It's tough to be blind or visually impaired. I think we can all agree that that is a true enough statement. You probably miss out on a lot of great things. Playing videogames would be one of those things that completely blind people miss out on (unless they've mastered echolocation), but what about those who are only visually impaired and want to play games? Shouldn't they be considered when game designers make games? A new lawsuit filed against Sony thinks as much.
Disabled gamer Alexander Stern filed suit against Sony, Sony Online Entertainment, and Sony Computer Entertainment America in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He alleges that Sony is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by not implementing any features that make their games accessible to visually impaired gamers. The suit claims that despite repeated requests via e-mail and snail mail Sony has completely denied the idea of making reasonable modifications to their games in order to make them more friendly to those with "disability impaired visual processing."
No specific games are mentioned, but the general gist of the suit seems to be leaning towards MMO and Sony's lack of visual cues in the game. It also points to other games that do help the visually impaired, like World of Warcraft, which allows the use of third-party mods and thus has many mods that help the visually impaired play the game.
Even more shocking is the lawsuit's contention that Sony's lack of support for the visually impaired has cost the visually impaired community money. Since Sony runs an official auction site where gamers can sell all of their in-game loot for real money those who cannot fully participate in the games, like the visually impaired, cannot make money. The suit says that Stern's inability to do this has cost him money.
Sony doesn't comment on pending litigation, but aside from the monetary loss I'm pretty inclined to agree with Mr. Stern. Seems to me that many of his issues could have been fixed with a simple patch, and I think anyone who played Lost Odyssey on a standard definition screen would agree that being able to properly see and interact with your games is highly important.
Contest:
3:00 PM on 11.07.2009
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Maybe we should ruin things that blind people like, to get back at them.
^joke
Or are you against David Blunkett?
"Because I am math impared, and there for cannot properally understand Quantum Physics, i cannot project a Torsion field around my body. So im going to sue science."
but what actual damage has been done?
I agree with him that games (epsecially PC games) can be more visually impaired friendly but in the interest of the lawsuit I'm curious about these modifications.
as for this,Sony has no legal obligation however i don't see why they would not allow it, having said that this guy is gonna sue for potential monetary losses that is just a douche bag move and no court will rule in favor of it
The idea of adding an option for audio descriptors for video games is a fantastic idea. There is no way it could work for all games, but I think there is potential to really open up a lot of new experiences for blind gamers. I have watched my brother, with prompting from myself or another sighted person, beat levels on Super Mario World. There is no reason why games couldn't feature these cues as an option.
The very definition of 'Videogame' is
'A video game or interactive entertainment is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate VISUAL feedback on a video device'
If the guy is visually impaired... yeah I feel bad for him but he can't sue a company in the business of making a VISUAL medium!
But he brings up a good point, although im not sure what his demands are. But why cant some games include some optional features or support some controllers which may aid the disabled? Of course hes taking it too far by suing , besides it wont actually go any where because of how stupid it is.
I know alot of people will say "tough shit" but whats wrong with opening the table up to disabled gamers? when people cant walk, do we say "tough shit"? no we make wheel chairs.
Just playing devil's advocate here:
What about theaters required to accomdate the deaf?
I expect this case to be laughed at and thrown out.
Actually he can. Deaf people are able to get closed captioning. Blind people are able to get books in braille or on tape as well as movies in which there is audio descriptions of the action going on on the screen. There is no reason why these accommodations can not be made in video games other than an unwillingness by producers to do it.
I understand and I wouldn't not be against games incorporating aids for the blind... like Eric Nicholas Reed said it's 'a fantastic idea'.
But I am against someone suing because they can't get their own way.
Actually no... I'm all for the guy suing to force Sony (and hopefully other companies) to take impaired persons into considerations BUT when he makes up bogus claims in order to receive compensation (like he can't use the marketplaces) then that's BULLSHIT!
Are theatres actually required to accommodate the deaf or do they do it to draw in more revenue?
If Sony were smart they would listen and provide the disabled with what they want... if not out of the kindness of their hearts then to open their games to a new consumer base and make MORE MONEY.
Really? That's amazing!
I scoffed at the article a bit, but hearing your story puts the base issue into perspective. The fact that your brother can still enjoy gamesbased on their audio cues is actually very exciting to hear. It speaks to the power of a game to still "tell the story" through audio design.
Wow.
Not to get all weird about your brother, but how does he do with 3D games/surround sound?
I believe theaters do under the Disabilities Act.
Yeah I just wanted to hear a bit more of your argument. I think the whole "We're losing money," thing is bullshit. Had he stopped at the WoW mods thing I would've been more sold.
Even then I'm still curious as to what mods he's talking about. Does anybody know? Is it just increased text?
