Enjoying #BigWalk so far, except for the game's high difficulty.
And by this I mean: Finding suitable dates for co-op play sessions among five busy adults is an absolute nightmare.
Remote
Nina Kiel
@Beurkeek@peoplemaking.games
mastodon 4.7.3+glitchGame developer, journalist, podcaster, researcher, diversity and inclusion advocate, IGF finalist
Research fellow at FH Dortmund (project KoSpiRIT)
Previously: Head of Diversity & Inclusion and Narrative Lead at Flying Sheep Studios, Research fellow at TH Köln (project InclusiveGameLab)
🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ they/them, sier/sien
1171 Followers
282 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 11, 2022
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@broadwaybabyto@zeroes.ca So sorry you had to go through this, the doctor's behaviour was inexcusable.
I recently had a very uncomfortable encounter with a healthcare provider who not only refused to wear a mask, but called me "mentally ill" and strongly suggested psychotic drugs as a treatment for this supposed illness. They also openly compared COVID caution with believing in UFOs. When I left the room, I started crying.
I've been spending a lot of time on trains lately and decided to use this opportunity to work on a new #embroidery piece. Something more light-hearted for a change.
Feels appropriate to continue working on this particular piece this weekend.
#embroidery #heatwave
Gibt es Gebärdendolmetscher*innen im Raum #dusseldorf, die kurzfristig am Samstag, den 11.07. beim Sozialprotest unterstützen und die Redebeiträge begleiten könnten? Geplant sind sieben bis acht Beiträge von je ca. 5 Minuten Dauer, hinzu kämen Anmoderationen und organisatorische Hinweise. Die Demo beginnt um 14 Uhr.
Ein Honorar kann gezahlt werden. Meldet Euch, wenn Ihr Interesse habt, dann stelle ich den Kontakt zum Orga-Team her.
#Barrierefreiheit
Heute um 14 Uhr geht es bei den German Dev Days um #Sexarbeit:
Katharina Ziolkowski und ich stellen unser Projekt "Learning the Ropes" vor und kontextualisieren es in der Spielhistorie, die geprägt ist von Stereotypen und Stigmata.
I'm currently working on additional backgrounds for "Learning the Ropes" and spent the last couple of days experimenting with different colour schemes for the waiting room of the BDSM studio. Let me know which one you like best!
#GameDev #GameArt #VisualNovel #SexWork
Happy Trans Day of Visibilty,
we've always existed and we will continue to exist.
My best friend surprised me with a couple of birthday gifts today, all of which are awesome, but my favourite part is this little hand-drawn Lae'zel on the envelope. I love her so much.
Für IGN-Deutschland habe ich mit Antonia Dressler über undurchsichtige Richtlinien im Umgang mit #AdultContent, Deplatforming, und zunehmende Beschränkungen der Kunstfreiheit gesprochen:
Doing some chill after-work embroidery to unwind
I started playing #BluePrince a few wheeks ago on a whim and it turned out to be one of the most engaging games I've experienced in years. I love it to bits. Still, I hesitate to recommend it. Why?
It's an #accessibility nightmare.
Let me explain.
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We took great care in making the materials themselves accessible, too: Everything is screen reader-compatible, the scripts are mostly written in non-academic language, and the slides were created with both cognitive and visual accessibility in mind. All video recordings are equipped with closed captions.
And finally: While working on this project, we noticed that there are very few non-copyrighted photos showing gamers with disabilities – so we created an image archive, as well! You can find our work on Wikimedia Commons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=InclusiveGameLab&title=Special%3AMediaSearch&type=image
You're free to download, modify, and share all of these materials, as they're licensed as CC BY SA 4.0. So the only thing you have to do is attribute us and share your modified materials with the same license, there are no other limitations.
The materials were developed as part of the project "InclusiveGameLab", funded by the German Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).
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Von einer Verkürzung zu sprechen, wäre maßlos untertrieben: Zelda selbst war Schriftstellerin, Künstlerin und sogar Prima Ballerina – doch ihre Karriereambitionen wurden von Scott gezielt unterdrückt, um ihre individuelle und finanzielle Eigenständigkeit zu verhindern. Ihr Debütroman wurde von Scott und seinem Verleger radikal gekürzt, seine Veröffentlichung hinausgezögert. Schlimmer noch: F. Scott Fitzgerald machte seiner Ehefrau das Leben auf allen Ebenen schwer und verfolgte das Ziel, sie wieder in einen Nervenzusammenbruch und die Psychiatrie zu treiben. Auch die Entfremdung vom gemeinsamen Kind stand auf seiner Agenda.
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Doch was wird in diesem einen Satz in der Retrospektive vermittelt? Scott F. Fitzgerald war ein reichweitenstarker Autor und es ist sogar noch genug Platz im knappen Text, um zwei seiner bekanntesten Werke zu nennen. Zelda hingegen? Ist in erster Linie "bildhübsch" und seine Ehefrau. Ihre künstlerischen Errungenschaften und unterdrückten Potenziale fasst der Autor des Textes mit dem Wort "clever" zusammen. Ich unterstelle dem Autoren ausdrücklich keine böse Absicht, hier war vermutlich unconscious bias, knappe Recherchezeit oder auch beides am Werk. Aber es hätte schon gereicht, den Wikipedia-Artikel über Zelda Fitzgerald zu lesen, um zu erkennen, dass die Realität viel, viel komplexer und ernüchternder war, als offenbar vermutet. Hier ist nämlich gleich zu Beginn unter anderem die Rede von F. Scott Fitzgeralds gewalttätigen Ausbrüchen gegenüber seiner Ehefrau.
