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Quake For the Blind
Kirby-meister writes: "An interesting article on The Boston Globe talks of a company, ZForm, which has modified Quake for the visually-impaired. The article also goes into an interesting discussion on how visual our world is becoming, possibly leaving the visually-disabled behind the technological advances."
W00T! Bring it on! Finally, someone I can frag!!!
Tell them to get new eyes. Who fucking cares?
FP?
Don't read this!
Savor their bitter, nutty flavor. A bit like benzene, isn't it?
Read my third FP and weep, mortal.
I am claiming this FP. Not for the clit, but for myself. You want it? I'll give it to the first person that posts some great quality straight pr0n.
Quality straight pr0n goes here
I want it, I want it, I want it.
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what, no screen shots?
All circuits busy.
what an accomplishment, quake for the blind. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.................
Whats next, MP3's for the deaf?
.....
here's penance for my late post. better than 25 Hail Marys anyday.
*
I picked up my leave papers at the Personnel Office and headed for the bus station. After two years in the Coast Guard, I was taking a well-deserved thirty-day leave. If you had told me that by the time I returned to my ship I would have fucked both my mother and grandmother, I would have called you crazy, but you would have been right.
It was wonderful to be home again. I missed everything about it. I missed my mother's beauty, charm and cooking. I missed my big, soft bed. I missed having the privacy to jack off whenever I felt like it. I missed the big color TV and being able to watch whatever I wanted to watch. Well, you get the idea.
My mother Polly was smart, beautiful and successful. She was the weather girl at the biggest TV station in the city. She didn't know much about meteorology. She just read the scripts that the real meteorologists gave her. She was strictly eye candy, and she was tasty. Curly blond hair framed her angelic face. Her boss insisted that she wear low-cut dresses that showed off her ample tits. At every opportunity, she turned to show off her round ass. I'm sure that every time she was on the air, thousands of boys and men jacked off and got the weather forecast at the same time. Mom reached her goal of becoming an anchorwoman a short time after all of this happened.
I never knew my father. Mom told me that he had been killed in the war. My grandparents, John and Hilda, lived on a farm a thousand miles away in the Midwest. I had spent much of my childhood on that farm, so when Mom suggested we go back for a nostalgic visit, I jumped at the chance. The next day we set out on our journey. Mom didn't like to drive long distances, so I did all of the driving.
It was wonderful to see my grandparents again. They made such a fuss over me in the Coast Guard uniform that Mom had talked me into wearing for the reunion. John was a handsome man with dark, wavy hair and a brilliant smile. Hilda was an older version of my beautiful mother. Even though she was nearly sixty, she still turned more heads than a screwdriver.
That evening we sat down to a magnificent country dinner. There were none of my mother's fancy sauces and French wines, only simple, well-prepared food. As we ate, we reminisced about old times. They wanted to know all about my experiences in the Coast Guard. There wasn't much to tell but I tried to make it interesting.
My grandmother put me up in the guesthouse that had once been used as a bunkhouse for farm hands. Grandpa had sold off much of his land and could manage the farm by himself, so there was no longer a need for hands. Mom slept in her old room in the house. I could hardly sleep that first night because it was so quiet and I was so excited. I was unbearably horny from being around my beautiful mother and grandmother. I finally fell asleep after jacking off.
Three days passed without incident. Grandpa showed me around the farm and boasted of his high crop yields. Grandma stuffed me with goodies at every opportunity. Her apple pie was to die for. But you don't want to hear about my grandmother's wonderful cooking. I know that you are impatient to get to the sex.
One afternoon after lunch, I went to the guesthouse to take a nap. I was a little groggy after Grandma forced second helpings of everything on me. I awoke in mid-afternoon and decided to take a walk in the forest. It was peaceful and quiet under the tall oaks. The only sounds were the chirping of birds and the hum of the wind through the highest branches. Then I heard another sound that didn't fit in with the forest sounds. Thinking that it might be deer hunters, I approached cautiously. I didn't want to get shot by accident.
The scene that I came upon was so shocking that it is burnt into my memory. I can visualize it with nearly perfect clarity. The three most important people in my life were naked in a small clearing. Mom was on all fours with Grandpa on his knees fucking her doggy-style. My pretty grandmother sat nearby with a big smile on her face and her fingers planted in her pussy. Grandpa was fucking Mom so hard that her knees came up off the ground with each thrust. Years of hard work and clean living had given him a body that most men half his age would envy. He grinned down at his daughter's beautiful ass as he pumped her pussy.
Grandma stopped masturbating and made it a threesome. She knelt in front of Mom, who immediately began nursing on her big tits. I was too far away to hear what they were saying. When I was a boy, I had played Cowboys and Indians on that very spot. I had preferred to play the role of an Indian sneaking up on a cowboy. I was reminded of that as I stealthily crawled through the bushes until I was within earshot.
"Damn, I had forgotten how nice and tight your pussy is, Honey," Grandpa said.
"Oh, Daddy, please don't stop. Your big cock is driving me crazy."
Grandma's eggplant-shaped tits were capped with big, brown nipples. As Mom sucked on them, they got as big and hard as bullets. Grandma put her hand on Mom's blond head and pushed her lower. She went to her back on the grass and pushed Mom's head down onto her cunt. I couldn't believe what was happening in front of me. I actually pinched myself to see if I was dreaming. Convinced that I was seeing the real thing and wanting to make the most of it, I pulled my cock out and started stroking.
"She sure hasn't forgotten how to use her tongue, John," Grandma said. She placed her hand on the back of Mom's head and slowly ground her pussy against Mom's mouth.
"Oh, yes, Polly, that's it. Fuck me with your tongue. Oh, my God! YES! YES! YOU'RE MAKING YOUR OLD MA CUM. UHU..UHU..UHU..AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Grandma convulsed again and again as she came on Mom's tongue. Mom seemed to be cumming, too. She abandoned Grandma's pussy and concentrated on the fucking. She slammed her ass back against her father so hard that he would have bounced off of her if he hadn't had a tight grip on her hips. Her big tits flopped around under her chest like water-filled balloons. She wailed so loudly that she startled the birds in the trees and sent them fluttering away.
The scene ended the way it always ends in porno flicks, with a cum-shot. Grandpa pulled his cock out and shot his load all over Mom's back. I wouldn't have thought it possible for a man his age to pump out so much jism. As I watched him cum, my load shot out of my fist onto the ground.
The incestuous trio laid back on the grass to recover from their orgasms. Grandma broke the silence when she giggled and said, "Well, that was just like old times, wasn't it?" I was rather disappointed when they put their clothes on. I wanted to see more.
Over dinner that night they acted as though nothing had happened. Grandpa talked about corn prices and Grandma talked about her apple pie entry at the County Fair. They were an all-American family, yet they had broken the ultimate taboo. I laid in my bed that night and pondered the situation. I had always wanted to fuck my mother, and seeing her get it from Grandpa had only made me want her more. Then it came to me with crystal clarity. She obviously didn't have a problem with incest; she had probably been fucking her father for years. If she could fuck her father, why not her son?
