Able Gamers has announced that Bioware-Mythic Creative Director Paul Barnett has joined the Advisory Board for the non-profit foundation. Barnett, who is color blind, will work with Able Gamers to bring his personal and professional knowledge of the challenges those with disabilities face.

“I am honored to join the AbleGamers Foundation and to start taking a more hands-on role in bringing game accessibility to the next level,” said Paul Barnett, BioWare Mythic creative director. “Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with gamers with disabilities who expressed great appreciation for small things I was able to do to help give them a quality experience in games they love. Those letters and conversations are some of the most precious moments of my career as a developer. It is my hope that by joining the AbleGamers Foundation I will be able to help even disabled gamers have special and joyous experiences like everyone else.”

Find out more about Able Gamers.

Originally posted by Otakun
being color blind is a disability? 

Originally posted by Gorwe
He is brain Blind more Like it...

It is sad, sad World where the likes of Paul Succeed :(.

Originally posted by SnarlingWolf
He is also game design blind, a much bigger problem than his color blindness.

Yes color blindness is a mild disabilty. It may not seem like a big thing to those of us with normal vision, but I'll bet we'd feel differently if it ever became a problem for us.

And yeah I'm rather disgusted with how Warhammer Online (and pretty much everything Bioware/Mythic/EAs done recently) went as well, but I'm not going to let those feelings override the importance of what the Ablegamers Foundation means to people who have suffered disabilities yet still want to enjoy life the same ways the rest of us do.

I guess some people don't care about anything but their own little problems in their self centered little worlds.

Originally posted by SnarlingWolf
He is also game design blind, a much bigger problem than his color blindness.

Sorry to burst your bubble but a work issue is never a bigger problem than a health issue.

Originally posted by revy66

Originally posted by SnarlingWolf
He is also game design blind, a much bigger problem than his color blindness.

Sorry to burst your bubble but a work issue is never a bigger problem than a health issue.

Depends actually. If you head up the decisions that lead to a game turning out horrible and lots of people losing their jobs because the game cannot support those workers, once again due to your decisions, then the work issue could be bigger as you are affecting many people and the health issue is affecting just one person.

That being said, color blindness is not a health issue. It is a disability, one that tends to have very minor impact on one's life as rarely is color so important that the blindness would cause something terrible to happen. And on top of that most important things do a good job of using colors (or also setting up certain placements for color like a stop light so even if you can't tell them apart you know what top middle and bottom means) that color blind people can tell apart.

All that said, my point is that he is a tool. Doing things to help people with problems is always a good thing, but a tool is still a tool.

Originally posted by Tardcore

Originally posted by Otakun
being color blind is a disability? 

Originally posted by Gorwe
He is brain Blind more Like it...

It is sad, sad World where the likes of Paul Succeed :(.

Originally posted by SnarlingWolf
He is also game design blind, a much bigger problem than his color blindness.

Yes color blindness is a mild disabilty. It may not seem like a big thing to those of us with normal vision, but I'll bet we'd feel differently if it ever became a problem for us.

And yeah I'm rather disgusted with how Warhammer Online (and pretty much everything Bioware/Mythic/EAs done recently) went as well, but I'm not going to let those feelings override the importance of what the Ablegamers Foundation means to people who have suffered disabilities yet still want to enjoy life the same ways the rest of us do.

I guess some people don't care about anything but their own little problems in their self centered little worlds.

 

Absolutely right Tardcore and well said.  Though not a fan of Mr Barnett's work myself he is a big name in this indsutry. I hope he can make some good things happen for people in this new position. It's a worthwhile cause.

Speaking as a Legally Blind gamer... I'm not a Paul Barnett fan.

Not even slightly.

Gamer's don't like him.

Game companies still seem to.

I am slightly color blind, and while it doesn't interfere in most normal life, it can interfere greatly in computer games.  I have problems telling the difference between some shades, especially on the computer screen.  When I play match 3 games during breaks from schoolwork, I have problems with the blue/purple ones unless they have a different pattern on them.  

When creating a character in an MMO, I have someone else help me with the colors that go together so I don't look bad.  If I were completely color blind, it might be difficult to see things in a crowded battlefield if the color densities are too close together.  Try watching an old black & white movie and imagine your whole world like that.

Originally posted by Otakun
being color blind is a disability? 

Yeah, just like having a cold is being sick. It is inconvinient though and there are ways to make life a lot easier for people with the issue.

I wish Paul the best of luck in this, and hope that he fianlly have stopped his outragous speaking (he is the guy that officially said that WAR was the Wow killer everyone been waiting for 3 weeks before launch).

Anyone remember this:

But people do change and this is actually a worthy cause. Killing Wow isnt even if he could have done it.