I originally misinterpreted the title and though you were going to talk about actual accessibility in MMOs as opposed to barriers to entry for novice players. While I agree with your post (especially about voice chat, the reason I quit WoW) I think the accessibility your talking about is the greedy "games for game designers" approach. Your thinking of what accessibility means to you and forgetting what it should mean to developers.
Imagine this, you get struck by a truck on the way home from the store and you permanently lose the use of one of your arms. Hows that for a barrier to accessibility? It's a much bigger barrier then some tech requirements on the side of the box. When Blizz decided to can click-to-move during the Beta I started to lose interest in the game. Now I was forced into the same rigid pose I'm in all day coding and could no longer sit back and play with my hunt and peck style. Instead of exploring the world with mouse-clicks I was forced to start moving around the same rigid way as every other game on my PC. The only way to play Wow with one hand now is some strange combination of tab targeting and occasional mouse use. Not fun for the disabled player I'm sure. Someone I know tried WoW for the first time last weekend and didn't bother staying till level twenty because of the lack of that very feature.
Claiming your game is more "accessible" because it's easier to remember 'I' is the inventory than 'B' is like saying a staircase is more accessible because it says "Caution: Step" at the bottom, your still shit out of luck if you can't walk. I recently asked a lead programmer at an infamous Ontario game studio how accessibility effected the design of their game and he said he didn't know of any work being done. In fact he misinterpreted my question and ended up telling me how the art department decides on colour palettes. The fact that the demo they showed us also lacked subtitles made me concerned about whether or not the thought had even crossed their mind that the game might not be "accessible" whatsoever. Rather disappointing considering they expect game to overtake the movie industry at some point.
Bottom line: If your are currently working on a game, or any software, and you have not made universal accessibility a priority in your product you are both an idiot and an asshole. At a minimum the industry needs to look at what it can do for the deaf, colorblind and individuals with physical disabilities. If it is serious about becoming accessible and should focus less on whether or not little timmy will need to upgrade his game rig and more on whether or not he and his little brother with MS will ever be able to play together.
Re: Accessibility is a game's vocation
I originally misinterpreted the title and though you were going to talk about actual accessibility in MMOs as opposed to barriers to entry for novice players. While I agree with your post (especially about voice chat, the reason I quit WoW) I think the accessibility your talking about is the greedy "games for game designers" approach. Your thinking of what accessibility means to you and forgetting what it should mean to developers.
Imagine this, you get struck by a truck on the way home from the store and you permanently lose the use of one of your arms. Hows that for a barrier to accessibility? It's a much bigger barrier then some tech requirements on the side of the box. When Blizz decided to can click-to-move during the Beta I started to lose interest in the game. Now I was forced into the same rigid pose I'm in all day coding and could no longer sit back and play with my hunt and peck style. Instead of exploring the world with mouse-clicks I was forced to start moving around the same rigid way as every other game on my PC. The only way to play Wow with one hand now is some strange combination of tab targeting and occasional mouse use. Not fun for the disabled player I'm sure. Someone I know tried WoW for the first time last weekend and didn't bother staying till level twenty because of the lack of that very feature.
Claiming your game is more "accessible" because it's easier to remember 'I' is the inventory than 'B' is like saying a staircase is more accessible because it says "Caution: Step" at the bottom, your still shit out of luck if you can't walk. I recently asked a lead programmer at an infamous Ontario game studio how accessibility effected the design of their game and he said he didn't know of any work being done. In fact he misinterpreted my question and ended up telling me how the art department decides on colour palettes. The fact that the demo they showed us also lacked subtitles made me concerned about whether or not the thought had even crossed their mind that the game might not be "accessible" whatsoever. Rather disappointing considering they expect game to overtake the movie industry at some point.
Bottom line: If your are currently working on a game, or any software, and you have not made universal accessibility a priority in your product you are both an idiot and an asshole. At a minimum the industry needs to look at what it can do for the deaf, colorblind and individuals with physical disabilities. If it is serious about becoming accessible and should focus less on whether or not little timmy will need to upgrade his game rig and more on whether or not he and his little brother with MS will ever be able to play together.