I lay awake half the night trying to think of a way to broach the subject. I came up with what I thought were exactly the right words, but when the time came I forgot them and simply blurted out, "Mom, I saw you and Grandma and Grandpa having sex in the woods."
Her reaction, or more accurately her lack of reaction, baffled me. She really didn't seem to care. "We went there to relive old times. When I lived here, we used to go out there all the time. There is something about fucking in the woods that makes my blood boil. It is so animalistic. Well, I suppose I owe you an explanation. After your father went off to the Army, I was very lonely here. Back then, the nearest neighbors were miles away. I knew that Mom and Dad loved to fuck because I heard them going at it almost every night. I even caught them at it once and they let me watch. That's when I found out how big Dad's cock is. When I went to Mom to ask her permission, she said there was enough for both of us. She actually seemed pleased to be getting some help with him. I went out to the barn and Dad had me then and there. He fucked me all through my pregnancy with you, and then two or three times a week until I moved to the city."
"Mom, please let me fuck you," I blurted.
"I'll think about it. You are a handsome young man. It would probably be a lot of fun. But wouldn't you prefer to start with Grandma? She likes young studs, and I've noticed the way she's been looking at you. I think I'll have a talk with her."
I didn't object. Fucking Grandma had crossed my mind more than once. I wanted to do it but thought it was too far out of reach because of the difference in our ages.
That night I lay in bed playing with my cock. Distant thunder signaled the arrival of a storm. The noise from the storm masked the sound of the door opening. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a warm body slipped under the covers.
"It's just me, Honey," Grandma said. "Now if you don't want to do this, you just say so. Maybe you don't want to fuck an old bag like me."
"Grandma, you aren't an old bag. You are very beautiful. I would be honored to fuck you. But what about Grandpa?"
"Don't worry about him. The only thing that he might get mad about is not getting to watch. Polly told me you saw us in the woods today. How did you like the show?" She found my hard cock and began to stroke it.
"It was amazing, Grandma. Hotter than anything I've ever seen."
"Honey, I don't think you should call me Grandma when we're having sex. It's too weird. Why don't you call me Hilda? Polly said you had a big cock. I want to get a closer look."
Grandma ducked under the covers and took my throbbing cock in her mouth. Most of my sexual experience had been with whores and none of them had sucked my cock half as good as she did. Experience does count. Her slippery mouth was warm and wet and she varied the depth, angle and strength of the sucks. When she took a big gulp of cock, clamped it between her tongue and palate and slowly pulled off, I lost control.
"Grandma..er..I mean Hilda, look out. LOOK OUT, HILDA! I'M GOING TO SHOOT! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
I felt my grandmother's mouth filling up with my pudding. It got better with every spurt. She didn't stop sucking my ultra-sensitive cock until she had coaxed out every drop. I was writhing all over the bed. Grandma finally took her mouth off of my cock and came up for air. She swallowed for awhile and then said, "Thank you, Son. That was a big, juicy one. I had to swallow five times to get it all down."
Without giving me a chance to rest, she mounted me and impaled herself on my twitching cock. I expected her pussy to be slack and weak, but it was tight and strong. When she lifted off of me, her cuntal muscles milked my cock. I was in paradise.
"Open your mouth," she said. She stuffed one of her big nipples into my mouth and told me to suck. I had never fucked in the woman-on-top position and was amazed at how perfect it felt. The position put Grandma's big tits right in my face. Unable to decide which of her nipples tasted the best, I switched back and forth.
Grandma began to moan and groan as she picked up speed. The storm was raging. I imagined a lighting bolt from God coming through the roof at any moment to strike me dead for fucking my grandmother. I should not have had my cock buried deep in Grandma's quim, but it felt so good that I couldn't take it out.
"Oh, son, that is good. Your cock feels so good inside my old pussy. You are the best I've had in a long time. It feels like my ovaries are going to burst."
Eager to please, I bent my knees and planted my feet on the bed for leverage. Up until then, she had done all the fucking, but I could no longer control my lust. I pumped my cock up into her so hard and fast that she nearly bounced off of me.
"OH, MY GOD! I HOPE THIS ONE DOESN'T KILL ME. HERE IT COMES. UHU..UHU..UHU..AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The spasms of Grandma's cunt muscles set me off and I shot my load deep inside of her. It felt like her pussy was actually milking me. The intense feelings lasted long after I stopped squirting. Grandma collapsed on top of me.
When I came to my senses, panic set in. "Grandma..er..I mean, Hilda, I hope I didn't make you pregnant." She chuckled and said, "Honey, my baby-making days are long past. But as you can see, I still have enough passion left in me for two women. Thank you for the best fuck I've had in ages."
I dozed off with Grandma resting beside me. When I awoke, she was gone. Over breakfast the next morning, everyone acted as though nothing had happened. Grandpa talked about the need for a new roof on the barn. Mom and Grandma exchanged recipes.
Every night for the next week, Grandma paid me a visit in the guesthouse. I did things to her that I had only dreamed of. I fucked between her big, soft tits until, at her request, I shot my load in her pretty face. One night she asked me if I wanted anything special from her. When I told her how much I craved a piece of ass, she rolled over on her stomach. Within seconds, I had eight inches of cock buried deep in her tight ass.
Our last night on the farm was very special. I went for a walk after dinner, and when I returned, Mom, Grandma and Grandpa were all sitting naked in the livingroom. "Take off your clothes and join us, Honey," Mom said. I sat at one end of the couch with Grandpa at the other. Grandma knelt down in front of me and took my cock in her mouth, while Mom knelt in front of Grandpa and took his. Grandpa couldn't take his eyes off of his wife's pretty head bobbing in my lap. I shot my load in Grandma's mouth, and a few minutes later Grandpa let his go in Mom's mouth.
We went to the bedroom where I fucked Grandma while Grandpa fucked Mom beside us. I was very pleased with myself for being able to perform under the circumstances. After I had fucked Grandma for ten minutes or so, she began to wail as her body was racked by a strong orgasm. Mom started cumming a few seconds later. Her orgasmic wailing blended in with those coming from her mother. It was almost as though they were singing a duet.
When they calmed down a little, Grandpa dismounted from Mom and came to my side of the bed. "You did a good job on this one," he said. "Now go see what you can do with your mother."
I mounted my beautiful mother and my long-time fantasy of fucking her became a reality. I shoved my cock into her tight pussy and discovered that Grandpa had made a deposit. Their combined juices made her pussy almost too slick. She didn't join in at first, then her lust kicked in and she brought her belly up to meet mine.
Next to us, Grandma was trying to breathe life back into Grandpa's deflated cock. Her skillful fellatio soon had it in useable condition. She mounted him and rode him cowgirl style.
Mom lightly raked her fingernails over my ass and back to encourage me. Grandma had taught me a few tricks to improve my fucking and I used them on her daughter. They worked like a charm. Both women were soon wailing as they were hit by another wave of orgasms. I shot my load into my mother's clenching pussy. Both of my grandparents were shaking with orgasmic convulsions. That ended the most incredible event of my life. I had fucked my mother and her mother back-to-back.
