GAME NEWS EXTRA: Visually impaired gamer sues Sony Online

[satman83]

Visually impaired gamer sues Sony Online

Refusal to implement or facilitate changes to make online games more accessible violates Americans with Disabilities Act, suit claims.

It's not uncommon for blind gamers to feel invisible in addition to visually impaired. For instance, when gamer Brandon Cole wrote THQ a letter suggesting changes to make its Smackdown series of WWE wrestling games more accessible to the blind, he received a form letter back thanking him for his appreciation of the game's graphics.

But now, one visually impaired gamer has gone beyond simply requesting accessibility features and is demanding them by way of a lawsuit. Last month, disabled gamer Alexander Stern filed suit against Sony, Sony Online Entertainment, and Sony Computer Entertainment America in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The suit alleges that Sony is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to implement features to make its games accessible to visually impaired gamers.

The Americans with Disabilities Act states that, "No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation."

According to the suit, Sony ignored repeated requests through postal mail and e-mail to come up with reasonable modifications to its games to make them more accessible. The suit, which doesn't mention SOE games by name but appears to focus on massively multiplayer online titles, requests the addition of visual cues to point gamers to their destinations for gamers with "disability impaired visual processing."

The suit also specifies the ways in which other companies have made their games accessible. For instance, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft allows the use of third-party mods in its game, which has led to the creation of several programs to include accessibility aids in the game. The suit also mentions Pin Interactive's action adventure PC game Terraformers, saying high-contrast 3D graphics modes, an audio compass, and voice-over detailing items collected in the game all serve to make the game more accessible.

Beyond the denial of entertainment, the suit also contends that Sony's actions have caused visually impaired gamers a financial loss. Because Sony runs an official auction site where gamers can sell their in-game items for real money, the suit says Stern's inability to participate in that marketplace is costing him money.

"Sony has constructed the products in a way that is inaccessible to plaintiff; maintains the products in this inaccessible form; and has failed to take any action whatsoever to correct these barriers even after being repeatedly notified of the discrimination that such barriers cause," according to the suit.

Representatives with Sony and Sony Online Entertainment said they don't comment on pending litigation.

[Toshiharu]

You know how much I lol'd for the thank you graphics part? That was epic.

As for this dumbass trying to get another get rich scheme.. fail. Sony is ganna win and the dumbass is ganna lose. There MANY things out there where blind people cannot use/do. Honestly..

[Thomas42]

My blind classmate can play GTA:SA, because he tries. Less baww please.

[Love]

some1 should club his head off for being such a lowsome human being.

[CrimsonNuker]

Blind people playing games? How the fu-...

[Squirt]

Blind people playing games? How the fu-...

Probably guitar hero?
Any other game like GTA is just wtf?

[Azilius]

I have no arms, no legs, and no face.

brb suing every game industry.

[-.-]

im too short to ride the roller coaster, sue the theme park >.>

too blind to drive a car too or fly a plane?

[Mirosuke]

Lol, the power of money?

[MrJoey]

Lol'ed Unlike that fool though, deaf people have a better chance of success. There are too many games out there with no subtitles. Pisses me off when it's a story line driven game too.

[John_Doe]

lol

[Miguez]

Lol'ed Unlike that fool though, deaf people have a better chance of success. There are too many games out there with no subtitles. Pisses me off when it's a story line driven game too.

You deaf..?

OnT: How can Sony adapt the games to blind people, hell, how do blind people even play games?

[/Pi]

Next stop: Hollywood!

[XxDeeDeeDeexX]

You deaf..?

OnT: How can Sony adapt the games to blind people, hell, how do blind people even play games?

Since the blind man knows sony is so smart an innovative, he expects them to come out with a neurological implant to allow him to see what he is playing. So that way he can "plug and play"
This is just another money scheme, not quite as bad as Desiree Jennings' though =_=

[Goseki]

You know how much I lol'd for the thank you graphics part? That was epic.

