For the next 72 hours, Minethon is running a livestream charity event which will benefit AbleGamers! Donations of $15 or more will let you play with the livestreamers, but there is no minimum amount. Feel free to drop by and hang out, either by clicking the banner above, or by clicking right here!
I will be hanging out in the charity stream most of the day, if you want to drop by and chat as well. See you there!
WHO IS MINETHON?
It's simple. We play seventy-two hours of non-stop Minecraft live via Twitch TV. Think of it like a reality TV show. The cameras never stop rolling, so for the entire weekend, we're here to entertain you. All we ask in return is that you spread the word, and if you feel so inclined, to donate to AbleGamers Charity. All donations are processed securely through PayPal, and go directly to AbleGamers Charity. The MineThon Volunteers can't touch or make a cent.
In fact, apart from the generous contributions of our sponsors, MineThon is funded entirely out of pocket. To date, the MineThon Volunteers have funded $1,500 into MineThon and raised over $15,000 for charity. We see it as a charitable profit, and we're proud of those numbers.
This event led me to look up AbleGamers, which led me to Includification.com, a site that discusses the many ways that games could be improved to allow disabled players more access to more games.
Things I didn't realize before reading that site:
Just slowing down the game could allow certain players with cognitive or motor issues to play everything else normally.
Finding it difficult to multitask is an actual cognitive impairment, and games could include such players by reducing the number of actions a player has to be in charge of all at once.
Default text chat colors can be a big problem for players with colorblindness. This also applies to red and green as the base "enemy" and "friendly" colors on minimaps etc.
Being able to save frequently and take breaks is a vital aspect for players with certain motor or nerve issues - they physically can't play long sessions. (And here I thought the quick-save functions of emulators was just a neat thing, not a necessary one.)
A game that gives players sound cues to help them keep track of approaching enemies or damage can be much more difficult for Deaf players - while some alternate visual cue could bring them back to the same level of competence.
On that note, ambient noise can mask more important sounds, and you should be able to turn it down/off separately from the normal volume. I've seen this in certain games but never realized it was so important.
Having a hard time targeting enemies on the move isn't just a problem for players like me who just don't play shooters much, but can be a physical inability for players with certain motor or cognitive problems... and the difficulty can be reduced by having the game snap the target to the enemy.
Being able to remap keys - all the keys - isn't just useful, it's vital for players who have motor problems... or are missing an arm.
I went over to Extra Credits and suggested that they make an episode on how to make games more accessible to players with physical or cognitive difficulties. Dunno how soon they might get to it but I do hope they will do one eventually.
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My YouTube channel is currently on hiatus, but I hope to get back to it at some point. Content is fairly random, but can be enjoyable, and is mostly game footage (mostly random Minecraft clips) from my nephews and me. Most popular MC vid so far is the one Vechs laughed at on Twitter!
I've been supporting Minethon team since the first Minethon, they are a great bunch of guys always working towards a great goal. Minethon 3 is just as great, I highly recommend everyone to pitch in what they can. A little change can go a long way.
Some parts could make it boring for normal players (which is why I said they should be optional).
All of the accommodations should be optional. I've even gotten annoyed with World of Warcraft telling me constantly where the stuff is I'm supposed to be looking for - it takes away any sense of actually hunting for something. Turns the game into a rote exercise in following arrows, and that for me is boring.
But if you need such accommodations, you should be able to turn them on.
I don't know any visual way of telling you what direction the enemy is coming from if you can't hear.
They're already doing a visual version of this on some games: The side of the screen flashes or has a little triangle indicating "you're being hit!" It shouldn't be too difficult to make this variant for players with hearing problems, but apply it to more than just damage.
If a game is going to target the general audience but still be playable for disabled people some things are just laziness but some things (deaf people) could be a huge challenge to even out.
I've argued before that players ought to be able to define their own experience in games... to customize it, to a large degree. Obviously this isn't total, or you wouldn't have a game to begin with, and there's a limit to what the designers can do. Furthermore, multiplayer games need to avoid a situation where an able player turns on the easier mode and beats players who are playing fair (as pointed out on the site, it should be easy to disqualify you from leaderboards if you turn on the easier mode aspects - allowing players who really need the help to get it, but not allowing players to abuse it).
But, for example, with Minecraft, I want to see a lot of things moved to the options menu, without needing to go to extreme measures (or mods) to change them. And I've never understood the arguments against these... it's a sandbox, who cares how other players are enjoying it? But some basics that could make it much easier for certain players:
Tune the spawn rates individually. Some players might enjoy fighting nothing but zombies, others might have trouble playing a game with giant spiders, others might want everything but creepers, or a Nether without ghasts.
