PAX West 2018

So is VR…

So are many videogames. They can be more or less accessible to different kinds of disabilities, but short of a turn-based game literally anything they put in the Omegathon is difficult to make broadly accessible.

Sure, but I think something that requires running and jumping is a bit too much. Also, it has to fit on the stage.

So no DDR ever?

A rhythm game would be fantastic.

Speaking as someone with a physical disability, if I lost the Omegathon because of that it would feel incredibly rigged and unfair.

Agreed. But what is the bar? The Omegathon in whole has to be designed in advance of knowing the limitations of the people competing.

It’s already inaccessible to people with certain social issues (between the trivia rounds and having to be on stage) or with limited manual dexterity. Standing has been a requirement in several finales (even to the point that a short competitor had to literally jump to see the top of an object in VR one year)…

I don’t know where the bar should be. But there definitely is a practical bar, and it’s probably closer to that for sports than it is for board games.

DDR also has the problem of someone possibly being a god at it.

They’ve done Rock Band/Guitar Hero in the past. I think that was an early East? It wasn’t that exciting.

I think it could be fun to bring a weird or crazy rhythm based game that someone could pick up quickly. Get Tokyo Attack to bring some Japanese arcade machines to East. Another issue is making sure you can get video output from the machines to go on the big screens.

I would say if there is a physical challenge and someone feels they have a medical disadvantage there should be a backup game.

Even for earlier rounds pre-finale? Or should the set of announced games set the level of accessibility for a given year?

It’s possible I suppose to set a reasonable bar for the normal games, and being able to compete in those becomes a requirement to be an Omeganaut. But then, for the finale, you have a chosen game and a set of “backup” games. The latter are consulted if anyone selected for the Omegathon would have a specific issue with the originally chosen (but still secret) game.

For any round. That’s the only way it is fair. Also I would argue they are not in a position to tell anyone what they are physically capable of. Hence the backup option during the competition, but you must decide it before the game begins.

The Omeganauts can’t be told what the last game is until they’re on stage at the end (or immediately before). That would REALLY put someone on the spot to have to decide what they’re capable of… Some of the games have needed months of preparation, and setting up a game on stage (cameras, mics, etc…) takes 2+ hours of time that requires Main Events to be closed.

As for the regular rounds, the Omeganauts have the game list in advance specifically so they can train. If the game changes at PAX, that’s a whole other can of worms. You’d have to publish the list of backup games in advance as well.

I suppose no one who has significant manual dexterity issues has ever competed? We don’t know who’s been called, who’s turned the competition down, etc… We have almost no data to go on.

FWIW, I’m not trying to be contrarian. I’m trying to figure out what the best path is for this long-term.

Yeah those would be interesting metrics.

I had forgotten they send out the games ahead of time, maybe you have a week to request a change based on a disability? More than likely that has happened behind the scenes anyway. In any case I think the finale should be something “normal”. Which is unfortunate since that is the best time for them to go for the weirder spectacle games.

Yeah I know you’re not actually dying on the hill of “No disabled Omeganauts” :wink:

That would work pretty well. You can then set the bar to be whatever the collective group of selected Omeganauts is capable of for a given PAX. It also means you can set a physically demanding bar if your pool happens to work out.

The only “risk” is having a “boring” Omegathon of all turn-based games one year. But the clear benefit of that is that particular year being accessible/different/awesome and thus memorable. The “trade off” would definitely be worth it for obvious reasons.

The finale is tough though. The game in most cases literally can’t be changed day-of. There’s too much stage prep work.

Yeah the finale is an interesting problem. I’m not sure there is a way around a “trade-off” there. On one hand you want the event to be accessible, especially since you can’t solve this problem the “special Olympics” way given the resource/attention drain having a second Omegathon would bring, but on the other hand it is still a spectator event and you don’t want to limit the creativity there.

If I were them, I’d have 2-3 backup Omegathons that are variously accessible, tested, and basically “ready to run.” Once the Omegathon pool was selected, I’d review the information we had from their accessibility survey for the regular events and make a gut-feeling call.

It at least reduces the possibility of someone being screwed by the finale. It simultaneously allows for potentially ambitious finales to still be designed. If you fall back to an accessible option one year, you can just defer the crazy one to the following year.

One problem: that doesn’t work if you do a timely/topical finale, or one that is paid for as part of a sponsorship. e.g., if Halo 14 comes out and you make it the finale in advance of that release Wizard style.

Oh lord, I realized I want two player Jungle Speed to be the finale more than I want many things on this Earth…

The fact that they know the competitor pool ahead of time does make things a lot easier.

With how inclusive gaming is compared to “traditional” sports just by nature the problem is sort of less-obvious then it would be with a “Legends of the Hidden Temple” type thing.

Another thought, do you let people bring their own controller like this one?

Definitely has to be a line there. I can’t play DDR but me getting a D-Pad instead is unfair in the other direction.

Oh abso-fucking-lutely. I 100% assume PAX would let anyone use a controller like that for any videogame. If they failed to do so, it would shake my faith in the show.

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True, but I also doubt the straw-Cartman exists who’d make it on that stage, clearly not have a disability, and choose to use the accessible option. I also doubt the person exists who would deny such an option to the other player acting in good faith. I’d use my DDR legs against someone with a disability using a D-pad any day of the week even if it’s “unfair” to me.

The sticky point there would be someone who has no physical disability but who is just not physically fit. It wouldn’t be fair to let that person use the D-pad instead of their legs and lungs. I am far from qualified to say where that line is.

I think requiring some kind of professional “doctor’s note” is a reasonable bar for that.

I want to have faith that most people are like that, but with how big the Omegathon is I could see someone arguing that.

Neither am I. With the exception of actual professionals the most anyone can say is their own experiences. If PAX chose to implement something like this I would think they could get a special enforcer/staff member to make those calls.

I’ve managed to work my way into a position with PAX where I’ve been able to help fix almost any issue I have with the shows. Except for the Omegathon. It is my white whale. Something to work towards. I want to see that thing shine.

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