The next day Mom and I returned to the city. I fucked Mom at least once a day during my remaining two weeks of shore leave. Then I returned to my ship. I can hardly wait for my next leave and another visit to the farm.
I hate blind people...Don't worry they can't read this.
I wonder if they threw any 'impulse 255' tricks in there to give a slight advantage. I couldn't imagine how difficult that would be to play without any visual input.
# fuser -v
#
There are braile readers for blind to read ASCII chars off the screen, right? Well, just plug that reader into text-mode quake, and Blammo. They're playing quake.
Now, my question. How are they gonna aim? They're going to NEED some type of aim-bot script. You KNOW how players feel about those...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
When are they going to focus on the socially retarded computer geeks that need to get laid. They cant see we cant get laid i dont see much of a difference.
"All I can tell the "lesser of two evils" folks is that if they keep voting for evil, they'll keep getting evil."-Lp.org
The modifications described in the article would prove useful for NON-vision impaired players. More audio clues means more overall clues as to where things are at and what is happening in the game.
I see competitive players using Quake mods that provide this functionality in addition to normal visual and audio assistance.
Now if someone will just make Quke for the stupid I will be set!
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
having Excel (or StarCalc) on your screen and only headfones on you you can Quake without distracting your boss! :)
So does this mean that I could be sitting at my desk with {insert religiously-favored-editor-of-choice here} and an audio player onscreen, apparently looking at a couple hundred lines of code and listening to music, but actually playing Quake?
Now that's a product with potential!
(Posting AC because, well, I'm at work)
if you keep doing that, you'll go blind. At least I'll be able to play Quake.
One of the greatest moments came this winter when the team was showing off its sound-only version of Quake to other game designers. Keenan, whose blindness started them on their quest, took on the other game designers, all old hands at Quake. ''Tim,'' said Spitzer with a laugh, ''just slaughtered them.''
My question is: how much AI has been programmed into this game for the blind players? I can understand navigating the 'maze' simply by sound alone, however targeting the other players would be very very hard. I wonder if the blind player just has to point in the general direction, or if there is an aim bot.... Still, though it is intruiging.
Is quite intresting. They tend to crank the volume to allow for them to feel the vibrations of each note. Of course, lyrics are a whole different story. Usually it helps to have the words on a screen. ;-)
Karma whorin' since 1999
Well, what about the industrial revolution? My guess is that the rise of heavy machinery and high speed transportation probably made it more difficult for the blind.
My theory (though it's hardly original) is that the digital world is on course to mimic the real world in as many ways as possible. One day, having a poor sense of smell could be a serious liability in FPS games.
I certainly have sympathy for the blind -- I'm color blind myself, and routinely get myself killed in FPS and other games where "good" things are green and "bad" things are red, but both colors have the same saturation and luminosity as bad things.
I commend those doing what they can to make the digital world more inclusive, but the fact of the matter is that, in realistic digital environments, those with sensory limitations are going to have an increasingly hard time.
Cheers
-b
I used to have a blind roommate, and he used something called the "Braille Light", which had a tactile braille interface. It was essentially a laptop without a monitor or standard keyboard. Instead it had a tactile output and a set of keys corresponding to braille dots. It makes me wonder, could we combine the sound effects of aurally-enhanced quake with the tactile interface of the braille light to make a faster-moving quake game for the blind?
Make goatse.cx for the blind! Until now they have been protected against the bleeding anus! Now it is time for them to 'see' it.
I read about this last night on the Globe, and noticed claims that this 'blindquake' is functional. If this is so, where do I sign up to test it? No, I'm not blind, but I am quite intrigued and interested in the feasibility of this compared with 'standard' quaking which involves a great deal of visual as well as aural perception.
Yeah... I mean, given that some people can't use their eyes, the rest of us shouldn't either so the world can be 'fair'.
The blind have always had to deal with a world that was made for the sighted. For a very long time, the blind, if they didn't have family that wanted to take care of them, were forced to beg on the streets to continue living. Before Braille, they couldn't read. Before seeing-eye dogs, they couldn't move safely many places.
If anything, new technologies allow the blind more freedom and ability than ever before. There's always hope that one day technology will advance enough that no one will have to be blind.
And, I know some of this from experience. I'm still blind in one eye, but being able to have a lens implant in the other has allowed me to do things such as drive, and read without super thick glasses.
The world is already visual. Vision is one of the most important senses (for men).
People with visual problems (nearsighted/nearblind/blind) are just that. People with problems.
It is/should be everyone's interest to make things easier for them.
BUT NOT WITH QUAKE DAMMIT.
(ok, i foresee that if 3D computer graphics help the visualy impaired, we could adapt it for real-life 3D rendered scenes...)
Looking for people to chat about multicopters, coding, music. skype: gtsiros
I personally think it is a great Idea. an excelent way to build up Hand and Ear Reflexes. And impove listening skills. Plus it gives a lot better graphics. You can just close your eyes and Imagin the world. Plus I think it is fun to stress your other sences.
It also can save electricity by turning your monitor off. And it saves on eye strain.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I wouldn't mind having a go at this version of Quake. It would be good practice for when I go blind from masturbating constantly.
As for helping the blind, I still don't see how this will help them compete with sighted(is that the word?) people on a level playing field. Unless they have aiming scripts, shooting will be harder. And if someone sneezes, or a fan kicks on, they may miss hearing an important turn. This will in noway make them some kind of cyber-DareDevil, but it is a good start.
Xaotik Designs
I'm very happy to read this. Linux has long been the OS of choice for blind people. While the GUI is a lovely innovation for the sighted, the command line maps much easier to blind I/O.
It's a short jump to the realization that anything that might attract blind people to computers will disproportionally favor Linux (e.g., 1 in 10 blind computer users might choose Linux versus 1 in 100 for the population as a whole). I think we'll see a subtle boom in Linux market share.
If the big Linux corps take note of the effects of this, maybe we will start to see some real Windows-killing features. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for DVD support, but I know plenty of people holding out for printing and compatibility with mp3 players. Also, a KDE theme that doesn't make people wish they were blind would be much appreciated. Go Linux! Once again, Open Source prevails!
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Now there are going to be deaf people demanding to be let into the U.S. military.
Better yet, give them a bit more of a physical interface and let them FEEL IT!!
Actually, it's not hard to do... just leave the plunger in the pot. heh
My computer is great! It can run the game at 300 SPS. You know, Sounds Per Second.
"men"= plural of "human"
"people with problems" = "everyone"
Isn't sound our most perceptive sense? How hard would it be to say, control a 3D sound source with a mouse, get it to match up with other "Enemy" 3D sound sources in a similar position and then fire? Is it possible to develop good hand-ear coordination?
This is the single most coolest thing of the day?
Is it possible to apt-get it?
Television channels deliver breaking news via silent tickers along the bottom of the screen. Instead of knobs to change the channel, televisions often use on-screen pop up menus, said Curtis Chong, director of technology for the National Federation of the Blind.
