I like typing as opposed to voice chat as well. For things like pvp or raiding where there is an advantage I like to use voice chat. There are just too many annoying people in life I do not care to listen to.
This post reminded me of something that happened years back when I was beta testing xbox live. I played alot of NFL2k3 back then and was even ranked in the top 5 at one point before not having enough play time to keep it up. I normally only used the headset to talk to guys in my league I played in. Reason being , so many smack talking tards out there.
So one day im playing, just started the game. This guy and his pals 4v1, start pausing the game on and off so I have to watch a long TD he made. Well needless to say, it irked me quite a bit to get the headset on. He proceeds to say , If he wanted he may as well play singele player If he has no one to talk to. Then the smack talk starts rolling in........ . I told him I played multiplayer for the competition of playing against a real player, I didnt play it so I could talk to retards from halfway across the country ... we have enough here in my home town to do that with. So on goes the game ...... he doesnt get a chance to smack talk anymore ... his one td was lucky to begin with. He d'c's before halftime like the little punk he was.
Unless the voice chat is in my guild/league w/e , I have no reason to go on only to end up irritated by some dork who feels the need to act like Chad Johnson or TO. They can keep that s h it at home with there friends.
Imho, it's just frightening to discover that the geeky, annoyingly dumb kid which I suspected would sit on the other end of that nice Lvl.70 Priestess char is really there. As long as I don't hear them talk, it's just an assumption, but as soon as it becomes confirmed by voicechat, the illusion is at an end for me. I just don't want to hear them speak.
But that is just personal preference. I think, it might also be interesting to imagine, what the future of gaming (or the internet in general) will look like. Will we become virtual chars that can roam freely and talk without even thinking about prostheses-programs such as teamspeak and the likes? Apple's iMacs already have built-in webcams and microfones, so the technology is going to be "just there". Heck of a lot of people will say:"If it's there why not use it?". People are lazy, many can't even type one correct sentence.
The question is: Do you want to be watched and listened to anytime and in whatever domestic situation you might be in? Personally, I'd detest that.
I have a group of friends in GW with whom i'd played for 2-3 years. We use Vent for practically everything, and even hang out on it when not playing any games. Admittedly, we are PvPers, and being succesful in PvP in GW is practically impossible without voice comms (organization/coordination/communication). But even in PvE, being in Vent is a great time. Yes, most of it is random talk - but thats half the point of MMO's, isnt it? The same random talk amongst real-life friends, or siblings.
Without Vent, we'd be nowhere near as comfortable with one another, or aware of one anothers strengths/weaknesses. Of course, if im grouping with people whom i dont know in PvE, for some random low-mid level quests, Voice is useless, but it can still be fun. I sometimes offer people in my group to come on Vent, just for a laugh. Always worth it.
Still, games should always involve typing, because standing in a public district/town etc, watching chat flood by can be hilarious.
hehe forgot to mention. We rarely allow players under 18 to join our clan/guild or corp. We know how anoying ventrilo is when you have a kid on it... However, because we are all from a competitive scene, we had to learn on how to properly use it. We rarely overlap each other, we never scream, we are always brief and simple and we all have a sound profile installed on vent....
I don't think it's an either or situation. There will always be a need for both voice chat, and typing for communication in online games.
Typing, IMO, is best for strangers. I don't mind a brief exchange with almost anyone in game, if it's just typed chat. I do not want to listen to obnoxious chat from strangers, but it's very easy to ignore obnoxious typed words.
On the other hand, voice chat is fun to play the game with friends, either rl, guildmates, people you become familiar with online, etc.
So, you need both, since they are both useful in different situations.
I would say I prefer typing. I've always been a bigger fan of writing, you can consider what you're going to say and how more carefully. When talking you just babble on. Voice Chat is good when playing in PvP or raids where instant messaging is necessary, it can also be good when you play with a group of players you know have working mics and can behave. Otherwise typing is the way to go.
While I try to see both sides usually, in case of voice chat I am VIVIDLY AGAINST it.
I play MMOs as an act of escapism, even tho no role player, I want to enjoy the world, the landscapes, the gatherings and quests, the combat, whatever. For me real life voices are a disturbance at best and a plague usually. The LAST thing I want to hear when I group with some old wizard is hearing some pipmpled, croaking teenage boy, going with a classic adenvture party into some exciting quest and listen to a cacophony of voices!
