Hi everyone, As moderator and an interested party I've read almost everything written on the "frustrated with the blind gaming community" topic and it seams to me one of the biggest issues here is clear cut communication between those who are in the know and those who aren't. There are a lot of myths expressed by many of the VI gamers who don't have any experience with mainstream games. I'd say most if not all of the myths are based on ignorance of what the other side is trying to say.
For example, let's take the term "vidio game." One person said that the word "vidio" meant that you had to have sight to play these games because the word "vidio" is a visual term. This is not necessarily true. To start with obviously vidio games have graphics and animation. However, that isn't the beginning and ending of the game. There are sounds, music, etc that have become extremely realistic over the past ten to fifteen years or so. This means as things like 3d audio have advanced and games use wav files instead of beeps and so on it has made it more possible for us to listen carefully and play a number of games through sound. Nobody is saying this is easy, but that it is possible. The second issue is types of games. It is not really possible to pick up a first-person or third-person vidio game and begin playing it by sound because of complex level layouts, too many items to find/pick up, and over all it is just very very complex to manage without sight. Although, I have actually done it after an insane amount of practice. However, this doesn't mean there aren't vidio games we can't just pick up and play. There are wrestling games like Smackdown VS Raw that is fairly playable without sight. There are the music games like Guitar Hero and Rockband that can be played with some practice. There are fighting games like DC VS Mortal Kombat that are fairly accessible to play with some practice at it. There is a very good reason why the fighting genre of games in particular are fairly accessible to play by a blind individual. First, someone said, "it isn't very strategic to keep punching when the enemy is on the ground." That wouldn't happen for one very good reason. In a fighting game you can hear the enemy fall and hit the ground. If you know what that sounds like you aren't going to stand there mindlessly kicking and punching thin air. You'll know they are on the ground by the sound he/she makes when they fall. Okay? The second issue is someone said, "if you have already been punched you can't block it." Again this indicates ignorence of how advanced these fighting games are. There are actually two attack sounds. There is the sound of the punch, kick, whatever coming and there is the sound of it connecting with your body. If you are paying attention, listening carefully, you can hear the attack coming and either attempt to dodge it or block it in some way. In this way even though you can't physically see the attack coming on screen there is plenty of audio queues to give you advanced warning of what is happening. Basically, what I'm saying is the main reason guys like Yohandy are into playing these fighting games is it can be done, and there is plenty of audio queues and sounds to make it more than possible to do totally blind. It is cases like this were vidio has nothing to do with weather or not you can play it because the audio really is fairly equal to what is happening on screen. Finally, there is the issue of menus and things like that. Yeah, this is something of a hastle. It takes a bit of memorization, but there are work arounds. One way is simply to take a sheet of braille paper, put it in your brailler, and type up a list of what every menu item is for this or that game. Sure it isn't as straight forward as a talking menu, but it is an easy work around for a problem. One way I look at this is to look at it this way. How many times have you gone to a regular store like K-Mart, Wal-Mart, etc and purchased a standard board game like Monopoly or picked up a deck of playing cards, taken it home, and brailled up the game. I've done it many many times. I never purchase games through Independant Living aids, because I can do exactly the same thing for a fraction of the cost with a braille writer and a roll of dimo tape in most cases. This is what I mean by there are work arounds. All of us are blind living in a sighted world. Most of us by now have figured out if we want to do something bad enough it can be done. I'm not saying playing mainstream games like Street Fighter, DC VS Mortal Kombat, etc is for everybody. No, I know it is not. However, for those who are a bit curious, perhaps interested at looking at it, you should give it a try. For those who aren't interested, but constantly make uneducated comments like, "I don't want to stand there punching at air while the enemy is on the ground," please stop. All you are doing is muddying the water with your uneducated point of view. To make it clear "if you don't have anything constructive to say don't say it at all." Thanks. --- 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/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