''Over the last five years,'' Chong said, ''we have become increasingly concerned that the rising use of digital media will leave out the blind.''
You have got to be kidding me. They are unhappy at how visual tele vision is?
Geez, what next, the "hearing imared" will complain that radio is too focused on sound?
I'm all for making things less hard for handicaped, but this is beyond ridiculous.
PS Anyone feeling the need to attack me with a barrage of politically correct nonsense à la "handy-capaple" should just punch temselves in the face right now, thanks.
You can't take the sky from me...
Yeah, all that hunting and gathering was MUCH more accessible for the blind.
a cheat for Quake taht will let you hear through walls and move without making a sound.
"Don't mess with him, he taunts the happy fun ball."
how long until theres a decent tutorial up on how to OC your sound card.
I want 2D games back.
Now I can play in my sleep. I just have to work on my ping now.!.!. :^S
"On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."
"With the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?"
Quake for the blind is almost just like normal quake: The only difference is there are two new buttons, labelled "Marco" and "Polo", but I can't figure out what they're for.
There are two ways to look at the visually disabled being left behind because of technology. I mean...sure...they can't play the games we do...do the jobs we do and all because of how visually-centric our world is becoming because of technology and this is a bad thing.
But...
This is the same technology that is on the verge of all but curing blindness. It's kind of a catch 22 at this point. Blind people will probably be able to see in several years with the aid of computerized sensors so we should be able to push technology as though blind people could see now, realizing that they will benefit from all of this in a matter of years...but...if you do that...blind people who have no alternative now will actually be unable to function in any technical environment.
Just a thought.
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor
... I'd loose to the blind... abd now I can prove it.
Your mammas flamebait.
Getting my ass kicked by a 12-year-old is bad enough. Now the blind are going to beat me?
How to search for and download files while you sleep.
"possibly leaving the visually-disabled behind the technological advances."
everyone knows that in the future the visually-disabled will be chief engineers.
if only scientists would hurry up with warp core development...
With video games so popular these days, imagine a new genre: audio games!
Take today's LAN party for example: gamers haul around their high-powered PCs with the latest high-powered video card and bulky / hefty monitor. Given the exponentially lower bandwidth demands of audio versus video, it would be possible to constuct an audio game player with much less demanding equipment:
The future? Imagine all this built into a cell phone! Just download the game from their cell network. Additional ideas come to mind with the addition of bluetooth and/or 3G networks.
The result? People might actually look forward to long and boring business meetings! =)
That, and some REALLY distracted car drivers. =(
Well, maybe not in the plural sense of the word (maybe...), but the disturbingly new-agey folks over at Slimeworld I know were working on building a FPS that's vision-impaired-friendly. The point of a purely transient visual medium catering to the blind eludes me, but then again I can slip on glasses to fix what's wrong with me...
Easy does it!
This comment has been submitted already, 276865 hours , 59 minutes ago. No need to try again.
I'd imagine that having detailed aural access to what is behind you could be a distinct advantage over just that tiny window in front of seeing players.
Sounds like it would be fun to try.
People who disagree with you are not automatically evil, greedy, or stupid.
The article also goes into an interesting discussion on how visual our world is becoming, possibly leaving the visually-disabled behind the technological advances.
Well then, clearly we need to get cracking on better technology to deliver light perception directly into the brain, a la Geordi's visor...
(... and I'm only half joking.)
SlashSigTheorem: Humorous, Political, Critical, Constructive- If you have a
Rumor has it the follow up release will be called The Matrix.
While maybe not to the Quake extent, this has been done before.
At CHI '99 in Pittsburgh two computer scientists from the University of Chile presented work on an acoustical version of Doom which they created for blind children. Parts of their study focused on the cognitive spatial structures that the kids created, but it was basically the same -- they created an aural-based world with different sounds for bullets, monsters, doors, etc.
The talk was pretty interesting - it's a neat read.
Citation for the interested:
Interactive 3D Sound Hyperstories for Blind Children
M. Lumberas and J Sanchez
Proceedings of CHI 1999, Pittsburgh, PA
ACM Press, New York, NY
pp 318-325
WTF can't we just call them blind?
I guess it gives new meaning to cloes your eyes and know the world how it realy is
(or at least hope the person your playing against is the AI)
I believe the time and effort used to allow blind people to play Quake could be better spent. Maybe you could spend that time, FINDING A WAY FOR THEM TO SEE AGAIN?
I suck so bad at Quake2 that now even a blind person can beat me handily. Before this the odds were pretty much even.
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
Thanks! Unlike the majority of these TAB (for Temporarily Able-Bodied) posters here, I think this development is really neat. Then again, I think assistive technology is cool (share the wealth with as many folks as possible, and there is more than one kind of digital divide).
:)
For the record, I don't even play Quake; I have a motor-skills type impairment, and I get my tail waxed on a disturbingly frequent basis when I try to play video games -- they're just a little fast for me. (It took me 10 years to learn to touch-type at 60 wpm.) Still, I'm interested in the area, and the paper sounds like something that might hinge on my other areas of interest.
Besides, we gimps have to stick together.
I'm not a geek, I'm just a clever script.
This story provides an interesting contrast with the other story about webmasters ignoring standards and designing only for IE. The attitude there seems to be that, as long as you get 95% of all potential customers, who cares about the other 5%? Furthermore, some Slashdotters seem to agree with this attitude. I've always taken the Americans with Disabilities Act very seriously, and would probably do things to comply even if it hadn't been passed. But the question is, although Quake for the blind is a great concept, what is the real value if the vast majority of service-providers simply couldn't care less?
If I had to guess I'd say that he's really only used maybe less then 1% of the web. Most sites are unuseable with braile screens and voice synths. And if ever there was a case to make popup ads illegal. More often then not the browser switches to the popup ad and he gets confused where he is.
Try it sometime - sit back and take whatever OS you use right now make it blind friendly - throw out your mouse, close your eyes and use it. Personally I think we still have a long ways to go in making an OS that is userfriendly for blind people in Windows - and especially Linux.
Assuming headphone usage, are today's sound cards fast and flexible enough to generate all the subtle echoes and muffles necessary to accurately recreate direction and distance through sound? Do sound cards have aural equivalents to nVidia's programmable shaders and Cg? And when will headphones get tilt sensors to eliminate the need for head turning controls in video games? Actually, how good are the tilt sensors that Microsoft uses in their controllers?
Hopefully many who are blind now won't be for long. Either way it's nice to see technology helping to make the world more hospitable (or at least more fun) for the disabled, as technology improves it will be nice to see if we can reduce the effects of disabilities... Aww. Lets be honest. I just want my teloscopic, infared, super high detail, bionic eyes along with super hearing so I can hear monsters down hallways! C'mon is it so much to ask!! :)
I stole this Sig
vision is. as far as the amount of data able to be gathered and processed
I'm mostly blind myself, and I have to agree... improvements in technology are not making access easier at all. For every technology that comes out to make things more accessible, a hundred new inaccessible ones show up. The web is the best example I can think of. Back In The Day (TM), web sites were fairly accessible. High contrast enhancements, Lynx, and OS Accessibility support worked fine. But now, too many web sites use Flash, tweaked out style sheets, complex layouts, and other features that render these access tools useless.