I boycott any type of voice chat, and also any guild who relies on it. In fact it always leads to a split society of those informed and those 2nd best members. No, I am entirely against it so strong that I want to see it forbidden. Its no less than the bane of Online gaming culture.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
While, I do not like voice chat I am realistic enough to realize that it is here to stay. It is too fully ingrained into the industry to get rid of now. People have begun to become dependent on it. I have always been able to exercise my freedom not to use voice chat with only minor consequences. However, voice chat has become so prevelent that anyone who doesn't use it is really at a disadvantage. The PVP teams that you face are all using it. The PVE raids are even being balanced around it.
Instead of just demanding that their players use voice chat or die, I would like to see developers make an attempt to keep the immersion of text chat without losing the efficiency of voice chat. I believe that this could be done with a voice-to-text chat system.
This would solve many of the problems that people have with voice or text chat systems. The voice-to-text part of the program could even be hosted on the players computer in order to save game resources. However, if people want to participate in the voice-to-text chat system, they would have to make sure that they have a computer that could handle it and playing the game at the same time.
"Those who dislike things based only on the fact that they are popular are just as shallow and superficial as those who only like them for the same reason."
I guess I am neither competitive enough or raid oriented enough to perhaps appreciate voice chat. I've played MMO's up to this point with no competition in mind. I don't race to end game and never feel as if I'm competing with everybody else on being the first one there. The raiding aspect of the game is also one that does not appeal to me and since I tend not to do it I don't see the reason for voice chat.
I've played counter strike plenty of times and have used the voice chat built in to talk to people but as it was stated before only a small part of the chatter was actually game oriented. I'd go as far to say that 85%+ of it did not pertain to the game.
Same with guild vent. When I went on raids a few times you'd have your leader give some general rules and guidelines early on and then periodically call out things as the game rolls on but in between there would be dead air or silence. The other MMO's I've played before voice chat became a prominent fixture have done just fine without it. The raids went on, and people got their items regardless.
Maybe it's my belief that the PvE aspect of a game shouldn't really be competitive. I think it should be an experience, not a race. When I PvE I don't think about getting something before Tom, Dick, or Harry. I just think about fun and if I'm having any at this point in time.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
In any situation where precise teamwork is required or the party will have to play anything like near the edge of their ability, I have come to regard voice chat as a near necessity. Raiding and group PvP, it's pretty close to essential.
It's also quite nice when you are just out bumming around with freinds, questing in a group of 2 or 3.
I don't like socializing with my guild over voice chat. Folks that just hang out in Vent all day whether they are partied with anyone or not boggle me. I also don't like voice chat in PuGs, unless we are on a tough quest and someone needs to give give precise instructions. In fact I generally don't like voice chat with anyone I don't know well.
I don't want to write this, and you don't want to read it. But now it's too late for both of us.
For a while I tried to play with voice chat and he with text, we both had some interesting results. I found my irritation with people went up fast, the chat tends to convey mockery and sarcasm well, and even some glee, but it's not the same as hearing the inflections in people's voices. I found that allot of people were a bit crueler when they can say it, rather then type it.
That's the opposite of the experience I had with voice chat in EQ1. Voice chat became a factor pretty late in the game, but I found people were a lot more cordial speaking to each other than they were in the chat box. I assumed that they felt more distanced from the recipients of their comments in text, rather than having to own those comments in voice chat. But perhaps that was a peculiarity of the guild I was in, or of the EQ1 community.
(EDIT: Mistake corrected. Also... When in voice chat, I tend to be the creepy lurker whose total input into the conversation is "Yeah, I'm still here.")
... This is where I draw the line: __________________.
To enjoy chatting, all members must respect the use of the channel. No nonsense talking when we need the voice channels for raid/group coordination. To avoid the issue of spamming the channels, we usually form our own little sub-channel inside the Vent server, so the few friends stick together and chat among themselves, till they need to join the big raid channel.
For me the question revolves around speed and function. It's simply quicker and more concise to be able to tell somebody something than it is to type it out. It will take me much longer to type it out and therefore I tend to take shortcuts with my words that I don't take when I'm talking. Also, since I can listen and talk while keeping my right hand on the mouse and my left hand using the keyboard to control my character, I don't lose any functionality while using ventrilo whereas if I try to type it out, then I basically lose all game control.
