Comments on: Voice Chat in MMORPGs http://www.nerfbat.com/2006/01/04/voice-chat-in-mmorpgs/ Game design, development, and industry commentary by MMO Game Designer Ryan Shwayder. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:20:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: just4u http://www.nerfbat.com/2006/01/04/voice-chat-in-mmorpgs/comment-page-1/#comment-51496 just4u Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:07:49 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=66#comment-51496 :???: :???:

]]> By: DarkStar http://www.nerfbat.com/2006/01/04/voice-chat-in-mmorpgs/comment-page-1/#comment-912 DarkStar Fri, 24 Mar 2006 17:07:38 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=66#comment-912 To me VC is essential to be competitive in many MMOs. When I use it with an RP group, we use VC for OOC and game info "you attack that one", "did you loot?" etc, and ingame for RP. The quality of the audio is very subjective and depends entirely on the server settings and the VC software. I have used many where the sound quality is crystal clear. As for saying that it presents barriers for deaf people, well to be honest, much as I am sorry they are deaf, I really dont see that as a reason for me to stop using my ears. After all, blind people cannot play MMOs at all! One of my close friends and a game I play lost one arm to cancer. Hes a great guy, and a great player. To be honest, it probably is a slight handicap to him in high-level games but he isnt trying to say everyone should play one-handed. Speech to text would be nice but is very processor intensive. If somone wants to run such a program their end thats up to them but I dont really want my Computer bogged down with converting my speech :) To me VC is essential to be competitive in many MMOs. When I use it with an RP group, we use VC for OOC and game info “you attack that one”, “did you loot?” etc, and ingame for RP.

The quality of the audio is very subjective and depends entirely on the server settings and the VC software. I have used many where the sound quality is crystal clear.

As for saying that it presents barriers for deaf people, well to be honest, much as I am sorry they are deaf, I really dont see that as a reason for me to stop using my ears. After all, blind people cannot play MMOs at all! One of my close friends and a game I play lost one arm to cancer. Hes a great guy, and a great player. To be honest, it probably is a slight handicap to him in high-level games but he isnt trying to say everyone should play one-handed.

Speech to text would be nice but is very processor intensive. If somone wants to run such a program their end thats up to them but I dont really want my Computer bogged down with converting my speech :)

]]> By: Chas York http://www.nerfbat.com/2006/01/04/voice-chat-in-mmorpgs/comment-page-1/#comment-548 Chas York Fri, 27 Jan 2006 19:34:57 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=66#comment-548 You identified many of my own concerns with voice chat. I've used teamspeak in games in the past, and noticed that few players speak in-character, but revert more to the role of observers of the characters. There's very little effort to try to become immersed in the role. Another issue for me comes from the quality of the audio- the graininess.. the obvious mechanical nature of a low-quality reproduction. Now, perhaps in tech-heavy games, this will be unnoticable- I can see Auto Assault players using voice chat as a form of CB, but in D&D. I've also had the good fortune to game with a tight-knit community of deaf MMO players that absolutely dread the coming ov VC... online, they feel like there's no disability, there's no stigma, there's no barrier. To them, guild-enforced teamspeak, let alone inherent voice chat, just puts all the barriers back up. It's truly upsetting to see the anguish this brings to them. If voice transcription was more reliable... if text reader voices sounded more real... Imagine a system that transcribes what is said to text, sends it through the chat, and displays it as a chat bubble AND in the character-defined voice. We'd have a written transcript, content filter, text-alternatives for the deaf, and a more immersive voice range... But, last I tried voice dictation or text-reading voices, we're a long way away from that. You identified many of my own concerns with voice chat. I’ve used teamspeak in games in the past, and noticed that few players speak in-character, but revert more to the role of observers of the characters. There’s very little effort to try to become immersed in the role.

Another issue for me comes from the quality of the audio- the graininess.. the obvious mechanical nature of a low-quality reproduction. Now, perhaps in tech-heavy games, this will be unnoticable- I can see Auto Assault players using voice chat as a form of CB, but in D&D.

I’ve also had the good fortune to game with a tight-knit community of deaf MMO players that absolutely dread the coming ov VC… online, they feel like there’s no disability, there’s no stigma, there’s no barrier. To them, guild-enforced teamspeak, let alone inherent voice chat, just puts all the barriers back up. It’s truly upsetting to see the anguish this brings to them.

If voice transcription was more reliable… if text reader voices sounded more real… Imagine a system that transcribes what is said to text, sends it through the chat, and displays it as a chat bubble AND in the character-defined voice. We’d have a written transcript, content filter, text-alternatives for the deaf, and a more immersive voice range…

But, last I tried voice dictation or text-reading voices, we’re a long way away from that.

]]> By: Grouchy Gnome http://www.nerfbat.com/2006/01/04/voice-chat-in-mmorpgs/comment-page-1/#comment-442 Grouchy Gnome Sat, 07 Jan 2006 06:56:28 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=66#comment-442 PlanetSide did have voice chat, but DDO claims to have "fully integrated" voice chat, which may imply that it is not hosted by individual users like in PS (in PlanetSide, one of the members of a squad had to host chat as the server). PlanetSide did have voice chat, but DDO claims to have “fully integrated” voice chat, which may imply that it is not hosted by individual users like in PS (in PlanetSide, one of the members of a squad had to host chat as the server).

]]> By: Ethic http://www.nerfbat.com/2006/01/04/voice-chat-in-mmorpgs/comment-page-1/#comment-440 Ethic Fri, 06 Jan 2006 16:32:56 +0000 http://www.nerfbat.com/?p=66#comment-440 I could be wrong, but didn't Planetside have built-in voice chat? If so, DDO is not the first MMO as they claim. Voice chat seems pretty important to most people, but I don't use it. I used to, but as time went on I really wanted to be able to hear other things going on in my house, like kids crying or the dog barking. Since I'm usually gaming in my basement, it is important to have my hearing available, so voice chat went away. I almost always play with the sound down real low, or even off. I do miss the voice chat, but I'm getting by just fine without it (so far). I could be wrong, but didn’t Planetside have built-in voice chat? If so, DDO is not the first MMO as they claim.

Voice chat seems pretty important to most people, but I don’t use it. I used to, but as time went on I really wanted to be able to hear other things going on in my house, like kids crying or the dog barking. Since I’m usually gaming in my basement, it is important to have my hearing available, so voice chat went away. I almost always play with the sound down real low, or even off. I do miss the voice chat, but I’m getting by just fine without it (so far).

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