On Aug 23, 2008, at 6:57 AM, Jeremy Gilley wrote:

Wow,no equipment save?

well, sorry, was going to try out the mud since i am a heavy mudder,
but
if no way to save equipment on your own char or in a safety box or
something, then no thanks.

----- Original Message -----

From: Orin

To: ...

Cc: will lomas

Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 9:46 PM

Subject: Fwd: [tbmic] Mac Users, tbmic and Ancient Anguish
Accessibility

Hi all,

I received an email personally from an Ancient Anguish admin/wizard
about making changes to accessibility. I personally love this mud and
don't get me wrong, it is newbie friendly, lots of players answered
stupid questions that they shouldn't answer, due to the fact that I'm
blind, don't know how to get around, and the maps being in ascii
doesn't
make it any better. Blindness is beside the point. Now, I do have to
rant just a bit about something here. I don't like muds which don't
save
equipment. If AA saved equipment, I would probably still be playing
it.
I remember when it had over 100 players, and I think sadly this has
decreased. Anyhow, about Mac Users, there is absolutely no full-
featured
100 percent VOiceOver friendly (VoiceOver is the screen reader for
Mac)
mud client yet. This makes me very mad that I have to switch to
windows
just because there are no accessible mudding clients. There have been
two attempts to make one, although several features are lacking in
that
VoiceOver is not being used, it's the system voice, (AKA Sapi on
Windows), and there are lots of disadvantages there, like not being
able
to stop the voice from speaking one thing so that it can keep up with
all of the information. For instance, on AA, I'd be dead in combat
depending on who I was fighting in a matter of seconds dependong on
my
guild, lets take mage. I'd be killed in seconds because mages are
weeker
than most classes. I'm not sure about what you saying about VipMud.
Were
you saying that you haven't tested it? Well, it's pretty good, and I
don't think you'll have to do anything server side to make the mud
accessible. If you were saying that VipMud is for Macs, it's not. I
wish
it was, however. But for accessibility, you should converse with the
admins into making a way to convert ascii maps into plane text
directions that dynamically change depending on where I am.
Offentimes
in games muds, I want to get to an important place, such as my
guildhall, or in the case of AA after dying, the church. But where is
that from so and so location? What I'm looking for is just the ascii
maps, with each place marked on the map as plane directions as to
how to
get there from my current location, whereever that may be. I always
never knew what to do after login and since I had no equipment, I
didn't
know how to get that either. I was still a newbie when I left and was
still using newbie equipment, and then there was the problem of
getting
packages delivered on time, half the time I eventually found the
place,
an hour or so after I was supposed to deliver it. And these are
just my
personal problems. Other blind players take a tour around a city and
memorize it immediately. Me? I don't. That's why I wish we had
maps, in
an accessible format. If sighted players don't have to memorize where
every location is, I shouldn't have to either. and perhaps this may
be
the goal of some sighted players, to attempt to memorize every area
in
the game, this is certainly not mine. My goal is simply to be
successful, and inaccessible maps creates a barrior that many muds
just
simply disregard because blind and visually impaired people don't
take
the time to act, because they learn by memory. But that's the thing,
what if I don't want to learn by memory and want maps available,
this is
what frustrates me, why people aren't reaching out and telling these
developers about the problems we face. I bet even blind mudders
want a
map from time to time for those extremely big areas. Come on, admit
it.

Sorry guys. The AA staff members message is below. I added my
comments
to this one. If this mud gets accessible maps I just might try it out
again. Don't know what I'll do regarding equipment, though. But
that's
the thing, if I know where to go to get equipment, and or ask, at
least
I could ask, "Where can I get equipment for this session?" instead
of,
"Can anyone take me to get some good equipment for this session?"
etc.
Suggesting equipment is one thing. Finding it in-game is another.
Which
is why I stress accessible maps, with directions instead of ascii
characters, which means absolutely nothing to a screen reader when it
reads. Ah, sorry again, I just reread your message, and I see
you're a
mac user. Well, right now if you were using a screen reader you'd
have
to use windows. And what's the most annoying feature I hate in muds?
Muds with overhead maps, which makes it even harder, muds with
prompts,
which is just simply annoying. (I know I could gag it), but that's
not
the point. I shouldn't know how to gag something, I should just
have a
simple command to turn it off. Also, score can list everything, but
I'd
rather type "hp" for hitpoints and that's what it'd display, for
example
"14/100", MP, etc.

I'll get off my soapbox, now. Anyone want to get on there's and rant
some about mud accessibility? It's all yours. Just in case the AA
admin
isn't getting this via email I'll send all posts related to this to
her.

Begin forwarded message:> > From: "T@cattail.nu" <...

Date: August 22, 2008 8:37:06 PM EDT

To: ...

Subject: tbmic and accessibility

Reply-To: t@cattail.nu

Good evening.

I am an admin on an older, well-established LP mud. Having been
pointed to your forum by one of my new friends, I've been monitoring
it for a short while and giving thought to how to make our mud, as
well as my other code, easy for accessibility. I added vipmud to our
list of clients, but as I'm a Mac user, I have not tested it.

For accessibility, what do you find is the most annoying feature of
the muds you've tried that you wish you could turn off? What feature
do you most find yourself wishing for? I'm looking for general
accessibility, not pros and cons of individual mud themes,
descriptions, culture.

For example, several years ago, I programmed a working abacus for
our
mud and was quite happy with it. Yet, looking at it again from the
perspective of what would be seen with a screen reader, I realize
the
string of o's and symbols would not work at all. This is a very
specific instance. At this point, I'm thinking on system-wide mudlib
things that might be useful, prompts, navigation directions, etc.

If you want to take a run around our medieval mud and offer specific
suggestions, it's Ancient Anguish, anguish.org port 2222. I would
like to point out, however, that programming changes, especially to
our mudlib take time due to the very intense quality control
procedures.

– T (Jerusulum at Ancient Anguish)>

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