Dark said -" While it's possible that, if in 20 or 30 or so years when gamers start losing their vision the major companies will take notice (and even then probably not), I doubt very much it'll happen in the mean time."
It won't take nearly that long. The 2010 ESA Essential Facts paper indicated that 26%of the gamers are over 50 years old. Since over 40% of people 65 and older report at least one disability(US census data), and the baby boomers are sixty or older, there are a lot of gamers who need accessibility options built in now and in the upcoming years. Obviously this is not all blind and VI problems, but it should mean something to mainstream developers that they are losing potential customers, right now, not 20 or 30 years from now! And it will only increase as the trend for older folk to play games continues!
When you add the older gamers to the mix it becomes a little easier to think about profitability if you add at least some accessibility accommodations to your games.
But our paper, Gaming on a Collision Course didn't manage to convince many developers that they should go that route - some of the blog comments were pretty derogatory!
Eleanor Robinson 7-128 Software --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. 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/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