Games are worse... Back In The Day (TM) most games could be played without too much difficulty. Now the color schemes and tiny-text are making gaming rather difficult, too. Most game developers do not cater to this very very tiny minority (I'm not even really saying that they should... I'm just pointing out a fact.) SMAC is the only game I can think of in recent history that had specific features fot the visually impaired... a "Color Blind" palette made the game playable for the 20% of the male population that's color blind.
Am I complaining? Not really. It's frustrating that I can't do some of the things that I want to do, but I get over it and deal. I, and most of the other blind folks that I've met, either find a workaround or find something else to do. If computers reach that point, I'll be disappointed, but I'll get over it. Though unless everyone starts coding in forth, I think I'll be OK for a while.
Incidentally, Linux' support for people with low vision SUCKS. There are plenty of tools out there, but they all focus on the BLIND... voice synthesizer,s braille readers, etc. For people with low vision (20/200 and worse) KDE, Gnome -- pretty much all of X in general -- just suck a big fat one. Even MS windows is better, though I think the changes in XP are actually a step backwards. I haven't used a Mac in a while, but I always thought Mac support for people with low vision was far better.
-- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
I'm not blind, but I'd love to try this. I'm just guessing here, but I'd imagine blind people, epsecially those blind since birth, tend to construct a mental map of their surroundings in real-life and would do the same here. It'd be very interesting to try and do the same when you're used to navigating visually.
This guy is actually a blind programmer !, not exactly Quake but big respect to him for not only creating games for the blind but programming them without being able to see his code!.
Its good to see people are exploring other avenues of our senses why restrict these games to sighted people
i mean why does visual gaming have such a priority over audio/tactile ?,why is it we like games without sound, yet without visual feedback is unthinkable ?
This is a neat intro [needs flash & v4 browser & Sound up] that won awards for creativness, giving you a insight into how blind people "see" the web, good example of provoking thought.
I certainly have sympathy for the blind -- I'm color blind myself, and routinely get myself killed in FPS and other games where "good" things are green and "bad" things are red, but both colors have the same saturation and luminosity as bad things.
:).
If your graphics card software gives you separate gamma-correction control over each colour component, you could tweak it so that one was much darker than the other, and stop accidentally TKing
All current graphics cards can do this easily (the 8-bit palette table is used as the gamma table in higher modes), but whether you can get at it is another matter.
Aside from the staggering technical difficulties involved in creating a blanket cure for blindness, I honestly think it is the best possible solution.
At some point, the biotechnology required to accomplish that feat will be collectively cheaper then applying ugly kludges in an attempt to adapt everyday things so that they are suitable for day to day use to the visually impaired.
Besides, all things considered, it must really suck ass to be blind, or otherwise disabled. If I were blind, I would want more effort put toward making me see again then toward adapting things so that I could use them.
END COMMUNICATION
Oh man, I gotta find me one of these servers. No more getting spanked by 11 year-olds in CounterStrike. This is my kind of competition.
I'm not trying to disrespect anyone, so don't get me wrong, but....
...how visual our world is becoming, possibly leaving the visually-disabled behind...
Saying something like:
doesn't really make much sense to me.
Of course our world is visual. Humans have eyes. Well, most of us do anyway. The point is, most of us can see just fine, so it's no surprise that our world is overly visual.
It just sounds to me like we're supposed to feel guilty for something, but we haven't done anything wrong. Yes, we're a visual society. If we weren't, then being visually impaired wouldn't be an impairment would it?
"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." -William Blum
Who gives a fuck about blind people?
They missed Disco!
They missed the Goldrush!
They missed out on the Civil War!
Or perhaps I should say I *heard* it demonstrated. It's a noisy game -- each item in the game makes a different sound, getting louder as you get closer. I think they also tweaked the sound each item made if it was behind you as opposed to in front of you (they played the sound backwards or something like that).
The demonstration was at the Boston Post Mortem meeting, which is a monthly meeting of local game developers and wanna-bees. I forget exactly when; it was a few months ago. Some random points:
They limited the maps so that the players were always on the same level. There were no stairs or jumping platforms or anything like that. They were limited by what they could "display" via the headphones. Although 3D sound API's exist, they didn't find any of them to be especially good for their game.
The blind player could whip any sighted person who was blind folded, but he could be beaten if the sighted player took off the blindfold & watched the screen.
Interestingly, there was a blind woman there who took the developer's challenge. I don't think she did too well since she was unfamiliar with both Quake & the sound interface.
Braille displays were mentioned, but they don't work well for twitch games. The refresh rate is way too slow.
Tim Keenan, the blind guy, mentioned there were other video games he liked to play. One was, I think, an old baseball game (for the Genesis?) which announced everything that was going on which enabled him to play.
Keenan briefly demonstrated the screen reader he uses to read web pages. It's basically a text-to-speech program that works with web pages. Wow, he had it set to one of the highest speed settings and it was basically unintelligible to me. Think of an auctioneer or that "world's fastest talker" guy from the old FedEx commercials -- this program read even faster than that & Keenan could still understand it.
The ZForm developers mentioned that while they learned a lot from the Quake prototype, they decided to make a card game since that made more business sense. The visually-impaired demographic is older (some people lose their sight later in life), and they're much more likely to play cards than Quake. Also, it's much easier to make an unambiguous aural interface for a card game than a twitch game.
Zform Poker is far from the first accessible game. Other games include Shades of Doom, which is based loosely on the Doom series of games. Shades of Doom is the closest blind people have to a modern FPS game. Also check out Grisley Gultch, Western Extraviganza, a children's game for the blind from Bavisoft.
The field of accessible games has actually been very dry until recently, but starting about two years ago its really started to take off.
is a version of Quake for people with my problem... thinking one thing and saying another... I meant blind, but by the time I got around to typing my brain picked the closest disability in thoughtspace it could find.
I don't know why it's considered a troll, though...maybe the moderator doesn't know about some of the silly disputes about being let into the U.S. millitary/combat positions
Taunting is an essential part of any quakesque game! I think the hardest part of translating Quake over for the blind would be a text to speech synthesizer. Making a computer somewhat properly pronounce "Youz b3 a st00p1d n3wb1e c@mp3r!" and "@$9@jj@ D@(9" would be near impossible but if done correctly would complete proof of concept for me.
Reminds me of an SCTV skit from yesteryear. It was Jerry Todd(played by Rick Moranis) advertising 'audiogames'. He had this remote control that when you hit a button, laser blasts would sound for their space battle game.
The lowest common denominator is not always best. Deal.
...why do drive-up ATMs have brail on the buttons?
For every post, there is an equal and opposite re-post.
I believe a blind could learn to play tetris.
:)
This is because of my personal experience: when I've been playing tetris a lot, I start knowing the field without actually watching at it. And because it's possible to recognize the block by sound, as I've seen in a tetris championship finals video.
