Inaccessible through oversight: the need for inclusive game design

Games are an important part of modern culture. The nature of most video games is such that it can be difficult for individuals with impairments to enjoy many titles. In many cases, this is not due to the games themselves presenting an impossible challenge, but because the games have been left inaccessible through the omission of common features. Mainstream titles are often accessible and inaccessible by turns. This strongly suggests that the resultant inaccessibility is an oversight rather than conscious design. Awareness building is an important process in improving the inclusivity of game titles. This in turn is important in ensuring that all members of society have an opportunity to enjoy a valuable recreational form. To this end, the essay discusses both the types of disability that could be supported and some common mechanisms by which this can be done. A short overview of several prominent game titles is included to provide real world context for the discussion. In this essay, the author argues that ensuring accessibility need not be a costly or an onerous task, and that great strides can be made by, simply adopting the existing good practice that is currently spread across mainstream titles

A Bayesian approach to the aperture problem of 3D motion perception

We suggest a geometric-statistical approach that can be ap- plied to the 3D aperture problem of motion perception. In simulations and psychophysical experiments we study per- ceived 3D motion direction in a binocular viewing geometry by systematically varying 3D orientation of a line stimulus moving behind a circular aperture. Although motion direc- tion is inherently ambiguous perceived directions show sys- tematic trends and a Bayesian model with a prior for small depth followed by slow motion in 3D gives reasonable fits to individual data. We conclude that the visual system tries to minimize velocity in 3D but that earlier disparity processing strongly influences perceived 3D motion direction. We discuss implications for the integration of disparity and motion cues in the human visual system

Pacman's canon in C#: a quantum interpretation of video game canon.

The topic of what constitutes canon with a video game is an under-explored topic in critical discussion. We rely, as a field, on largely intuitive and insubstantial parameters for the elements that we choose to analyse. This paper outlines the role of canon in the creation of popular media franchises, and the specific complexities that arise from treating video games as part of the same broad spectrum as more passive media such as books and movies. It puts forward a theory of canonicty that allows for all expression of player agency to be canonical simultaneously for the purposes of analysis and discussion-this is a kind of quantum interpretation. It concludes with an argument as to why what we consider to be viable canonical elements within video games must be tightly constrained if we are to give ourselves the best intellectual base from which to function

An Analysis of the Relationship between CEO Compensation and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Type and Quality

The construct of corporate social responsibility (CSR) itself is comprised of three underlying components: environmental, social, and corporate governance. However, it is unclear from the extant literature whether and how these underlying components of CSR are related to CEO compensation. In the absence of a theoretical model of CSR that specifically considers its underlying components, I present in this paper an exploratory analysis of the relationships between CEO compensation and CSR disclosure type and quality. My CSR proxies are based on a firm’s environmental, social and corporate governance-related disclosure, as reported by Bloomberg. I calculate total CEO compensation as the annual change in a comprehensive measure of total CEO wealth. Using a sample of US firms for the period 2007 through 2014, I first test the relationship between overall CSR disclosure and CEO compensation, and I find no significant association. I then disaggregate the CSR firms by disclosure type and provide evidence that: (1) relative to non-CSR firms, CEO compensation is lower in firms providing only corporate governance-related CSR disclosures; (2) CEO compensation is higher in firms providing both corporate governance-related and social-related CSR disclosure, as compared to firms providing only corporate governance-related CSR disclosure; (3) CEO compensation is roughly equivalent in firms providing both corporate governance-related and social-related CSR disclosure and in non-CSR firms; and (4) CEO compensation is higher in firms providing all three types of CSR disclosure, as compared to all other firms (CSR or non-CSR). I then test the association between CSR disclosure quality and CEO compensation, and results in the CSR subsample analysis show a positive association between the two that is driven solely by the quality of the environmental-related CSR disclosures. Additional analysis is provided using a more common measure of compensation; these results suggest that the quality of the corporate governance-related CSR disclosures drives the positive association between overall CSR disclosure quality and CEO compensation. A detailed comparison of the two compensation measures highlights the importance of equity-based incentives for CSR disclosure quality

Quantitative sensory testing in painful hand osteoarthritis demonstrates features of peripheral sensitisation.