Set Hunger and Regeneration independent of difficulty. Although I don't tend to play Peaceful, when I do I want to play it with full hunger mechanic and no regen. What's the point of a peaceful farming mode if you can't eat anything? And on the other side, some players don't like the hunger mechanic, and players with multitasking problems might want to reduce the number of things they have to pay attention to to stay alive.
Toggle such aspects as drowning, fire/lava damage, and fall damage, separately. I remember a time when my young niece was getting decent at killing zombies but still couldn't swim her way out of a two-square pool.
And the crouch/sneak button should be a toggle. Seriously.
I'm not sure what you mean by "just laziness." Certainly some players who don't strictly need these accommodations will use them because they want to avoid certain aspects of the game. I don't see how this is anybody's business but their own.
And with programming in accommodations for Deaf players, well, the site does explain how this can be done by echoing sound cues in the text, among other things. It may not put them on par with players who don't have hearing problems, but it would go a long way toward making these games available to a wider audience, excluding fewer potential players.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My YouTube channel is currently on hiatus, but I hope to get back to it at some point. Content is fairly random, but can be enjoyable, and is mostly game footage (mostly random Minecraft clips) from my nephews and me. Most popular MC vid so far is the one Vechs laughed at on Twitter!
For the next 72 hours, Minethon is running a livestream charity event which will benefit AbleGamers! Donations of $15 or more will let you play with the livestreamers, but there is no minimum amount. Feel free to drop by and hang out, either by clicking the banner above, or by clicking right here!
I will be hanging out in the charity stream most of the day, if you want to drop by and chat as well. See you there!
WHO IS MINETHON?
Wait, what?
They probably email it to you?
Also, Sacheverell, are you going to be a guest, in chat, or what?
I usually have a neutral/undecided standpoint on things. And yes, I am part Swiss.
Things I didn't realize before reading that site:
My YouTube channel is currently on hiatus, but I hope to get back to it at some point. Content is fairly random, but can be enjoyable, and is mostly game footage (mostly random Minecraft clips) from my nephews and me. Most popular MC vid so far is the one Vechs laughed at on Twitter!
In fact, I've made an imgur album for all the fanart :P. Check it out: http://imgur.com/a/yYywf
I usually have a neutral/undecided standpoint on things. And yes, I am part Swiss.
What if you don't have them?Or you live where the currency is different?
Eg 15$ = 200 something other
All of the accommodations should be optional. I've even gotten annoyed with World of Warcraft telling me constantly where the stuff is I'm supposed to be looking for - it takes away any sense of actually hunting for something. Turns the game into a rote exercise in following arrows, and that for me is boring.
But if you need such accommodations, you should be able to turn them on.
They're already doing a visual version of this on some games: The side of the screen flashes or has a little triangle indicating "you're being hit!" It shouldn't be too difficult to make this variant for players with hearing problems, but apply it to more than just damage.
I've argued before that players ought to be able to define their own experience in games... to customize it, to a large degree. Obviously this isn't total, or you wouldn't have a game to begin with, and there's a limit to what the designers can do. Furthermore, multiplayer games need to avoid a situation where an able player turns on the easier mode and beats players who are playing fair (as pointed out on the site, it should be easy to disqualify you from leaderboards if you turn on the easier mode aspects - allowing players who really need the help to get it, but not allowing players to abuse it).
But, for example, with Minecraft, I want to see a lot of things moved to the options menu, without needing to go to extreme measures (or mods) to change them. And I've never understood the arguments against these... it's a sandbox, who cares how other players are enjoying it? But some basics that could make it much easier for certain players:
And the crouch/sneak button should be a toggle. Seriously.
I'm not sure what you mean by "just laziness." Certainly some players who don't strictly need these accommodations will use them because they want to avoid certain aspects of the game. I don't see how this is anybody's business but their own.
And with programming in accommodations for Deaf players, well, the site does explain how this can be done by echoing sound cues in the text, among other things. It may not put them on par with players who don't have hearing problems, but it would go a long way toward making these games available to a wider audience, excluding fewer potential players.
My YouTube channel is currently on hiatus, but I hope to get back to it at some point. Content is fairly random, but can be enjoyable, and is mostly game footage (mostly random Minecraft clips) from my nephews and me. Most popular MC vid so far is the one Vechs laughed at on Twitter!
Good luck