You cant fix everything by sueing someone.
It would have been better to petition publishers to include said options, get involved with a disability charity and/or try to get a "Disabilty-Association Approved"(or whatever) logo to be put on the back of games with the options/features that make them more accessible.
Concidering the parties involved, Childs-Play would have been a good place to start.
This is totally going to work.....lol
I "see" where this guy is coming from and I "visually" understand what he is hoping for but suing because of it does not make sense at all. Sony doesn't make the games (well 99% of em) so is Sonny supposed to bully developers into creating options for disabled people?
Why doesn't this guy sue Ebay, Amazon and other various online auction stites becuase HE can't get on them to sell items he own thus allowing him the ability to NOT make money........
@Nitex
Lol I agree! There is braille on drive thru ATM's...........
Actually, other medium are often made accessible to the blind and the deaf though non-profit agencies. It's all about infrastructure. If there are enough blind games (which I know of quite a few though my brother), non-profit groups could work to develop copies of games with the things blind gamers would need to be able to play.
Which is great and all but in that case he could have still left out the ridiculous bits.
Nothing gets peoples attention like a successful lawsuit.
It's okay, I've become accustomed to people asking a billion questions after they hear about my brother.
Essentially, in terms of 3D games he cannot navigate because of the lack of audio descriptions of what is going on on the screen.
He typically plays fighting and sports games. Think about a game like mortal kombat...while in 3D, the characters are still on the same plane, so it's just a matter of knowing where his opponent is and him going at it. If you think about something like a baseball game, in the effort to make it more realistic, every pitch thrown has distinctive sound. Once he learns those and gets the timing down, all you have to do is turn on auto-fielding and he's golden.
Since Microsoft and ninty don't run any of those themselves, they get ignored in this case. SCEA only gets dragged in because they are responsible for SOE. But isn't playing games while visually impaired similar to one of those guys paying to go to the cinema? Just saying...
http://www.bavisoft.com/
If not and he was once a keen gamer then I can sympathise with him more.
On the other hand, I have limited use of my hands and therefore can play Guitar Hero etc. or most Wii games as they should. But I'm not going to sue Activision because
1) I've never played them so I just pretend there shit
2) They weren't made for me and I can accept that
By audio descriptive I meant something optional like a voice giving enemy positions and sat nav like directions. Or maybe even a cool narrative voiced by Patrick Stewart.
Or someone else in the room telling you what's going on?
I'm all for giving disabled gamers the sky, but trolling and then bringing about this lawsuit can't be the most constructive way to knock on that door.
Oh and @Demonolith I love the Mr Jelly profile pic XD
In all honesty though, I hate people like this. Yes. Hate. Not blind people. Annoying little WoW dicks who think the world revolves around them, they're nothing more than digital junkies, retards with intelligent thought replaced by jello and fetch quests. I hope Sony sue counter sue him upon getting the case thrown out for defamation.
I wonder if Sony did a videogame representation of this video if it would make him happy.
They're called VIDEOgames. Are you going to sue Hollywood for not having in-depth descriptions dubbed over all films? It's one thing to have mandatory compensation for things that handicapped people HAVE to do, but this is entertainment, it's bullshit to think that everyone should have to pander to your needs.
And on top of that, why is he only suing Sony? What about every other developer that hasn't catered to the blind? Fuck you blind guy, fuck you in your useless eyes!
How shortsighted. They have braille on drive through ATMs because these are the same models that they put elsewhere. It's much more efficient to make one type of ATM than to make two different types, one with braille and one without.
They are called Motion Pictures, but groups still work to make sure that blind people can enjoy these forms of entertainment as well.
Your bro should play Rhythm Tenkogu, it's a game you literally get better by keeping your eyes closed, and it's pretty hardcore too!
Whew! Hateful aren't we?
And are you really complaining that I called a "motion picture" a film? You mean to tell me every time you refer to a movie you call it a "motion picture"? You, my friend, have a lot of extra breath to waste.
I don't refer to a film by Motion Picture all the time, I was just trying to show the problematic nature of your argument. That is the proper term for a film, and inherent in that term is having the ability to see a picture. They do have descriptions dubbed over films designed specifically for the blind. As a matter of fact, they develop special audio files of movies for the blind in which the movie audio plays along with descriptions of the action WITHOUT and of the pictures.
There is no reason the same could not apply to games, and in our society you often have to bring the need for these sort of things though the court system. That's what it's there for. Sometimes people have stupid lawsuits, but stupid people getting to use the same system as smart people is one of the byproducts of democracy.
Now I do think in this age of HD graphics, devs need to pay more attention to text size in games. Take Dead Rising for example. I know perfectly sighted people who've played it and said the text is just too small. Would I sue to make it better? No.