Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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I'm making a free (as in, no monetization at all) text-based online role-playing game with the Visually Impaired in mind, and writing an article series about the process. In this part, I explore the process of making rooms - the building blocks of the world. (enfors.medium.com)
submitted by Enfors
SeekHealthyFriends 2 points 1y ago
I'm looking for a new game to play, something sort of role-playing but without the darkness. I'm looking for social, light fun & "pretend" (to escape the Covid isolation). If anyone has any ideas of something not too "dark" - a group to join, or I'm willing to form a group, or if anyone wants to invent a game, I'm "game" for it :)
I'm always looking for platonic friendships, so please message me some ideas :)
I'm always looking for platonic friendships, so please message me some ideas :)
Umikaloo 2 points 1y ago
I'm honestly surprised text-based games haven't become more popular with the advent of smartphones and advanced search engines that can understand commands far better than old text adventures ever could.
Enfors [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Right? Saying "we have graphics now, why should we bother with text?" is like saying "we have movies now, why should we bother with books?" I think it's largely a marketing problem - in fact, even the old Infocom (singleplayer) text games from the '80s had very good parsers that understood most of what you wrote.
But yeah, text is a great medium I think. And a text-based game that's intelligently designed will be accessible to users of screen readers as well, which is definitely a bonus.
But yeah, text is a great medium I think. And a text-based game that's intelligently designed will be accessible to users of screen readers as well, which is definitely a bonus.
retrolental_morose 2 points 1y ago
I think one of the big pitfalls with text-based games in the modern era is that people want to play on their phones, but typing reliably and at speed is cumbersome on a touchscreen for many B/VI people. Sure, you can sit down with a keyboard or something, but the one of the real appeals of a touch or audio-based game is the efficiency of the UI.
Obviously I'm a big text fan - I use games to encourage my fellow BVI people to improve their touch-typing, brailling etc.
But just as audiobooks far outstrip braille or ebooks within the blind community, audiogames seem destened to hold the upper hand compared with interactive fiction.
Obviously I'm a big text fan - I use games to encourage my fellow BVI people to improve their touch-typing, brailling etc.
But just as audiobooks far outstrip braille or ebooks within the blind community, audiogames seem destened to hold the upper hand compared with interactive fiction.
Enfors [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Hmm, interesting. I don't have any experience with audio games myself. How does input typically work on such a game? Voice or keyboard? I mean, if you played a text-based game with a screen reader, wouldn't that be like playing an audio game with a keyboard input?
retrolental_morose 2 points 1y ago
audiogames tend to lean toward being more physical. The driving issue is often the input ratio. Consider the time taken to press a cursor key to move your character north rather than typing the word.
action, arcade-style games also have the perception of being more immersive - a screen reader can read the text from a game but adds no feeling into it.
action, arcade-style games also have the perception of being more immersive - a screen reader can read the text from a game but adds no feeling into it.
Fridux 1 points 1y ago
MUDs and multiplayer games in general, with one exception that's outside the scope of this thread, are usually not my thing. However I do appreciate the fact that you're working on an inclusive project, and I did like what I read, so if something actually comes out of this, please do post here again, because I haven't played a single game properly ever since my vision issues began, and desperately need another distraction for when I'm not in the mood to work on my personal projects.
One thing that concerns me though is your mention of the game being free, which I think is something that everyone expects from a MUD, as to me it implies that you are approaching the project expecting it to attract a lot of people rather than just having fun making it, which is never a good source of motivation.
One thing that concerns me though is your mention of the game being free, which I think is something that everyone expects from a MUD, as to me it implies that you are approaching the project expecting it to attract a lot of people rather than just having fun making it, which is never a good source of motivation.
Enfors [OP] 1 points 1y ago
> However I do appreciate the fact that you're working on an inclusive project, and I did like what I read, so if something actually comes out of this, please do post here again, because I haven't played a single game properly ever since my vision issues began, and desperately need another distraction for when I'm not in the mood to work on my personal projects.
Thank you so much for your comment! You're exactly the kind of person I hope to reach once this MUD is open (if I ever get that far...)
> One thing that concerns me though is your mention of the game being free, which I think is something that everyone expects from a MUD, as to me it implies that you are approaching the project expecting it to attract a lot of people rather than just having fun making it, which is never a good source of motivation.
You're absolutely right, everybody expects MUDs to be free and this one will too. Those of us who are familiar with MUDs know this, but I figured most readers here aren't, so I pointed it out for their sake - I'm not trying to make money off of the visually impaired community.
And, I certainly do not expect it to attract a lot of people. Another MUD that I helped start had perhaps 20 or so players online at its peak in the early 2000's, and I don't expect this one to even get that many players. So yes, this is just a hobby project for me. I've been wanting to make my own MUD since 1995.
Thank you so much for your comment! You're exactly the kind of person I hope to reach once this MUD is open (if I ever get that far...)
> One thing that concerns me though is your mention of the game being free, which I think is something that everyone expects from a MUD, as to me it implies that you are approaching the project expecting it to attract a lot of people rather than just having fun making it, which is never a good source of motivation.
You're absolutely right, everybody expects MUDs to be free and this one will too. Those of us who are familiar with MUDs know this, but I figured most readers here aren't, so I pointed it out for their sake - I'm not trying to make money off of the visually impaired community.
And, I certainly do not expect it to attract a lot of people. Another MUD that I helped start had perhaps 20 or so players online at its peak in the early 2000's, and I don't expect this one to even get that many players. So yes, this is just a hobby project for me. I've been wanting to make my own MUD since 1995.
Enfors [OP] 0 points 1y ago
This article is published on Medium.com, which has a paywall that allows people to read 3 articles a month for free. If anyone runs into this limitation, feel free to let me know and I'll provide you with a "friend link" which will allow you to read the article anyway.
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