I've always been interested of the possibility of using the computer (for chat etc) with eyes closed. Or at least since the display of my previous laptop broke
I Xnd the fact that this is a really great thing. My girlfriend has Albinisim (you know no pigment) and really can't see that well. These games like Quake don't really work out that well for her because they are low contrast games that require super fast visual reflexes. Ghost Recon is even worse because everyone is in camo and crawls/kneels along. She mainly plays slower paced games like The Sims because they aren't based on lightening fast reflexes to the eyes.
:)
Now she has used up her last excuse not to play quake with me...
Tibbon
tibbon.com
Finally some players I can frag!
all kidding aside, it seems like there are other games more suited to alternative display technologies.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
Bullshit!
Because of their text-based UI, muds (which have been around the Internet since the 70's and popular during the late 80's to mid-90's) have always provided such a gaming environment.
I really hope that the acoustic stuff can be used with the visuals on as well. I love to play Quake and if I had more audio response from it, I'd just enjoy it that much more.
I certainly think the blind would find this useful as well. It'd help if a seeing person was able to stand over their shoulder and assist them with getting oriented.
Who knows, this could start a new area of development for games. It's well known that sound plays a crucial role in games, but what if sounds were exaggerated in order to give you spatial clues? Hollywood's been doing this for ages, this is why space ships generate sound when they fly by.
Just a thought. I'm not visually impaired by any stretch of the imagination, but I have very keen hearing and would love to put it to better use. I hope one day in the future my desktop computer provides more audio feedback.
I've been playing against blind quake players for years.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
Grapically, games, 1st person shooters and others, are very advanced. I mean we're getting towards phot realism and in some cases are just about there. However, what distinguishes, for me anyway, a good game from a mind blowing one is sound. This is especially true in suspense or horror oriented games. Several of id's games use atmospheric sounds to build up suspense and a sense of drea. Then they spring the monster on you and youp jump out of your chair. A lot games just don't have correct aural cues to convey suspense or other feelings. Anyway, what I'm wondering is why not use someone who has to rely totally on aural nuance to navigate through life to develop the sonic environment of a game?
Before I used to get joked that I was being fragged by the kiddies. Now I'm gonna hear "You got fragged by the blind kids!!"
Ohh the agony!!
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/dreamcast/data/251 16.html
"I see" said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.
Jesus saves souls and redeems them for valuable cash prizes
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Lets talk about Jon Carmack. Jon is the legendary programmer of such classic PC games as Wolfenstein, Doom, Duke nukem 3d, Quake 1, 2, and 3, unreal, and the upcoming doom3. Jon has single handedly created the genre known as the first-person-shooter. He has also popularized the Direct3d 3d format over Microsoft's competing Opengl format, as well as caused public interest in 3d cards when he first released accelerated quake for the s3 virge chipset. Jon carmack has redefined gaming on PC's.
Now stop for a moment and think... What would have happened if Albert Einstein had worked creating amazing pinball games instead of creating the theory of relativity? Humanity would suffer! Jon carmack is unfortunately doing JUST THIS, using his gifts at computer coding to create games instead of furthering the knowledge of humanity. Carmack could have been working for NASA or the US military, but instead he simply sits around coding violent computer games.
Is this a waste of a special and rare talent? Sadly, the answer is yes.
Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. Not only is Jon carmack not contributing to society, he is causing it's downfall. What was the main reason for the mass murder of dozens of people in columbine? Doom. It's always the same story... Troubled youth plays doom or quake, he arms himself to the teeth, he kills his classmates. This has happened hundreds of times in the US alone. Carmack is not only wasting his talents and intelligence; he is single-handedly causing the deaths of many young men and women. How does he sleep at night?
Carmack is a classic example of a very talented and intelligent human being that is bent on total world destruction. Incredibly, he has made millions of dollars getting people hooked on psychotic games where they compete on the internet to see who can dismember the most people. I believe there is something morally wrong when millions of people have computerized murder fantasies, and we have Jon Carmack to thank. Carmack has used his superior intellect to create mayhem in society. Many people play games such as quake so much that their minds are permanently warped. A cousin of mine has been in therapy for 6 months after he lost a 'death match' and became catatonic.
It is unfortunate that most people do not realize how much this man has damaged all the things we have worked hard for in America. Jon has wasted his intelligence, caused the deaths of innocent children, and warped this country forever. To top it off, he got rich in the process and is revered by millions of computer users worldwide. Perhaps one day the US government will see the light and confine Jon Carmack somewhere with no computers so he can no longer use his intelligence to wreak havoc on society.
The Slashdot Effect: A new for
This is an excellent idea, and is what technology should be used for - making content accessible to people.
sounds like a good way to kill a blind man's confidence. Do you really think that a blind man in a death-match will stand a chance against a bunch of eye-toting frag-heads? Now, if its blind-man on blind-man, I suppose it would be great. But after 'hearing' yourself at the bottom of the roster on every map, you may just quit with your head held low. Now, about player names...
I'm sorry, what about all of the recent advances in allowing the blind to see? What about how audio-based our world is, don't they have any compassion for the deaf? There are many situations in which visual cues are sparse, and audible ones are all you get; for example, in an airport, when someone is 'paged', it is done via (crappy) audio only. There are not scrolling or static message boards which carry the same messages. How on earth do you find a deaf person in a big airport, anyway? Lojack?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
So there's this blind guy in the computer store swinging his guide dog on his harness in circles over the top of his head. A sales clerk approaches him.
"Excuse me sir, but could I help you?"
"No, it's alright," replies the blind man, "I'm just taking a look around for Quake for the Blind."
I've got a fever and the only prescription is more COBOL.
CRIPPLE FIGHT!
Out of all the useful things they could have developed for the blind, they come out with quake.
Obviously the poster of this article lives in a non-PC Police state ;-} When I worked with blind people in Australia a few years ago, calling someone visually impaired supposedly implied that they were impaired to look at visually, ie ugly. The term acceptable to the Politically-Correct Police was vision impaired.
A couple of family members are blind. They don't mind being visually impaired.
getting fragged by someone who is blind.
As technology becomes more I/O-based, this will inevitably alienate people with I/O limitations. Thankfully, those with mere mental impairments will be more and more in the mainstream.
IN TEH FUCHAR, LITERSY WLIL EB OPSHANAL!!!!!111
Please. I never read that 5|-|17 anyway. anybody who uses 5p33k that l33t isn't worth listening to anyway, even if they're trying to tell you their proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. And you'll get fragged while you stand around trying to decode all their cool trash talk.
Freedom: "I won't!"
So I guess this is why there aren't many blind Visual Studio developers.
MUDs and other text adventure games have been playable, unmodified, by any blind person with some text-to-speach software and a braile keyboard. In fact, there was a blind player on AnotherMUD a few years ago. The "blindness" spell was quite common in that game. Whenever someone managed to successfully cast the spell on your character, you would see:
:)
"You are blind."
Every time this happened to the blind fellow, he would shout: "'You are blind.' Well, duh!"