Yup. Epic Sony WIN!

I still want to know how the blind plays video games. I've heard of a blind guy pwning in l4d due to all the audio cues of where ppl are and where infected are. Games like that can be overcome with surround sound.

Dunno what the guy expects Sony to do though, make everything optional to have a voice-over narrator?

[[SD]happynoobing]

You know how much I lol'd for the thank you graphics part? That was epic.

Yup. Epic Sony WIN!

I still want to know how the blind plays video games. I've heard of a blind guy pwning in l4d due to all the audio cues of where ppl are and where infected are. Games like that can be overcome with surround sound.

but walls don't make sounds...

[Goseki]

The person said they would walk the blind guy through it a few times. I go to a university that has a very large population of blind students. They get walked around campus the first few weeks, but by end semester they pretty much memorized where the major obstacles are and can maneuver around with their cane.

[inky]

You don't hear amputees suing Playboy because they can't fap to it do you?

Greedy little bitches -_-

[[SD]happynoobing]

The person said they would walk the blind guy through it a few times. I go to a university that has a very large population of blind students. They get walked around campus the first few weeks, but by end semester they pretty much memorized where the major obstacles are and can maneuver around with their cane.

but that's real life, you don't physically feel anything when you bump into a wall in game.

[Miguez]

You know how much I lol'd for the thank you graphics part? That was epic.

Yup. Epic Sony WIN!

I still want to know how the blind plays video games. I've heard of a blind guy pwning in l4d due to all the audio cues of where ppl are and where infected are. Games like that can be overcome with surround sound.

Dunno what the guy expects Sony to do though, make everything optional to have a voice-over narrator?

That would be awesome. Even better, a sexy-voice female narrator.

[Ningyotsukai-san]

but that's real life, you don't physically feel anything when you bump into a wall in game.

+1

video games require something blind people can't really do: use hand-eye coordination

though, some instances, yea ...they can play using other senses ....though, that's conditional on the game itself

[Sacchin]

Sony should sue him for being blind.

[Goseki]

The person said they would walk the blind guy through it a few times. I go to a university that has a very large population of blind students. They get walked around campus the first few weeks, but by end semester they pretty much memorized where the major obstacles are and can maneuver around with their cane.

but that's real life, you don't physically feel anything when you bump into a wall in game.

No, but most games have pretty easy to memorize pathways. Some even offer a bumping noises to let you know you ran into a wall. Once they memorize which way to go, they can figure out where things are relative to the path.

[CeLL]

next thing you know kodak will get sued for not making its pictures more accessible to blind people.

[LaloHao]

"No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation."
I thought you needed to buy it, that means it's no public, you can buy it or not, it's not something you need or a life or death issue

Beyond the denial of entertainment, the suit also contends that Sony's actions have caused visually impaired gamers a financial loss. Because Sony runs an official auction site where gamers can sell their in-game items for real money, the suit says Stern's inability to participate in that marketplace is costing him money.
I'd guess their TOS is not: We own every electronic item ingame, you cannot sell it for real life money; which is in all MMO's, but i guess not anymore


How the hell did he write the letters and emails anyway, wasn't he blind?

[Blindfire]

Brail keyboard.

[inky]

http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000305.html

[Nyx]

To be legally blind you don't have to not be able to see.

. This means that a legally blind individual would have to stand 20 feet (6.1 m) from an object to see it—with corrective lenses—with the same degree of clarity as a normally sighted person could from 200 feet (61 m). In many areas, people with average acuity who nonetheless have a visual field of less than 20 degrees (the norm being 180 degrees) are also classified as being legally blind. Approximately ten percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. Low vision is sometimes used to describe visual acuities from 20/70 to 20/200.[3]

So the game would just be harder for him to see then other people. Still stupid and I hope he loses.

[Fimero]

its not sony's fault that blinds cant play their games
its the blinds persons cause for being blind fault
so if it was genetics sue the parents