Voice Chat Can Really Kill the Mood on WoW - Article

upallnight

I agree with the author of the article.  I don't like voice chat.  It ruins the mood of the game for me.

I think it would be better to hold off until there is some kind of voice synthesis software.  Now that would be awesome.  Actually sounding like that dwarf barking out grumpy orders, instead of hearing a squeaky voice on the other side.

Voice Chat Can Really Kill the Mood on WoW

Triumvirate

http://www.screamingbee.com/product/MorphVOX.aspx



You should check out that product if you want to change the way your voice would sound.  As far as the article goes though, I can definitely see where he's coming from.

upallnight

Originally posted by Triumvirate

http://www.screamingbee.com/product/MorphVOX.aspx



You should check out that product if you want to change the way your voice would sound.  As far as the article goes though, I can definitely see where he's coming from.

Have you tried it yet?  Is it understandable on the other end after the voice mod?

upallnight

Originally posted by Triumvirate

http://www.screamingbee.com/product/MorphVOX.aspx



You should check out that product if you want to change the way your voice would sound.  As far as the article goes though, I can definitely see where he's coming from.

www.screamingbee.com/product/MorphVOX.aspx



Fixed!  

RonnyRulz

Voice chat and rushing through quests (or just rushing period) should be destroyed in MMO's.

They need to have it where you get a physical electric shock for talking and a virtual insta-death for stepping 5 feet away from your group while they are still reading the quest text.

brostyn

In that instance I agree with him. I wouldn't want to find out my groupmate is young enough to be my son. However, in most cases, voice chat is great for gaming.



I like it best when I'm playing with RL friends. That way we aren't all trying to type a hundred miles an hour, and do the game thing at the same time.

Kyleran

I prefer to only use voice chat when I'm involved in a coordinated group PVE or PVP effort.....otherwise I prefer to leave the Vent/TS turned off and type my replies.....

Triumvirate

Originally posted by upallnight

Originally posted by Triumvirate

http://www.screamingbee.com/product/MorphVOX.aspx



You should check out that product if you want to change the way your voice would sound.  As far as the article goes though, I can definitely see where he's coming from.

Have you tried it yet?  Is it understandable on the other end after the voice mod? Yes on both counts, I own it.  I don't use it a ton, but it works pretty well overall and if you are looking for that sort of product it is the best one available that I've seen.



Thanks for putting it in hyperlink form, was too lazy

Keisersose

I agree completely with this article, I can't stand using voice chat, I like my music loud!

XTinTioN

Oh i couldn't play without voice chat....

I can't play without my little TeamSpeak  ^^



Everytime i play any game i'm always on TS with my friends (that are playing the same game or not) because we dont need to be writing and its like instant knowledge...like....you dont need to be with that thing: "oh did he read what i said?...is he AFK??" and those things



And a crutial thing to use TS with my friends its when we want to do some PK....









But a bad thing is that we find out that some guys are like very very young....and it turns worst if that person PKed you xD



oh well.....











Cheers

Sickpup

I imagine hearing a 13 year olds mom telling him it's past his bedtime would hurt the emersion factor

Caswell

Voice chat with established adult friends?  Yes please.  With strangers?  Not on your life.

jusomdude

Our guild just got vent not too long ago and it's one of the best things that's happened for us. As long as you keep some order on it it's a good thing. Hearing peoples voices can bring you closer to them than by just typing to em and them closer to you.

Devony

I LOVE vent..



I have a good group of friends I play with, and we have a blast.



MMO's are made 100x better for me by having friends to share my experiences with.



I notice most people who don't like voice chat either can't speak english well, or are really young and don't want to let anyone know their real age, lol.











Voice chat with established adult friends?  Yes please.  With strangers?  Not on your life.



Exactly.

dascuda

Personally hate voice chat... for several reasons but mostly cause I tend not to pay as much attention when people are talking to me (skill developed at work for dealing with bothersome people)

Then you can always end up with this goody!



break.com/index/mom-tells-kid-no-more-warcraft.html

PhelanL

That's why you don't get on coms with random players.  Get in a good corp/guild/clan with mature players.  When people want to join your guild you interview them on coms.  If they sound like they're 12, you tell them to hit the road.



I don't even keep chat windows open most of the time in EVE (except local), it's much easier to just talk on coms.







It's also hilarious when somebody leaves their coms on by accident and gets in a fight with the wife or something.  Hearing your buddies wasted after they get back from the bar/pub is priceless as well.

Lilfurbal

I will not use voice chat for people whom I don't know IRL.  I did it once for WoW and it was the stupidest experience ever.  Yes, it was almost on line with the 'mor dots' recording.  Personally I am VERY into the sound/music of my games.  I can't pay attention to that if I'm constantly trying to listen to someone talk.  I have a very expensive sound surround sound system and a x-fi soundcard, I like to really use it.  Turn it up load, feel the explosions.  If I do that with voice chat they can't hear me, I can't hear them, when I do talk the background sound distorts everything and everyone gets all like WTF.



