My name is Michael Heron, and I'm a lecturer at Robert Gordon University. This page serves as a container for all the various things with which I'm involved. My research interests are accessibility, games, and especially accessibility in games. You can find links to my published academic work here.
I am also the owner, admin and lead developer of Epitaph: a text-based MMO set in the grim darkness of the zombie apocalypse.
I am also the editor for Meeple Like Us, a board game blog with a strong focus on the accessibility of tabletop games.
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Michael Heron
on Wed, 17 Feb 2021 10:41:00 EST
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We were given some money from the Prombilia foundation to look at how to bridge the gap between virtual and physical games so as to make them accessible to people with physical impairments.
Posted by
Michael Heron
on Mon, 02 Mar 2020 10:18:00 EST
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It's often difficult to teach paper prototyping in a way that convinced students that it's worth learning. In this post I'll outline a technique of teaching the topic through board games. I hope you find it useful!
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Michael Heron
on Mon, 21 Oct 2019 10:32:00 EDT
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There are a lot of board game apps out there, and it can be hard to find the ones worth playing. Here's our list of the ten that most deserve your attention.
Posted by
Michael Heron
on Mon, 22 Jul 2019 10:19:00 EDT
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There are lots of excellent design lessons to be learned from all kinds of board games. This is a list of ten games that contain especially useful features that tabletop game designers should try to emulate.
Posted by
Michael Heron
on Thu, 11 Jul 2019 10:40:00 EDT
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We often have to confront issues of unethical behaviour in game coverage. The way we do that is important. Sweeeping things under the rug makes things worse, but proportionality matters. Here are my thoughts on the topic.
Posted by
Michael Heron
on Thu, 30 May 2019 09:26:00 EDT
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There is often a demand for reviewers to be transparent with how long, or how many times, they have played the game. I don't think that's helpful. This blog post outlines why that is.
Comment In:
[Blog - 08/17/2018 - 06:42]
I think it 's uncomfortable ...
I think it 's uncomfortable territory - if you 're already flirting with the idea that Patreon is a kind of crowdsourced welfare something I hear a fair bit it only intensifies the unease to open up and talk about it. Kickstarters are usually an easier sell - 'give me ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 07/29/2016 - 10:38]
Hi there - sorry, missed ...
Hi there - sorry, missed this at the time r n r nIt 's definitely true there is nothing specific about hunting around for words/environment hooks that is a problem, but in my experience this was almost always unintended. I don 't recall many people, during my time coding collaboratively ...
Comment In:
[Blog - 08/10/2016 - 12:12]
Cool - who were you ...
Cool - who were you on DW MUD I was Drakkos there was a Lord, IIRC correctly, at the height of the Quest List Wars . r n r nThere certainly was an ingrained opposition to the idea of cheating in all its forms, but I don 't think it ...
