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SOE being sued by the blind
coffee
Member Posts: 2,007
Seems SOE don't do enough to aid visualy imparied ppl to play their games.
http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6239339.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;1
Touchy subject at best, seems they want SOE to improve the mod compabilties of their games to be more inline with WoW and others where apparently their are mods to help them.
Comments
oh ffs....
/facepalm
REALLY? I mean REALLY?
What about the movies? Are they going to start suing movies because they can't see all the cool new special effects? What about transformers? With my contacts in I'm 20/10 both eyes and I can barely make out some of the features of the characters?
Touchy subject my ass. If I was the judge of the court, I would laugh at them all the way out the door.
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insanity
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I would laugh very loudly though, just in case there was anyone nearby with impaired hearing.
Playing: EVE, Final Fantasy 13, Uncharted 2, Need for Speed: Shift
Lol at the law suite.
But ....hey.....perhaps that missing thing in the game market?
Meaning perhaps a new challenge for developers to make MMORPG's or other type of games fully for the visually impaired. There are some games out there, but plenty of room to expand.
I'm Legally Blind.
Please don't assume "all" legally blind individuals are in "ka-hoots" with such a silly lawsuit.
People are stupid, it doesn't matter how good parts of their bodies work or don't work.
All people, are stupid.
I would laugh very loudly though, just in case there was anyone nearby with impaired hearing.
LOVL
Well done.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I would consider this to be frivolous litigation. Videogames inherently imply interaction with visual media, and legally requiring developers to acomodate the needs of impaired gamers could have dire effects on the industry. This by itself could place a heavy burden on indie and small studios, not to mention that the Blizzard precedent (once again, thanks WOW) of allowing 3rd party modifications could very well compound the botting and RMT issues many games face if this is forced upon them.
Now, i don't by any means wish to suggest this isn't a legitimate concern, but i think this is being pursued through the wrong venue. What people in the plaintiff's position ought to do is engage the industry in dialogue through their own organizations. Perhaps third party modifications can be allowed as an exception for players with legitimate needs without impacting the experience of other users. Resorting to legal means after only a series of postal exchanges seems unnecesary, and only contributes to the mounting legal fees that have become necessary for companies in the industry, a problem whose cost is later passed on to us one way or the other.
I suport impaired gamers, but not any cost and certainly not in this. People need to realize that requiring a company to acomodate their needs must only be pursued in reasonable terms, and bearing in mind the costs this will have for both the developer and the other users of its products. Cases like this should only be pursued in cooperation with associations which can represent a reasonable amount of consensus amongst people with disabilities, only after serious efforts and proposals have been pursued through other means to resolve the issue, and in behalf of a significant proportion of affected users through a class action suit. Not by a lone visually impaired player enraged that he cannot participate in equal terms on what is esentially a visual environment.
Just to make things clear...
I speak for myself and no one else, unless i state otherwise mine is just an opinion. A fact is something that can be independently verified, you may challenge such but with proof. You have every right to disagree with me through sound argument, i believe in constructive debate, but baseless aggression will warrant an unkind response.
I say, whatever they want, it's such a problem to be impaired that if a mod can give them some fun, just bring it on. Of course SOE aren't the kind of people that would care for anyone if there is not a lot of money to make.
that explain the dps issues im seeing all the time on full epic equipped chars...
Crossword puzzles are pretty inaccessible to the blind. Must newspapers now change? Driving is difficult for those with impaired vision. Is Ford to blame? Deaf people can't get the full enjoyment of American Idol. I have a busted knee and can't run, but I wouldn't expect that the Boston Marathon be altered to accommodate me. Some things just can't be made fair.
Important facts:
1. Free to Play games are poorly made.
2. Casuals are not all idiots, but idiots call themselves casuals.
3. Great solo and group content are not mutually exclusive, but they suffer when one is shoved into the mold of the other. The same is true of PvP and PvE.
4. Community is more important than you think.
Just wish SOE would go bankrupt already
thanks for the lols!
Snip:
"Beyond the denial of entertainment, the suit also contends that Sony's actions have caused visually impaired gamers a financial loss. Because Sony runs an official auction site where gamers can sell their in-game items for real money, the suit says Stern's inability to participate in that marketplace is costing him money."
WTF?
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Well this is just stupid. I'm sorry, video games, like movies and TV shows and art, are made up of both visual and audio elements. A studio should not have to morph their game and add more of one element to compensate for another. Frankly, what do the deaf gamers expect?
"You enter a forest. There is a tree to your left. There is a bush in front of you. There is a harvest node behind and to the right of you. There is a group of 3 monsters whom will agro you upon entering their range in front of you."
"Your mouse cursor is now on your skills pane. It is now over the button to put "Strength" up. Your cursor is now on your talents pane, you are selecting to get "Dual Wielding"
I'm sorry, just stupidity though. You can't expect a game studio to do this. I have nothing against blind people, just the ones that sue without thinking about it.
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3 words
Pa-The-Tic
Ugh.
I have no idea what was asked for and I certainly cannot relate to what it is like being visually impared, but this sounds really bad.
This is ridiculous.
While I am all for disabled persons needs being met within reason, this is over the top as are many of the standards being imposed for the sake of accessibility.
As an aside, the WoW mods are user created are they not? They are not made by Blizzard themselves are they?
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
This is kind of ridiculous, I feel bad for the blind but still...common it's a VIDEO GAME. How can you enjoy something that requires a sense that you don't have? You can't!
This would be like if someone with no sense of taste sued McDonalds for not accomadating for them.
What happened to the good ol' days when they used to push blind people off cliffs?
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I think that this is a good thing. This will force other game development companies to create open UI's (the suit claims that because of WoW's open UI, several 3rd party developers have come out with ease of access mods) which will lead to further development of new technologies and features.
A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire
WoWs open UI/addon use is what ruined the game.
And no, it's not a good thing. They're just some disgruntled idiots that want some money.
No it's not a good thing, at least not in this genre.
Open UI's ruined AC1 and WoW, to name a couple prominent games.
Open UI's open the door for hacks and cheats that ruin the game for those that don't use them.
Open UI's lend themselves to botting/macroing, both HUGELY bad for MMO's.
Open UI's make things more challenging for the developers as well. Not only do the devs have to design content to challenge the players within the mechanics of the game, they have to design content that takes into account mods that players create in an attempt to trivialize content. This goes with the second example I listed as it quickly brings about the NEED to use mods to do certain content, at least in players minds, and thus spawns the "you can't be in this group/kin/whatever if you aren't running X mod(s).
And those are just a few examples of why open UI's are bad.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
Thats disgusting, you should get your facts straight. They never pushed them off cliffs, they just told them they had a new blind dog for them, and them handed them a leash to a lemming.
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The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
From the GameSpot article:
"For instance, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft allows the use of third-party mods in its game, which has led to the creation of several programs to include accessibility aids in the game."
You're correct.
Currently playing: EverQuest II
Tried: EVE Online (will return someday), Final Fantasy XI (didn't like, sorry)
F**ck the blind...