raceway) were titles in which I had any interest. I'm not for the most
part an arcade gamer, preferring tactical and strategic simulation gaming.
I have watched the various discussion threads on these topics with
bemusement and horror and for the most part stayed above the fray. But,
while I agree with much of what Michael had to say in his eulogy for
ESP/Alchemy, I draw very different conclusions from his about one thing.
To paraphrase our difference, Michael appears to advocate the position that
we cannot hold the developers of accessible games to the same standards
that the gaming industry in general is held to in terms of professionalism
and business practices. I believe this position is entirely corrosive of
the good relations he and I both hope for between the developers and
consumers. If developers know from the get-go that they will be held to
usual standards of quality and professionalism, it will avoid many of the
problems that everyone, including James North ran into during this long and
sorry episode.
But these people are doing this out of the generosity of their hearts, have
lives, etc, etc. True enough, and you notice I am not demanding that
people put their lives on hold, bring their spouses to madness, miss their
children's baseball games or anything like that. It's a pity that we have
to wait so long between releases, but while accessible games are for the
most part produced by one-developer shops, this is unavoidable and should
absolutely not be held against them.
That all being said, I look at GMA, PCS and USA Games which all operate
under the same conditions that ESP/Alchemy did. I have never heard anyone
expressing dissatisfaction with their slow product releases or customer
service after the sale. I remember multiple complaints about not only the
release dates fiasco, but service after the sale, and I remember my own
Alien Outback experience where I waited over a week for my authorization.
It's really pretty simple, and doesn't require any extraordinary resources
in order to maintain good relations between developers and gamer consumers,
who have a right to expect a few things from the developers. The recipe
for success seems to begin with putting out a quality product, which
doesn't have to necessarily be the game that takes a DVD to install, has
942 levels, etc. Top Speed is not as complex as I gather Raceway will be,
but it's a fun game that has certainly created quite a stir and a lot of
enjoyment. Developers who are open about what's going on with their
development earn loyalty and patience, except from a very few people who
are frankly idiots who should be chained into mail bags with heavy rocks to
be thrown off the Golden Gate bridge. There are idiots in every
group. There are unsocialized barbarian children (not all children in this
group fit this characterization, but we know who they are.) But I
digress. After the sale, developers who are collecting money need to have
gotten their act together about collecting money, distributing
authorizations or shipping CDs whichever is appropriate.
And that's really mostly what it's all about. These are the things I
require out of any company I am going to spend money supporting. I do not
think this is rampant consumerism, nor do I think any of those expectations
are unreasonable, even for people who are doing us the favor of providing
games.
Finally, I do not believe that the business model that has been used up to
now is the only one that could be developed. I think (as I have stated in
a previous long post,) that there needs to be a sea change in the way these
games are marketed. I don't think they can compete with the sightling
games of similar genres, so I think the whole put graphics in the games
concept is flawed. But there are millions of blind/partially sighted
people just in the United States. Why are game sales only in the hundreds
of units? What is the top selling game and how many units were sold?
The reason this matters? If one can ramp up the market numbers, one can
afford to have larger shops and produce more complex games in a timelier
fashion, perhaps even employing people full time to do the production, just
like the big boys of game development do. It is in that future world and I
think only in that future world where the diversity and complexity of games
available to us will match our desires. That should be the goal of the
development community as a whole, to find ways to crack the vast market
that remains untapped. That is the road from charitable hobby to
profitable business, with benefits for developer and consumer alike.
I feel for Michael's sadness and disappointment in our community. I
understand his anger, though I disagree with one fundamental premise of his
heartfelt article. I think that most of us, (the irresponsible firebrands
excepted) share his frustration and sadness, as well as his wish for a
healthier, more vibrant community. That health comes from both sides. I
also think things may not be as bad as he thinks. So we don't get
pre-order options anymore? This is no great loss. Obviously people are
still writing games, Top Speed, Soundoku, Wrecking Ball (all free and each
appealing to a good chunk of the present community) have all come out since
the Monty demo that occasioned such grief for Michael. We're not dead in
the water yet. Let the sorry past be past and concentrate on the future.
Christopher Bartlett
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