It is/should be everyone's interest to make things easier for them.
BUT NOT WITH QUAKE DAMMIT.
These people have problems with their eysight, not their personalities.
THEY MIGHT WANT TO HAVE SOME FUN TOO DAMMIT.
FRA: STFU GTFO
From the article: "One of the greatest moments came this winter when the team was showing off its sound-only version of Quake to other game designers. Keenan, whose blindness started them on their quest, took on the other game designers, all old hands at Quake. ''Tim,'' said Spitzer with a laugh, ''just slaughtered them.''"
:-)
I was at that meeting, and brought along my blind, non-gamer (then) wife. Although Tim was (naturally) much better than her, she did manage to kill him once. The whole way home, she kept saying "I *get* it now! Shooting things is *fun*!"
Now she's a gamer herself, and an official tester for ZForm
Now they will be visually and Mentally impaired..
The real issue here is....do they know how to bind grapple?
well, while most of you probably won't care, I actually know the guys running Zform, and have seen, so to speak, all the hard work that goes into what they do. To get an idea of what they have been working on, and how their poker game works, go to http://www.zform.com. Sadly though, their games only work on PCs as of right now....check it out anyway...!
"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
Credits: on by
/. since 7/8/02
crapfloods and trolling and raping small kittens
nice wider pages and wanking with mittens
turd report packages tied up with strings
these are a few of my favorite things
grits covered portman and ASCII art doodles
ACs and CLITers and Katz sex with poodles
wild trolls that fly with plus five mod scoring
these are a few of my favorite things
when the ban hits, when I can't post, when I'm feeling sad
i simply remember my favorite things
then i don't feel so bad
Rob Malda chugs penis in fan fiction slashes
taco snot over my nose and eyelashes
BSD dying and that goatse ring
these are a few of my favorite things
grits covered portman and ASCII art doodles
ACs and CLITers and Katz sex with poodles
wild trolls that fly with plus five mod scoring
these are a few of my favorite things
when the ban hits, when I can't post when, I'm feeling sad
i simply remember my favorite things
then i don't feel so bad
- Trolling
Now the blind are going to be mentally impaired too.
"I've heard WinXP removed the cmd/command prompt."
No, Microsoft didn't remove the CMD.EXE or COMMAND.COM prompt from Windows XP. But Windows XP has reduced functionality, in many ways, not just in the command line. The command line is a big embarrassment because of its limited capabilities, but at least in Win 95 it worked. With every version since then it has worked less well. (There are two kinds of command prompt, and, according to Microsoft employees, the differences between them are not documented.)
The command line prompt sometimes begins to display short file names. Microsoft employees say that Microsoft has no fix, although someone not connected with Microsoft did make a work-around.
Cutting and pasting into a command line program often puts successive extra spaces before each line. Microsoft employees say that there is no plan to fix this.
The fast paste mode that is in Windows 98 is gone in Windows XP. Microsoft employees say there is no plan to fix this.
When using the command line interface, Windows XP doesn't always update the time. After several hours, the time reported to command line programs can be several hours in error.
There is a DOS program called START.EXE that can be used to start other programs. But it does operate the same way as in other versions of Windows. It starts a program, but cannot be made to return control to the command line program as previous versions did. There is no technical reason for this; it is just one of the shortcomings that are allowed to exist.
People often say that DOS has gone away. But Microsoft still calls the command line interface DOS, and in Windows XP Microsoft has added new programs for configuring the OS that work only under DOS.
Sometimes when you press a key while using Windows XP, it is seconds until there is any response. Apparently there is something wrong with the CPU scheduler in XP, because there are a lot of complaints about this in the forums and MS people have said that they are working on it. On one particular fresh installation of XP, on an Intel motherboard with either a Matrox G550 or an ATI Radeon video adapter, it requires 18 seconds to display a directory listing of 94 items. This is apparently related to a bug in the video software, not the adapter drivers.
Something is wrong with the Alt-Tab display of running programs under Windows XP. If there are a lot of programs, not all of them are displayed. The order jumps around in a seemingly random way.
Although articles often say negative things about Microsoft, I've never seen an article that fully documents how bad the situation really is. Microsoft's management is so bad that the company has become self-destructive. For example, Windows XP is spyware. Here is a list of ways Windows XP connects to Microsoft's servers:
- Application Layer Gateway Service (Requires server rights.)
- Fax Service
- File Signature Verification
- Generic Host Process for Win32 Services (Requires server rights.)
- Microsoft Application Error Reporting
- Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
- Microsoft Direct Play Voice Test
- Microsoft Help and Support Center
- Microsoft Help Center Hosting Server (Wants server rights.)
- Microsoft Management Console
- Microsoft Media Player (tells Microsoft the music you like)
- Microsoft Network Availability Test
- Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service
- MS DTC Console program
- Run DLL as an app
- Services and Controller app
- Time Service, sets the time on your computer from Microsoft's computer.
- Microsoft Office keeps a number in each file you create that identifies
your computer. Microsoft has never said why.
- Microsoft mouse software has reduced functionality until you let it connect
to Microsoft computers.
These are just the ones I know. There may be others.So, if you use Windows XP, your computer is dependent on Microsoft computers. That's bad, not only because you lose control over your possession, but because Microsoft produces buggy software and doesn't patch bugs quickly. For example, as of July 7, 2002, there are 18 unpatched security holes in Microsoft Internet Explorer. This is a terrible record for a company that has $40 billion in the bank. Obviously, with that kind of money, Microsoft could fix the bugs if it wanted to fix them. Since the bugs are very public and Microsoft has the money, it seems reasonable to suppose that top management at Microsoft has deliberately decided that the bugs should remain, at least for now.
It seems possible that there is a connection between all the bugs and the U.S. government's friendly treatment of Microsoft's law-breaking. The U.S. government's CIA and FBI and NSA departments spy on the entire world, and unpatched vulnerabilities in Microsoft software help spies.
Windows XP, and all current Windows operating systems, have a file called the registry in which configuration information is written. If this one (large, often fragmented) file becomes corrupted, the only way of recovering may be to re-format the hard drive, re-install the operating system, and then re-install and re-configure all the applications. The registry file is a single, very vulnerable, point of failure. Microsoft apparently designed it this way to provide copy protection. Since most entries in the registry are poorly documented or not documented, the registry effectively prevents control by the user.
Note that Microsoft does not support making functional complete backups under Windows XP. Look at Microsoft's policy about this: Q314828 Microsoft Policy on Disk Duplication of Windows XP Installation. Only those who work with Microsoft software will understand the true meaning of Microsoft's policy. Since almost all programs use the registry operating system file, if you cannot make a functional copy of the operating system you cannot make a functional copy of all your application installations and configurations. There are other software companies that try to fix this, but they don't work well, and Microsoft can, of course, break their implementations, as they have often done with other kinds of competitors.
Because the configuration information for the motherboard and the configuration information for the are mixed together in the registry file, the registry tends to prevent you from moving a hard drive to a computer with a different motherboard. That's another implication of the above Microsoft policy. So, if you have a motherboard failure, and a good complete backup, you may not be able to recover unless you have a spare computer with the same motherboard.
