Folmer Believes a Virtual World Doesn't Have to Be a Visual One
From: University of Nevada, Reno - 09/19/2007
By: Sue Putnam

University of Nevada, Reno assistant professor of computer science and
engineering Eelke Folmer recently received a grant from the National Science
Foundation to research the accessibility of online games such as Second Life.
"We're working with a massive multiplayer online game that can potentially
offer opportunities for social interactions regardless of disabilities," says
Folmer, adding that his work is intended to help cognitive and physically
disabled people enjoy the socialization and the fun of multiplayer games.
"Our goal is to improve the quality of life for millions of people with
disabilities and gaming is a part of that," he says. Folmer is building a
prototype client that will enable basic accessibility to online games for
blind users. Initially, Folmer's prototype will allow blind players to
navigate an environment using voice commands, and will later be enhanced to
enable players to interact with each other. Folmer's objective will be
challenging as the client and the server for Second Life have only recently
been made available as open source code and no one has tried to make an
accessible client for the environment. "We hope to raise the awareness of
game developers so they see that not only is there a market here for them,
but that it is really part of their obligation to make these games
accessible," Folmer says. "In the case of blind players, there is a lot we
can do with audio cues so that it's still fun to play."  

Read the entire article at:
http://www.unr.edu/nevadanews/detail.aspx?id=2336

Links:
Eelke Folmer
http://www.eelke.com/Home.html
http://www.igda.org/member/?mid=20064887
http://www.interaction-design.org/references/authors/eelke_folmer.html

Designing Usable and Accessible Games with Interaction Design Patterns
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1408/designing_usable_and_accessible_.php

Game Accessibility Forum
http://www.game-accessibility.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=286

Second Life open source accessible client
http://www.it-analysis.com/blogs/Abrahams_Accessibility/2007/1/second_life_open_source_accessible_.html