And note that I am pretty fast touch typist. I can type somewhere in the range of 40 wpm now and I could at one time type around maybe 60 or so wpm or faster. Even at 60 or 70 wpm, that's woefully slower than talking which and that's when I'm not excited, like if I just got ganked by the horde!!!! LOL
So for me, voice chat is simply better because it allows me to convey the same things I could by typing, only more quickly, more concisely and without the loss of any playability. While it may be a bit more annoying listening to people drone on about there last trip to the dentist, I still prefer it over finding out too late that I'm about to be run over by a patrol.
EDIT: Oh and I just thought of another reason why I really like using an outside voice chat service like Ventrilo. How many times have you asked your friends on Ventrilo "Did you just get disco'd?" or say "I just got disco'd, don't aggro till I get logged back in". You can't do that in game...because you're not. And something else too, if I get disco'd from the game and from Ventrilo at the same time, I know it's not Blizzard's servers that are the problem. It's on my end.
Comments
I like typing as opposed to voice chat as well. For things like pvp or raiding where there is an advantage I like to use voice chat. There are just too many annoying people in life I do not care to listen to.
This post reminded me of something that happened years back when I was beta testing xbox live. I played alot of NFL2k3 back then and was even ranked in the top 5 at one point before not having enough play time to keep it up. I normally only used the headset to talk to guys in my league I played in. Reason being , so many smack talking tards out there.
So one day im playing, just started the game. This guy and his pals 4v1, start pausing the game on and off so I have to watch a long TD he made. Well needless to say, it irked me quite a bit to get the headset on. He proceeds to say , If he wanted he may as well play singele player If he has no one to talk to. Then the smack talk starts rolling in........ . I told him I played multiplayer for the competition of playing against a real player, I didnt play it so I could talk to retards from halfway across the country ... we have enough here in my home town to do that with. So on goes the game ...... he doesnt get a chance to smack talk anymore ... his one td was lucky to begin with. He d'c's before halftime like the little punk he was.
Unless the voice chat is in my guild/league w/e , I have no reason to go on only to end up irritated by some dork who feels the need to act like Chad Johnson or TO. They can keep that s h it at home with there friends.
I refuse to use voice chat myself. I just don't like talking into the microphone while playing.
However, I will listen and respond to commands if in a guild.
Imho, it's just frightening to discover that the geeky, annoyingly dumb kid which I suspected would sit on the other end of that nice Lvl.70 Priestess char is really there. As long as I don't hear them talk, it's just an assumption, but as soon as it becomes confirmed by voicechat, the illusion is at an end for me. I just don't want to hear them speak.
But that is just personal preference. I think, it might also be interesting to imagine, what the future of gaming (or the internet in general) will look like. Will we become virtual chars that can roam freely and talk without even thinking about prostheses-programs such as teamspeak and the likes? Apple's iMacs already have built-in webcams and microfones, so the technology is going to be "just there". Heck of a lot of people will say:"If it's there why not use it?". People are lazy, many can't even type one correct sentence.
The question is: Do you want to be watched and listened to anytime and in whatever domestic situation you might be in? Personally, I'd detest that.
I have a group of friends in GW with whom i'd played for 2-3 years. We use Vent for practically everything, and even hang out on it when not playing any games. Admittedly, we are PvPers, and being succesful in PvP in GW is practically impossible without voice comms (organization/coordination/communication). But even in PvE, being in Vent is a great time. Yes, most of it is random talk - but thats half the point of MMO's, isnt it? The same random talk amongst real-life friends, or siblings.
Without Vent, we'd be nowhere near as comfortable with one another, or aware of one anothers strengths/weaknesses. Of course, if im grouping with people whom i dont know in PvE, for some random low-mid level quests, Voice is useless, but it can still be fun. I sometimes offer people in my group to come on Vent, just for a laugh. Always worth it.
Still, games should always involve typing, because standing in a public district/town etc, watching chat flood by can be hilarious.
hehe forgot to mention. We rarely allow players under 18 to join our clan/guild or corp. We know how anoying ventrilo is when you have a kid on it... However, because we are all from a competitive scene, we had to learn on how to properly use it. We rarely overlap each other, we never scream, we are always brief and simple and we all have a sound profile installed on vent....