Hand osteoarthritis (HOA) is a prevalent condition for which treatments are based on analgesia and physical therapies. Our primary objective was to evaluate pain perception in participants with HOA by assessing the characteristics of nodal involvement, pain threshold in each hand joint, and radiological severity. We hypothesised that inflammation in hand osteoarthritis joints enhances sensitivity and firing of peripheral nociceptors, thereby causing chronic pain. Participants with proximal and distal interphalangeal (PIP and DIP) joint HOA and non-OA controls were recruited. Clinical parameters of joint involvement were measured including clinical nodes, VAS (visual analogue score) for pain (0-100 mm scale), HAQ (health assessment questionnaire), and Kellgren-Lawrence scores for radiological severity and pain threshold measurement were performed. The mean VAS in HOA participants was 59.3 mm ± 8.19 compared with 4.0 mm ± 1.89 in the control group (P < 0.0001). Quantitative sensory testing (QST) demonstrated lower pain thresholds in DIP/PIP joints and other subgroups in the OA group including the thumb, metacarpophalangeal (MCPs), joints, and wrists (P < 0.008) but not in controls (P = 0.348). Our data demonstrate that HOA subjects are sensitised to pain due to increased firing of peripheral nociceptors. Future work to evaluate mechanisms of peripheral sensitisation warrants further investigation

Open source and accessibility: advantages and limitations

In this paper we discuss the open source process as it relates to accessibility software. Open source is a development model that has shown considerable benefits in a number of application areas. However the nature of accessibility tools and the intended users of such software products raise issues that must be addressed by the developer before users encounter the tools in real world contexts. In this paper we discuss the nature of the open source process, how it functions, and the motivations with regards to participation that developers self-report. We then explain the impact of these elements of the open source process as they relate to adaptive accessibility software. We use some specific examples of issues raised from the adoption of open source via a discussion of the ACCESS Framework, an accessibility engine designed to provide cross-platform accessibility support through plug-ins

HF Radar QC on azimuth measurement: dealing with sea echoes seemingly from the land

Echoes that seemingly come from the land occur on both phased array and crossed loop systems. Past practice has generally been to avoid pointing the phased array beam at land targets, and masking out any land echoes from the radials data file for crossed loop system. In an attempt to avoid this sanitising of data this paper addresses possible causes and evidence-based procedures for dealing with the effect. Phased array radars do get echoes when the beam is pointed towards land and it is shown that the echo power drops significantly when the main beam is swept across the coast from sea to land. This change in amplitude can be used to develop a robust criterion for the elimination of land echoes. For crossed loop direction finding systems the error in determination of the bearing of sea echoes is used to identify a coastal land area in which the echoes are actually from true sea scatter from the adjacent ocean. It is suggested that these echoes should be included in the estimation of sea surface currents

'There's the record, closed and final':Rough for Theatre II as Psychiatric Encounter

A co-authored collaboration between a theatre practitioner and a clinical psychiatrist, this paper will examine Rough for Theatre II (RFTII) and Beckett’s demonstration of the way records are used to understand the human subject. Using Beckett’s play to explore interdisciplinary issues of embodiment and diagnosis, the authors will present a dialogue that makes use of the ‘best sources’ in precisely the same manner as the play’s protagonists. One of those sources will be Beckett himself, as Heron will locate the play in its theatrical context through reflections upon his own practice (with Fail Better Productions, UK) as well as recent studies such as Beckett, Technology and the Body (Maude 2009) and Performing Embodiment in Samuel Beckett’s Drama (McMullan 2010); another source will be the philosopher Wilhelm Windleband, whose 1901 History of Philosophy was read and noted upon by Beckett in the 1930s, as Broome will introduce a philosophical and psychiatric context to the exchange. Windelband is now a neglected figure in philosophy; but as one of the key figures of Neo-Kantianism in the late 19(th) century, his work was an important impetus to that of Rickert, Weber and Heidegger. Specifically, Windelband gives us the distinction between idiographic and nomothetic understanding of individuals, an approach that is of relevance to the psychiatric encounter. This academic dialogue will consider tensions between subjectivity and objectivity in clinical and performance practice, while examining Beckett’s analysis of the use of case notes and relating them back to Windelband’s ideas on the understanding of others. The dialogue took place in 2011 at the University of Warwick, and has since been edited by the authors

Meeple Centred Design: A Heuristic Toolkit for Evaluating the Accessibility of Tabletop Games

Evaluation of accessibility within a tabletop context is much more complicated than it is within a video game environment. There is a considerable amount of variation in game systems, game mechanisms, and interaction regimes. Games may be entirely verbal, or completely non-verbal. They might be real-time or turn based, or based on simultaneous actions. They can be competitive or co-operative, or shift from one to the other during a single game session. They might involve visual pattern recognition or force players to memorise game state without visual cues. They may involve touch, or smell. They might involve social deduction or betrayal. They can encompass all sensory faculties, in differing degrees. Almost all games have accessibility considerations that should be taken into account, but there is currently no comprehensive tool by which this can be done that encompasses the rich variety of tabletop gaming interaction metaphors. In this paper, the authors discuss the heuristic lens that is used by the Meeple Centred Design tabletop accessibility project. This is a tool that has been applied to one hundred and sixteen games to date, and the full results of these have been published for analysis and consideration within the wider tabletop gaming community