Hi Dark, Yes, I think suing Sony falls into that type of catagory because it is making demands without the party offering anything substantial in return. If we expect Sony, Nintendo, E.A. Games, or anyone else to listen to us we need to do our part too. We need to research the issue and first find out if what we want is technically and financially possible, and then present our case to them in a reasonable manner. We'll get further if we actually have a researched case with technical examples rather than suing with no real idea how our demands can or should be implemented, because their argument is going to be no it isn't possible for reason x. Therefore we have to be able to convince them otherwise. Which is the problem with the Sony case.
The person who sued them made demands that access features be implemented, but from what I can tell from the public records he and his lawyer hhaven't got a clue how such features could or shold be added to their existing titles. It sets a bad president because a company isn't going to respond positively to that kind of case unless you have concrete proof that this or that can be done, and that isn't going to cost them a fortune in gold to do it. One of the things we need to do is come up with simple quick solutions they can implement right away. How about a targeting indecator that lets a blind player know if the weapon is lined up for a kill shot? What about having a double beep to indicate the top of a menu and a single beep for each menu selection? How about a few sound files that speaks the color of the health bar, and other graphical status messages? As I said not all the changes we would want or need have to be complicated. We just need to get those points to the people who count so they can implement them. Access doesn't mean big expensive rewrites or complicated changes to make certain games more or less accessible. Here in the U.S.A. the U.S. armed forces has a basic rule regarding the rules of engagement. Quite simply do not fire unless fired upon. This is a very good rule to follow in life as it keeps you out of trouble. When handling big fortune 500 companies like Sony and Nintendo it applies equally true. If we get together and file a class action lawsuit against Nintendo, Sony, Activision, Lucas Arts, and anyone else you want to add to the mix their p.r. people are going to try and make it look like we are making unreasonable demands. The press can go both ways with a case like that, and although it is a civil rights issue it will probably look like we are being too demanding, expecting handouts, or whatever.Some of us do have the attitude society owes something to us, and that will definitely get communicated to the public. Now, if I wrote a game like Jedi Knight, Super Marrio, Castlevania, Megaman, or some other high profile game and got sued over it that would be a different story. I'd probably get public sympathy, because I'm just an average blind Joe, minding my own business, and not harming the company and getting attacked. if I counter sued them I think public opinion would be on my side as the company would clearly be in the wrong for not creating accessible games in the first place, and then not being available to be contacted about access issues in the second. It is a totally different dinamic as far as I'm concerned. Of course, this is all theoretical, but I don't think those companies really want to sue a blind person for that fact. It would doubtless bring about a lot of bad p.r. Cheers! --- 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].