So, to put it straight, I do not want to talk to you and I don't want to listen to you.  Just read. 

baff

I don't really want the girls I play with to all sound like a gruff Dwarf or Vampira.

My mates voices are much prefered sounding like themselves. Keeping in contact over long distances is part of the games attraction.

 

People I don't want to talk to, I don't give my IP address to. How easy is that?

 

 

M1sf1t

---

Originally posted by Caswell
Voice chat with established adult friends? Yes please. With strangers? Not on your life.

---

You sir are a winner in life for pointing out what most people obviously fail to grasp when they use voice chat in a game. There are times when you should use it and times when it's not needed.

Zindaihas

It was a good article.  I laughed like mad when he wrote:

"the mage was the de-facto leader. He coached me on the details of each new quest, took the point position in dangerous fights and suggested tactics. He seemed like your classic virtual-world group leader: Confident, bold and streetsmart.

But after a few hours he said he was getting tired of using text chat -- and asked me to switch over to Ventrilo, an app that lets gamers chat using microphones and voice. I downloaded Ventrilo, logged in, dialed him up and ...

... realized he was an 11-year-old boy, complete with squeaky, prepubescent vocal chords."

Before he identified the kid, I had this image of a William Wallace type individual who was willing to stare death in the face.

Voice chat is an interesting subject.  There's no question it makes playing the game easier.  There have been several times when I have been killed or nearly killed while typing chat onto the interface.  Voice chat helps prevent that.  On the other hand, the author of the article is completely right imo.  You lose the immersion experience and it can create uncomfortable and awkward situations with people you group with for the first time.  If you use it with good friends, it's probably a good thing.

Aseenus

first time i started using vent/ts for mmorpgs i agreed, i didnt wanna hear no american accent geek on the other side of the line and breathing like a freak into my headphones but now i dont mind... u know y?



because every time theres a freak on vent i say "oi freak get off vent ur gonna scare people off" and a few more swear words :P

SonofSeth

I don't play with RL friends and I hate the fact that half of the people have $5  quality microphones so that I need to go whaaaa, whaaa, can you repeat that please, whaaa, so no, from my expirience, I very much don't like the VC

Liliane

I don't have anything agaist voice it self, but when the voice doesn't fit the character at all. It would be better not have voice at all. I think it's a choise between RL friends and characters in virtual world. Some players thinks only about RL persons and some think like playing role in characters. So for those who think trough characters, voice can spoil the mood of the game. For those who think it as game for RL players, it doesn't matter what the voice is, it's just tool for them as are the characters.

devilbane

I lean more towards it destroying than helping...

In EQ1 I used TeamSpeak ALOT for guild stuff...

But never ever with anyone I did not know.

RolePlaying with voice is near to IMPOSSIBLE.

And it feels... well, like I am letting people get too close to me.



So I agree totally with the idea of voice with people you know? Yes. Strangers? No way.

Umbrood

I do not mind voice chat, I have used internet baset VOIP ( voice over IP ), since ICQ hooked up with net2phone, that was sometime inte the late 90's early 00's, before that we used conference calls on the standard telephone line, if someone had seen me with my reciever tied to my head with a tie, yes tie, they thougth me mad for sure.

But as many have pointed out, amongst friends it adds a lot, amongst strangers it can likewise take away a lot, as per the article.

I used to play DDO regularly, and as it was one of the first with built in voice a lot of people used it, more and more.

Very few 11 years olds in DDO though, not that I really mind but your vocabulary is far from complete at that age and as a 30 year old I imagine comprehension would be a problem, specially if you are not a native english speaker.

Good for some situations, less so for others.

Unknown

Originally posted by upallnight

I agree with the author of the article.  I don't like voice chat.  It ruins the mood of the game for me.

I think it would be better to hold off until there is some kind of voice synthesis software.  Now that would be awesome.  Actually sounding like that dwarf barking out grumpy orders, instead of hearing a squeaky voice on the other side.



Voice Chat Can Really Kill the Mood on WoW

 Wired is one of my most favorite magazines. That's an excellent article. I think this line said it all:

"""There are good reasons why so many multiplayer online games are launching with voice-chat software. Partly it's to welcome newbies, who often find that old-school text-chat is simply too complicated.""""

  I can type 40 wpm. I've never had problems communicating in any online game, mmorpg, FPS, rts, etc... And I have never died from text typing.

 I do sometimes go to PC Bangs with a group of friends and we will talk outloud to each other, while seated next to each other, as we play WoW, or whatever other online game. Other than that, I agree 100% with that article. The fact that he and the little kid never hooked up again as a result of using voice chat says it all. The kid liked VC, was a fan of VC, yet proved the article correct due to the fact the fan of VC never re-grouped with a competant player. Now, what if none of them had used the VC?

 ------------------------------

Another issue that that article excellently covered, is how VC kills off female gamers. As well as people for whome the spoken VC language is NOT their first language. As well as people who are shy, not as verbally adept when speaking.