Hi Thomas and all. This is a really interesting topic. I have noticed over the years of working with many different people who are blind that the amount of spatial awareness that they have varies greatly. As you say, it is possible that your having had sight helped you to retain this awareness but it is strange, sometimes people that I work with who were formerly sighted have absolutely terrible spatial concepts, they can't tell you what a 90 degree angle is, etc. as one friend of mine says she can get lost in a closet. It is people like this who are unfortunately never going to like the complex fps style games we are talking about, they are going to just walk around in circles and lose track of where they are and get totally frustrated and give up. I am a total myself and have been told by several O and M instructors that I have unusually good spatial concepts particularly for someone who has never really seen. I used to have good light perception when I was a kid, I could see light and dark and color and track motion but did not have the resolution to really tell what something was. I pretty much just ran around with the sighted kids riding bikes and skateboarding and all the other stuff they did, so perhaps this has contributed to my spatial awareness, I am not sure. In any event, I agree with what you said in another message, I would definitely like to see even more realism in fps style games where things like targetting are concerned, games like SOD and tank commander have made an excellent start and I love them both but there is definitely room for improvement. Just as an example, I find the gun ranges on TC to be way too limited. The main gun on an Abrams main battle tank has a range of 4 to 5 kilometers if memory serves but you are limited to only 1 kilometer in TC. Of course, this would mean increasing the size of the sectors which would not be a bad thing.
Oh well, I've gone on long enough for one email, have a good day everyone. Game on. Tom -----Original Message----- From: gamers-boun...@audyssey.org [mailto:gamers-boun...@audyssey.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Ward Sent: Saturday, December 26, 2009 9:52 AM To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: Re: [Audyssey] The future of Blastbay Studios Hi Yohandy, No, your situation isn't all that unique. I've often wondered why so many VI gamers have problems playing games like Shades of doom when I don't have any serious navigational issues with it. One factor could be that Shades of Doom was intentionally designed as a complex maze which isn't the best introduction to an FPS environment, and the other may be just a lack of 3d special orientation. I often attribute my abilities in this regard to having had vision for many years so I have very defined 3d special orientation that comes in handy in those types of games. I actually feel a bit confined when playing 2d games like side-scrollers as they lack more complex movements and realism than a full FPS game offers. Take targeting as an example. In a side-scroller you have up, down, left, and right for your directions. For the most part all you have to do is face the right direction, shoot a weapon, and you'll hit your target. In an FPS game you actually have to calculate a 3d trajectory to the target. So not only does the character have to be facing the right way you also have to raise or lower the weapon accordingly in order to sight the target, lign it up, and hit it. In this way a FPS game more accurately simulates firing a gun, bow and arrow, whatever. I really dig stuff like this, and would like to see this kind of realism in more VI games. Not even Shades of Doom has gone far enough to include this degree of realism in the game yet. Cheers! Yohandy wrote: > Thomas, > I actually have this navigation problem as well, and I must say I > really hate it. There's nothing I'd love more when it comes to gaming > than playing a full-out 3d game, but I probably wouldn't do to well on > it. they sound so awesome though. this is not only a problem for me > with games, but for real mobility as well. I seem to need a lot more > training than most blind people and it frustrates me to no end. I > actually thought it was a unique problem for me since my blind friends > have really good navigational skill, but I guess it isn't. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
