Thanks for mentioning this! It reminds me of something I wanted to ask about.
So, in contrast, I have spoken to blind folks in real life (Not that that in and of itself is super notable, to be clear. Blind people are just people too, not unicorns.). In fact, I’ve had some coworkers that were blind. One individual in particular, her name was Mary, liked to listen in to conversations at our admittedly somewhat nerdier lunch/break table. Discussions ranged wildly, but pop culture, videogames, and comics all came up frequently enough. She’d chime in from time to time with a joke or a comment, but mostly she was content to sit back and listen.
One day, for whatever reason, the others weren’t there, and I found myself alone at the table with Mary. We made small talk for a bit, and she made a comment to the effect that she was disappointed almost everyone was gone that day. That prompted me to ask what about our discussions was so interesting for her. We were just a bunch of nerds, after all. She then explained that many of the things we spoke about were effectively out of reach for her. Listening to use talk about it let her experience a tiny bit of it second hand, including the excitement.
That was striking for me, even if it should have been obvious in hindsight, and I asked her if she’d played any videogames at all. Other than an audio only version of Doom she briefly played at someone else’s house once, the answer was no. So, then I asked her how comfortable she was with a screen reader and typing. She responded that she was very comfortable with both, as she spent quite a bit of time online, as it was another venue to experience the world still open to her. Then (I’m sure you can see where I’m going here) I asked her if she had ever heard of Interactive Fiction or Text Adventures.
She had not.
So, after much explaining, she was very intrigued and wanted more information so she could explore it more at home. She was especially fascinated with the concept of walking around a variety of settings and being able to “look” at stuff as she pleased. I gave her the websites for this forum and IFDB, but when I next saw her I got the impression that it wasn’t the greatest onramp for blind folks new to IF. I never got much chance to really explore that further because I moved away soon later. I’ve regretted how I handled that, and I’ve since considered how I might have handled that better.
All of that to say, is there a place, an online blind community, that has a place where IF is discussed? Or maybe a static landing page somewhere, for the blind by the blind perhaps, that serves as a handy onramp for what IF is, why it’s comparatively more accessible to the blind than most mainstream videogames, and maybe what games, interpreters, and screen reader setups might be best for new players to dip their toes into?
This stuff all exists more or less for sighted players, but I have no idea if something like this exists for the blind. It would be nice to have a simple URL to give to another blind person if I encountered this again. So much of the fiction and media that remains accessible to the blind is passive. You sit back and listen to it. Very little of it requires active participation and involvement. I feel like IF bucks that trend, and I would very much like to share that when I have the chance. I feel like I fumbled that for a blind friend when the opportunity presented itself, and I wouldn’t want to do the same disservice to someone else in the future.
Does a resource like that exist? And, if not, how would you suggest we sighted IF fans best respond to future IF intrigue shown by our blind friends and family and coworkers? As a blind IF fan, how would you respond to another blind friend or acquaintance expressing interest in IF and wanting to know more? Would that be an appropriate way for us sighted people to respond as well? Any suggestions in general on this topic?
Thanks for humoring me.