Hi Eleanor, I certainly see where you guys are coming from, but I think its worth noting that we are in an industry that is constantly changing, evolving, and growing at a fairly rapid pace. Criteria you had set for selecting games a couple of years ago won't necessarily apply to the current market, because there is so much happening that those criteria need to be updated fairly regularly.
For example, take the Apple iPhone as a case in point. The iPhone isn't just a cell phone, and is basically a hand held computer too with internet, e-mail, and hundreds of apps and games available on the app store. Its not surprising now that Apple has made IoS accessible using their VoiceOver software that there is a sudden explosion of accessible apps and games for the device. If you just focus on Windows games for the PC you'll be overlooking a brand new market that is rapidly developing, growing, and becoming a real source of entertainment for blind gamers. It may not be in the top 25 yet, but its getting there just because of a sudden explosion in the VI market. The same holds true for internet based games. Thanks to the fact most people are on high speed internet through DSL or cable, computers are faster, etc many mainstream developers are creating internet based games in languages like Flash that can be played through a web browser or by downloading a special game client for your PC that connects to the game server. Just this week I saw a commercial for DC Universe Online that is an online version of the DC Universe roll playing game, and its clear that the internet is where many mainstream game developers are heading. The days where you have to download and install a game seems to becoming less common thanks to game clients and web programming languages like Flash. Now, we are seeing a similar trend in the VI gaming market. RS Games has created a free client written in Python that connects to the RS Games server and you can play Uno, Apples to Apples, and other games online through their client. Quentin's Playroom is another example of an accessible client designed to work in tandem with an online game or games. In both cases those developers are following a trend set by the mainstream market. It only makes sense for audio game developers to try and add the same kinds of features and meet certain standards set by the mainstream market as many blind gamers want to have similar features as our mainstream peers have. That can dramatically change the criteria used for selecting the top 25 sites. Cheers! On 12/22/11, Eleanor Robinson <elea...@7128.com> wrote: > Hi Folks - I posted this but I haven't seen it show up - so I'm > re-posting it so no one thinks I'm ignoring what people say. > > First I want to thank all of you for your input. It is important for us > to hear your thoughts as we consider our criteria for evaluating the Top > 25. We plan to discuss this over the next several weeks and decide then > how we will handle the review this year. > > We do stick to the criteria described in the methodology so that is how > the rankings are determined. > > One thing you need to be aware of is that we are NOT really > knowledgeable about online gaming and games. Our focus has always been > computer games that reside on a computer rather than on a server. That > being said - if you stop learning you stop growing. So we will explore > this issue and decide the criteria shortly. > > Thanks again. > > Eleanor Robinson > 7-128 Software --- 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.