Note that Windows XP Professional can support only ten simultaneous incoming network connections. If you want more than that, you must use Windows 2000 server, and pay much, much more. (There is no Windows XP server yet.) Many businesses have very light network traffic; they just move files from staff member to staff member; they really don't need a dedicated server computer. The staff computers could easily handle the load except for this artificial limitation.
Apparently because the Windows XP GUI comes from Windows 98, Windows XP has the same problem with desktop icons that Windows 98 has. The icons sometimes flicker. Sometimes they move themselves around, particularly after the user switches monitor resolutions. Also, sometimes the taskbar settings un-configure themselves, as they do in Windows 98.
Only technically knowledgeable people know how to avoid signing up for a Microsoft Passport account during initial use of Windows XP. The name Passport gives an indication of Microsoft's thinking. A passport is a document issued by a sovereign nation. Without it, the nation's citizens cannot travel, and, if they leave, won't be allowed back in their own country. In Microsoft's corporate thinking, the company seems to be moving in the direction of believing that they own the user's computer. Most people are both honest and intimidated. Apparently about 95% do whatever they are asked on the screen. They give their personal information to Microsoft. They don't realize that, if they feel forced to get a Passport account, they should enter almost completely fictitious information, since the real question is not "What is your name and address", but "Can we invade your privacy". The honest answer to this is "No, you cannot invade my privacy", and the only effective way to communicate that is to give completely fictitious information. Since it is the educated people who have computers, Microsoft is building a database of the personal lives of educated people. Microsoft knows when they connect and from what IP address (which tends to show the area), what kind of help they ask, and information about what they are doing with their computers, including what music they like. It is not known, and there is no way to know, how much Microsoft or other organizations make use of this information, or their plans for future use.
Not only has Windows XP definitely gone further in the direction of allowing the user less control over his or her own machine, but with Palladium, Microsoft apparently intends to finish the job: Microsoft will have ultimate control over the user's computer and therefore all his or her data. Even now, under Windows XP, a recent security patch requires that the user agree to a contract that gives Microsoft administrator privileges over the user's computer. The contract says that if a user wants to patch his or her system against a bug which would allow an attack over the Internet, he or she must give Microsoft legal control over the computer. See this article also: Microsoft's Digital Rights Management-- A Little Deeper. You may need to be a lawyer to take apart the crucial sentence. "These security related updates may disable your ability to copy and/or play Secure Content and [my emphasis] use other software on your computer" legally includes this meaning: "These updates may disable your ability to use other software on your computer." Note that the term "security related updates" is meaningless to the user because the updates have no relation to user security. So, the sentence effectively means that Microsoft can control the user's computer without notice and whenever it wants. That kind of sentence is known in psychology as "testing the limits". If there is no strong public complaint about this, expect to see more and stronger language like this.
This Register article shows the direction Microsoft is going: MS Palladium protects IT vendors, not you. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and Microsoft is well down that road. See this ZDNet article, also: MS: Why we can't trust your 'trustworthy' OS.
Microsoft's self-destructiveness does not mean that the user should be self-destructive. There is no need to apologize for using Microsoft software. The correct solution to abuse is persuading the abuser to stop being abusive. Once I posted to a Slashdot story a link to an article on a web site of mine. By far the majority of visitors from the Slashdot story used Microsoft operating systems. Rather than feel embarrassed because Microsoft is abusive, action needs to be taken to prevent the abuse. If you are against Microsoft abuse, you are not against Microsoft; you are more pro-Microsoft than Bill Gates.
These Microsoft policies mean that any government which wants to be independent of the United States government, and any government which represents itself as controlled by the people, cannot use Microsoft operating systems, or other Microsoft proprietary systems.
- poopbot: beautiful snot, lovely snot
why I should care? If some loser is blind, then that's his crappy luck. What's with all this crap about equality for "disabled" people? IF they are disabled, then deal with them like you do a disabled horse... remove them from this world. There's no reason why we should spend money supporting someone who is a leech on society like that.
Umm... could we perhaps stop this political correctness thing here on Slashdot? They're not "Visually Impaired", they're "Blind".
Even the article speaks of them as blind.
And yes, there are varying degrees of blindness (ranging from my slight color-blindness to full-out zero), but please, please, let's stop this PC garbage right here.
Thanks.
Ciao,
Klaus
Free PC version of ChipWits at http://www.breueronline.de/klaus/chipwits/
Zform did a demonstration of this at a gathering in cambridge this past winter. The technology in person clearly demonstrates the differences between games designed for sighted play and the potential designes created by non-sighted people.
The most interesting thing was that the veteran non-sighted player would only rotate the character in 90 degree increments and relied heavily on linear strafing. This simplified navigation so much so that I wondered why the team hadn't removed the ability to rotate in non-fixed increments. Because of this fixed rotation pattern being more useful for the non-sighted, the game visually and logically resembles wolfenstein a lot more than it does quake. For instance, quake was capable of ramps and multiple height platforms, features that would impede non-sighted individuals. Likewise, the weapons used needed to be either melee weapons, or instant firing weapons (like the shotgun)... rocket launchers and anything involving distance and timing are right out.
The best part was the choice of noises. Basically everything gave off some sort of stereo-panned sound clue, with volume to judge distance and rising / falling tones to judge front / back. Passageways on the sides don't give off sound until you are nearly in a position to enter them, a feature that the blind player said made everything much easier. And to be very cute, when sitting still characters emit a "quacking" sound. Nothing here is particularly revolutionary... just some very simple techniques applied to a specially designed level of quake in order to prove that it is possible.
Overall the game looks promising. I can understand going for a web-based economic model for this system, as a quake-for-the-blind wouldn't sell many copies. However, the techniques used in the qfb are interesting, and if certain representational problems are overcome it could become quite fun.
This Sig is a mnemonic device designed to allow you to recognize this author in the future.
...but for other reasons. Im not color blind, but I used to play Nintendo back in the day on an old cheap B&W TV. I can really remember one game that said "go through the blue door". Turns out that the door I kept going through was red when I played it on a color screen. Probably would explain why the game was so tough after that door.
No jokes about p0rn for the blind?!?
Just rig a z interpreter with a text-to-speech interface and voila, there you go. Games for the blind.
Hello. This is a bit off-topic. I anonce here a new game with the Quake engine. Derived from FrikaC Team work:
n dex.php/Sp ace%20Zings[/url]s px1.png[/u rl]p ng[/u rl]
Shots:
Windows version:
[url]http://telejano.berlios.de/wiki3/i
Linux version:
[url]http://telejano.berlios.de/option/
[url]http://telejano.berlios.de/option/spx2.
Whas designed standalone, download the alpha and play.
-Woof woof woof!
It would be great if they incorporated these audio techniques into regular Quake. I could also see that this could be a great game to take on the road, you don't need a TV or monitor, just headphones and a controller.
YHBT. YHL. HAND.