Hi Dark. I agree with every one of your points, and it was certainly not my intent to imply that all persons in their 60's or older are useless or computer illiterate. Quite the oposite in fact, this is the point I make very day to my students most of whom are in that age group that many many seniors are embracing this technology and there is no reason whatsoever why they should not do so as well. My main reason for bringing up the demographics is merely to point out that many though certainly not all people in that age group either feel that the whole gaming thing is something for the younger people or they are simply not interested. Most of them are not going to go out and buy a copy of something like Shades of Doom or Mota even assuming they know that these things exist. Yes I know there are going to be exceptions but these organizations work on trends and statistics and numbers.
Oh I totally agree with you about the asabat stuff I would not pay anything for it even if I had any interest in card games, nor would I let any of my students waste their money. Lastly yes I agree that we need to do whatever we can to at least try to alter the situation. Best regards and game on. Tom -----Original Message----- From: gamers-boun...@audyssey.org [mailto:gamers-boun...@audyssey.org] On Behalf Of dark Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 11:48 PM To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: Re: [Audyssey] The importance of patronage Hi Tom. What you say about demographics is perfectly true, however there are several points to considder. Firstly, even if we assume that all older blind people over the age of 60 (which if I remember rightly is roughly %75 of all blind people), will only be interested in traditional games, there are far more (and imho far better), examples of those sorts of games than just Azabat available, however sinse Azabat have this image of only appealing to computer novices and have got the backing of the rnib etc that's all people here about. Take blackjack. Azabat are selling blackjack for 13.5 usd. For this you get a game with comparatively few sfx, and recorded speech. In fact the only bennifit I can see in azabat blackjack is the use of graphics. Che however has a far more interesting version of the game available for far less where you can play against others online. if the online aspect is too complex, equally good free versions exist, and personally I don't think the ability to run directly from the cd, ---- which seems Azabat's main selling point, is worth the money (especially sinse it's not difficult to setup a shortcut key for someone to use (which would actually be easier, no chance of dropping the cd ;D). So, even in that field things are covered. Then however is the point that in fact not all people over 60 are automatically useless. I've for instance encountered players in core exiles who are in their 60's, and the lady who lives next door to me uses her pc to do some quite complex things with art and pictures, despite being in her 80's. Heck, my dad is over 60 and loves racing, tank or plane sim, and puzle games (if he lost his site he might very much enjoy some of the racing audiogames available). I actually thinkorganizations like the rnib are far too! insistant on promoting people's helplessness. Pluss if they are like the Rnib they simply forget that that %25 of younger blind people even exist! then, there is the fact that you mentioned, that it won't be so long before some people who grew up in the 60's and 70's start losing their site as well, and certainly they will want computer games to play (I've made the same arguement to the rnib about recording more sf and fantasy books, though they've not listened). My point is, even with the demographic, things are stil i think far too overblown and unknown about, and it really is a situation we should try to alter. Beware the grue! dark. --- 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. --- 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.