Latest #ChatGPT model uses Elon Musk’s Grokipedia as source, tests reveal:
"The latest model of ChatGPT has begun to cite Elon Musk’s Grokipedia as a source on a wide range of queries, including on Iranian conglomerates and Holocaust deniers, raising concerns about misinformation on the platform."
Having to spend valuable life time creating PowerPoint slides doesn't seem fair, especially with a looming apocalypse, but: here we are. ✨
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Durch die Unterlassung gründlicher Recherche und ausgewogener Berichterstattung hält sich nun die Annahme in der Welt, die Frau habe im Schatten ihres Mannes gestanden. Und der Mann profitiert posthum von diesem Framing. Mal wieder.
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Low contrast makes it unnecessarily difficult to navigate through some areas or read on-screen texts. Look at this example:
Even if you have no visual impairments, you will likely have to get close to the screen to be able to read the red letters. Outlines, or better yet, optional overlays separating the text from the background would have removed this issue, at least for a majority of players. Once again, this is a feature that does not require much time or expertise to implement.
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@amszmidt@mastodon.social Finally got mansplained on the Fediverse, nice! I hope your "well, actually" will give you a strong feeling of self-efficacy.
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@rlonstein@social.stonetools.tech Oh, I was serious about this being good advice! Just created a Reddit account and reached out to one of the users. Thank you. :)
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How was this inaccessible game released in 2025? Experts have been advocating for improved accessibility for so long, there are numerous (free) resources available providing detailed instructions on how to identify important features and implement them, and as mentioned before, some of the shortcomings of the game appear in contrast to current industry standards. At the very least, the publisher should have stepped in and demand some options to be retrofitted.
In its current state, the game is wildly inaccessible, hence my hesitation to celebrate it for its many strengths which keep luring me back for another and another and another run. Please, developers, do better.
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There is only a single volume slider, changing the master volume. This is far below current industry standards, which highly recommend having at least sliders for music, voiceovers, ambient sounds, and SFX. People who cannot hear subtle audio cues or who experience overstimulation, for example when the metal detector items keeps beeping, are simply out of luck.
That’s unacceptable.
So many riddles and basic mechanics in the game rely entirely on colour perception. Take for example the billiard room riddle:
It will present you with a series of mathematical equations you have to solve in order to get valuable resources. However, the mathematical functions are only represented through colours, which people with colour vision deficiency will likely struggle to identify. There are no other channels to fall back on, like symbols corresponding to individual colours, a solution many games in recent years have used. While not perfect, it’s definitely better than offering no alternative.
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@eblu@wetdry.world i did that, too, but actually got quite a few helpful responses here!
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@modgamers@rollenspiel.social Hm.... das liegt dann natürlich an dem von Dir genutzten Server. Ich habe keinerlei Probleme auf meinem.
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@bovaz@misskey.social I just created an account and reached out to a user. :) But thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate it!
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@scribblemacher@mstdn.games Pretty much, here's what we wrote about the Hands Free Controller for our presentation:
"This device was placed or strapped on the player's chest, and input worked in two ways: Players moved the joystick with their chin and instead of pressing buttons, they would move air through a tube. Sipping or puffing with more or less force would then be registered by the system as A, B, Select or Start input. As a side note, this same "sip and puff" system is still used today, which you’ll see when we talk about the QuadStick."
Reaching out to YouTubers and/or sellers is good advice, thank you!
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@modgamers@rollenspiel.social Das ist natürlich komplett legitim!
Selbst setze ich lieber auf Mastodon und lasse Bluesky eher nebenher laufen, um jene Leute zu erreichen, die hier nicht anzutreffen sind.
Mastodon als dezentrales Online-Kommunikationssystem zu unterstützen, auch wenn das weniger komfortabel scheint, ist für mich übrigens ausdrücklich auch eine Maßnahme gegen den Rechtsruck. Den kleinen Mehraufwand verbuche ich daher in meiner kleinen internen Liste als Aktivismus.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People is looking for thoughts on accessibility tags. If you are interested in sharing your experiences, please fill out the below survey:
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@modgamers@rollenspiel.social Das verstehe ich vollauf, aber im Idealfall ist es ja schon mit einem einmaligen Serverwechsel getan, und bestimmt hilft Dir die Community auch dabei, einen passenden zu finden.
BlueSky sehe ich sehr skeptisch, weil der jüngste, mehrere Stunden andauernde Ausfall in einem bedenklichen Zusammenhang steht, nämlich mit der Idealisierung von "Vibe Coding" und abfälligen Kommentaren über die Userschaft seitens der Betreiber*innen. Persönlich finde ich das unangenehmer als etwas Zusatzaufwand.
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@Canageek@wandering.shop Giving us permission would essentially mean giving *everyone* permission to not just use the image, but also modify and share it, due to the nature of the project and the license we're using. I highly doubt Nintendo would do this, considering how protective they are of all of their IPs.
You're right that I could have reached out to the company nonetheless, but I did in the past referring to other images and never even received a response.