Hello, Chris and everyone. I've certainly found the responses to my article interesting. You are correct in thinking that I wrote it before Tom arrived on the scene and picked up the torch for us. I have every confidence we're in for a great game from him and am glad to see that Ron's taken some constructive criticism very well. "Editor's note" was a phrase I found particularly useful for adding in my own comments where appropriate or directing people to more up-to-date information. I actually wrote the article the day after James announced that Monty was dead.
I can certainly agree that trust between developer and gamer is absolutely essential and that James ultimately did a lot to undermine that trust. However, the community did a lot to antagonise an already heavily taxed individual in some pretty nasty life circumstances. In more ways than is generally known, missing out on family time and potentially missing priceless and irreplaceable time with loved ones was indeed what the community unknowingly demanded from him. I was honoured that he confided in me as events unfolded. A lot of folks simply saw a man who missed release dates and failed to keep promises. I saw the tortured man behind all that who despite being totally burnt out and disheartened, still cared enough to want to leave a better legacy to the gaming community. In my book, that kind of effort and intention counts for a lot. I've always felt that we get far more with the carrot than with the stick particularly where areas like this are concerned. Being creative just isn't a resource like muscle power which can be drawn upon regularly. It's tied into so much else including one's general happiness or lack thereof with the rest of life. I would certainly like to see game developers keep to deadlines and be able to conduct their business properly. This should certainly be the norm. I don't dispute Chris there. I simply think that we must make room for unusual circumstances and keep a proper sense of perspective. During my life, I've seen far too much grief come to people due to a lack of this perspective. A whole lot of good will has been lost thanks to this tendency to look only at results and not at the human factors surrounding them. Sadly, the blind community as a whole is, I think, both more prone to be a victim of this tendency of western society and also more prone to perpetrate it on others due to an incomplete grasp of life's complications. I'll use our current situation as an example. We're on the waiting list for affordable housing and have been for around four years now. This certainly has a profound negative effect on our lives. I certainly have days where I feel that my wife and I are far more deserving of having an affordable place to live than many who do and who abuse theirs. It often seems like the only way to speed things along would be to provoke a crisis of some kind. There are seemingly spots available for people in dire circumstances. However, a moment's reflection prevents me from envying the majority of people who will receive affordable housing before we do. I've been around enough people going through very hard times to appreciate our relative good fortune. We have very supportive friends and family who understand that we're doing our best to live worth-while lives. Others I've known aren't nearly so fortunate. I have enough empathy to look beyond my own stresses and appreciate those of others. It would be fantastic if the kind of change Chris advocates for would take place in the accessible games market. I'd love to be able to actually have a shot at making a living helping to produce accessible games. I don't think I could do it as a game developer since there's just no way I can produce high quality games fast enough. I'm an artist/visionary at heart and programming is always going to be a painful process even with an already produced game engine. If I could make money for my game designs and ideas, that would suit me far better. Things just aren't like that though and aren't likely to change that much within my lifetime. I certainly have some hope that a way will eventually be found to dramatically increase overall awareness of accessible games beyond our current community. As the variety of available games increases, more people will be drawn in. I think another thing standing in our way is that despite a staggering unemployment rate in the blind community overall, people who fund the computers and access technology available to the majority of blind people do this from an employment perspective. Computers aren't seen as things which can entertain, enhance one's personal life, etc. They're seen and treated as work tools. That puts us at a tremendous disadvantage. Breaking through that barrier alone would do the accessible games industry a lot of good. Michael Feir Creator and former Editor of Audyssey Magazine 1996-2004 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Bartlett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Blind Gamers Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 9:40 PM Subject: audyssey: Michael Feir's heartfelt and excellent article in Issue #47 > 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 > > > > > to leave send a blank Email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > You can contact the list owners/moderators by Emailing > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > to go nomail send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > change "nomail" to "normal" to resume messages. > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > to leave send a blank Email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can contact the list owners/moderators by Emailing [EMAIL PROTECTED] to go nomail send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] change "nomail" to "normal" to resume messages. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindgamers/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
