I agree with Dakota. Do you guys know of any good trivia/word games that can be played with friends on the iphone or through facebook that are accessible? Amanda
On 2/7/13, Dakotah Rickard <[email protected]> wrote: > It isn't that I demand accessibility for every app. I am more than > familiar with the concept that some literally cannot be made to work. > What strikes me as a problem is the fact that some apps, which are > inaccessible, could be made accessible with just a little extra effort > or knowledge. > > It isn't that I'm saying "Gimmy more, more, more!" I think, frankly, > that the best way to handle accessibility would be a forward-looking > approach. We could sit and complain, and I have done on a couple of > occasions, about how an app doesn't present accessibility features, > even though it could, or how a game doesn't present certain functions, > added at little expense or effort, which would make it a perfectly > playable mainstream game. > > Rather, I think the solution is to inform developers about other, > better ways of making games accessible. The deaf community, united, > brought us Closed Captioning, which gives a printed readout, on the > screen, of any dialogue. That is widely made available now, because of > gentle, long-term pressure. The deaf community, united once again, is > now pushing for captioning of sounds as well as dialogue. This is > because they have already established a bit of what they want and, > rather than saying "We're satisfied. We should not ask for more." They > said "We have something nice, and the mainstream population also > benefit from it. Let's see if we can get an additional feature which > would be brilliant." > > I suggest that the blind community, when it is united, doesn't know > what it wants and certainly doesn't know how to ask for it. I respect > the efforts of the people who have tried, and I know that what I'm > saying may come out as offensive, but the plain fact is that > developers who learn about audiogames would probably be highly turned > off by the amount of beeps, blips, whistles, and clicks that they > might have to incorporate. > > Smaller developers, again I mension Ernest Woo, want to squeeze every > penny out of their apps, so they'll push for accessibility, if you > sell it to them the right way. The right way, is according to myself, > and as I said before, if I had any incling of how I ought to do it, > I'd start an organization on that point. There's certainly a right and > a wrong way, maybe several of each, but I'll put it this way. > The Wii Sports game's menus are accessible, because they are simple. > If you remember where things are, you will be in pretty good shape. > Wii Fit's menus are not inaccessible, but they are less so, because > they wrap around without making a sound to indicate it, so if ever you > lose your place, you're up the creek without a paddle and have to get > out of that menu and start over. > > A conscientious blind accessibility community organization would have > applied to have beta testers, at least, of this widely sold, household > name product. Having done so, we would provide simple feedback like, > "Your menu is hard to navigate, although pretty much everything else > is at least basically useable, because there's no way of knowing when > you wap the menu around." Nintendo might scoff at this, but I doubt > it, as it would be a very, very simple change to implement. We > wouldn't be asking for voiced audio of the exercise names, at least > until we had established ourselves, under one flag, as a united > concern. > > Consider all of this, and ask yourself, for example, how difficult it > would have been to make the app accessible. Then consider that this > app is the present. If the developer JellyVision Games, doesn't > consider accessibility a priority, even in simple accessibility > features, then more apps will come out that we will be hard pressed to > use. > > Consider what would happen if one person asked them to change. Then > think about what would happen if a hundred different people asked. > THen think of what would happen if an organization, whose membership > might range from only a few people, say about ten, to thousands of > people asked for just a little bit more accessibility, here and there, > made it standard practice, like closed captioning, and found a way to > make it benefit sighted players, as well. It sounds like a far-fetched > dream, but so did holding a single device with tens upon tens of > readily playable games that you could take anywhere, only a few years > ago. > > If I knew how, I would make that dream a reality. Maybe someone with > more gumption than I, or with more experience, will take this idea and > make it more than a dream. Maybe I will, someday, but the point is > that being content with what we have is a great moral position, and I > largely agree with it on a personal basis, but why should the blind > community be content when we could easily, very easily, have more? > > Signed: > Dakotah Rickard > > On 2/6/13, ryan chou <[email protected]> wrote: >> elena,very well said, :D >> my opinion almost exactly, but my thoughts are also,if its not >> accessible at first site, get some sited help and see what can be done >> about it, don't just give up on the app >> >> On 2/6/13, Elena Brescacin <[email protected]> wrote: >>> hi. >>> it would be good that all apps and games would be accessible for all. >>> But it's not always possible! I know a programming environment, called >>> Adobe Air, which is cross platform and is cross-platform-inaccessible! >>> This means that, if you have a program running under windows, mac, >>> iOS... written in adobe air, it will not work with any screen reader >>> in the market! Air is graphics based, texts are images, so, goodbye >>> accessibility! >>> I know another game, "audio invaders", which uses a framework specific >>> for games, which does not support voiceover but developers made some >>> efforts to adapt the environment to blind people: something works, >>> something not, but effort must be appreciated. >>> Now I am talking to Mag Interactive, i don't know if you ever heard >>> about them. Ruzzle, and quiz cross. >>> They promised me to give the developers the project to adapt games to >>> accessibility but they can't be sure! Quiz Cross may be easier to >>> adapt, but ruzzle, for the way the game works, does not allow a blind >>> user to play! You have a grid with letters and you must compose words >>> by moving the letters, and you have 2 minutes. without taking the >>> finger away from the screen. >>> Voiceover reads the letters, but you have no way to drag them around >>> and, even if you increase the time, the concept of the game is very >>> difficult to adapt. >>> It's not a grid-based game such as sudoku or chess or tic tac toe, >>> this is a different mechanism. >>> I know my point of view cannot be accepted by all, but, I think we >>> must accept we cannot do everything and play with everything, we have >>> some limitations and not everything can be fully adapted. >>> I made the same mistake myself, getting angry with devs who made paid >>> apps without thinking of accessibility. But this is not the right way >>> to behave. even if the description could make us think it is >>> accessible because it's a game of words, or question/answer, and so >>> on, accessibility is not guaranteed. And games are not an everyday >>> essential part of our life so, even if accessibility is not >>> universally applied, a game does not work, try to get another. I worry >>> most about publicly useful apps such as timetables, public transport >>> maps, and so on. It's true, many famous game companies do not develop >>> accessible games but I found that iPhone and iPad have a very large >>> variety of games for all, which we couldn't even dream a few years >>> ago. >>> >>> --- >>> 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://mail.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]. >>> >> >> --- >> 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://mail.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]. >> > > --- > 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://mail.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]. > --- 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://mail.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].
