Hello All, I have been a member of this list since 2000 or 2001, whenever this list in all of the many forms was begun. I have also been a business owner, a professional musician, and now work as a computer trainer for blind and sighted individuals. As you may guess, since I am on this list, I happen to be totally blind, and have been so for my entire life of 36 years.
Like it or not, we as blind and visually impaired individuals, exist in a sighted world. Choke it down. Get used to it, and get over it, and get with it. So, what does this all mean for any of us blind gamers? Plenty! Whether we like it or not, we are viewed differently by the sighted world. Differently? What does that mean. Well, to me, I have seen sighted gamers say things like, well, they can play text games. Or, well, why do the blind even need to play games like us anyway. Ok, that really stings to read such comments, but it is due to an ignorance of most of this sighted world. Yes, I said ignorance. Not stupidity! Too often, people mix up ignorance and stupidity, and call it at that. So, why should we care? I mean, we have our games written by Jim Kitchen, draconis, and other devs who are either visually impaired or realize we are out there, hungry to play games. Taken nothing away from those people, why shouldn't we as people, not blind, not visually impaired people, just people, be taken seriously? Well, we are in some ways, but not in other ways. I have found that in order to be taken seriously by the sighted world, we need to show that we know what we are talking about, enough to capture their interest. Not everyone can get the point across when it comes to interests and what blind and visually impaired people are capable of accomplishing. After all, we all have our interests, pleasures and dislikes. So, what can we do? The answer is simple, if one takes the time to put things into perspective. We all want a lot of the same things, but we go about accomplishing them in the wrong way a lot of times. What it really comes down to, at least for me, is that we really need to step up and give any sighted game dev a picture of what we are asking for. If a map is not read by voiceover on the Iphone, why is that? Have we explored the window with our voiceover cursor? If so, then what can we say to the dev to make sense of our needs. Does text need to be placed on the map? If so, what text, and would it be beneficial to have map coordinates mentioned? Would that be enough? Would it require a whole rewrite of the app to make things right, or would it be OK to have a few additions made to the program? Guess what. For each app/program/game/whatever, it differs, depending on the program in question. You may think we can't make a difference, but I would like to tell you from personal experience, sometimes just a nudge makes a difference. But, what kind of nudge? Sadly, I have to say that when it comes to blind folks, and yes, because I am one, I am a bit partial to blind folks, but blind folks must be one step ahead. So, what do I mean? well, I mean when it comes to explaining what we need, we must be specific. I am sure that many of us have been in the situation where we have been working with a sighted colleague. We say something like, "just go to the file menu and go to save as. It is amazing how many sighted computer users don't even know about this simple menu item. But, we have to know each menu item, each choice. We have to know the difference between a combo box, a radio button and a push button. Guess what? If you were to ask most of the sighted computer users what a radio button was, they would look at you with a blank stair. Why should they know? I mean, a button is a button, after all, is what they say. Like it or not, we know there is a difference, and when it comes to developers, we need to make our wants and needs crystal clear. Another issue we face is the fact that some of the messages sighted devs get from us, well, they aren't the most well written messages. I truly think that if we are going to present ourselves as a community to be taken seriously, we must double and triple check what we put on the web, and how we present ourselves. Now, this has a lot to do with what I am about to say, so please do not think I am picking on any one person. Let's take something simple like audiogames.net. My apologies to the mods of audiogames.net, but I have to say that if a sighted dev went to that site for the first time, they would have to think twice. Just as one example, the word puzzle is spelled with two z's and not one. Something so small can make or break what someone new sees and thinks about our quote community unquote. Yeah, I know several folks are going to gasp now, saying that I just picked on Dark, and I gave him no time to defend himself. No! Not at all. Dark has given a lot to this community. I could have written to him directly, but I wanted to make a point that we are being wathched, and judged, even if we don't know it is being done. I respect Dark, and hope he keeps up what he is doing. I am bringing up a terrible fact, that all of us, whether we want to or not, have to choke down! We need to be one step ahead if we are to be taken seriously. That means checking spelling and the like. So, after all this rambling, what I hope to get across is that we need to do more than just write ideas to devs. We need to really make an effort to educate devs. Like it or not, we are viewed as inferior by a lot of people, not just game developers, and when we can come to grips with that, we will be stronger. Do I mean that the world is out to get us? Heck no. Nobody is out to get us. What I mean in all sincerity is that we need to push our strengths, whether we like it or not. Let's all focus on what we can do and how we can teach others, rather than whine, beg, and scream. Trustm e. It will work. Jeremy Hartley --- 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://mail.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.