These little details usually helps
I don't think it's an either or situation. There will always be a need for both voice chat, and typing for communication in online games.
Typing, IMO, is best for strangers. I don't mind a brief exchange with almost anyone in game, if it's just typed chat. I do not want to listen to obnoxious chat from strangers, but it's very easy to ignore obnoxious typed words.
On the other hand, voice chat is fun to play the game with friends, either rl, guildmates, people you become familiar with online, etc.
So, you need both, since they are both useful in different situations.
MMORPG Maker
I would say I prefer typing. I've always been a bigger fan of writing, you can consider what you're going to say and how more carefully. When talking you just babble on. Voice Chat is good when playing in PvP or raids where instant messaging is necessary, it can also be good when you play with a group of players you know have working mics and can behave. Otherwise typing is the way to go.
While I try to see both sides usually, in case of voice chat I am VIVIDLY AGAINST it.
I play MMOs as an act of escapism, even tho no role player, I want to enjoy the world, the landscapes, the gatherings and quests, the combat, whatever. For me real life voices are a disturbance at best and a plague usually. The LAST thing I want to hear when I group with some old wizard is hearing some pipmpled, croaking teenage boy, going with a classic adenvture party into some exciting quest and listen to a cacophony of voices!
I boycott any type of voice chat, and also any guild who relies on it. In fact it always leads to a split society of those informed and those 2nd best members. No, I am entirely against it so strong that I want to see it forbidden. Its no less than the bane of Online gaming culture.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
While, I do not like voice chat I am realistic enough to realize that it is here to stay. It is too fully ingrained into the industry to get rid of now. People have begun to become dependent on it. I have always been able to exercise my freedom not to use voice chat with only minor consequences. However, voice chat has become so prevelent that anyone who doesn't use it is really at a disadvantage. The PVP teams that you face are all using it. The PVE raids are even being balanced around it.
Instead of just demanding that their players use voice chat or die, I would like to see developers make an attempt to keep the immersion of text chat without losing the efficiency of voice chat. I believe that this could be done with a voice-to-text chat system.
This would solve many of the problems that people have with voice or text chat systems. The voice-to-text part of the program could even be hosted on the players computer in order to save game resources. However, if people want to participate in the voice-to-text chat system, they would have to make sure that they have a computer that could handle it and playing the game at the same time.
"Those who dislike things based only on the fact that they are popular are just as shallow and superficial as those who only like them for the same reason."
I guess I am neither competitive enough or raid oriented enough to perhaps appreciate voice chat. I've played MMO's up to this point with no competition in mind. I don't race to end game and never feel as if I'm competing with everybody else on being the first one there. The raiding aspect of the game is also one that does not appeal to me and since I tend not to do it I don't see the reason for voice chat.
I've played counter strike plenty of times and have used the voice chat built in to talk to people but as it was stated before only a small part of the chatter was actually game oriented. I'd go as far to say that 85%+ of it did not pertain to the game.
Same with guild vent. When I went on raids a few times you'd have your leader give some general rules and guidelines early on and then periodically call out things as the game rolls on but in between there would be dead air or silence. The other MMO's I've played before voice chat became a prominent fixture have done just fine without it. The raids went on, and people got their items regardless.
Maybe it's my belief that the PvE aspect of a game shouldn't really be competitive. I think it should be an experience, not a race. When I PvE I don't think about getting something before Tom, Dick, or Harry. I just think about fun and if I'm having any at this point in time.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
In any situation where precise teamwork is required or the party will have to play anything like near the edge of their ability, I have come to regard voice chat as a near necessity. Raiding and group PvP, it's pretty close to essential.
It's also quite nice when you are just out bumming around with freinds, questing in a group of 2 or 3.
I don't like socializing with my guild over voice chat. Folks that just hang out in Vent all day whether they are partied with anyone or not boggle me. I also don't like voice chat in PuGs, unless we are on a tough quest and someone needs to give give precise instructions. In fact I generally don't like voice chat with anyone I don't know well.
I don't want to write this, and you don't want to read it. But now it's too late for both of us.
That's the opposite of the experience I had with voice chat in EQ1. Voice chat became a factor pretty late in the game, but I found people were a lot more cordial speaking to each other than they were in the chat box. I assumed that they felt more distanced from the recipients of their comments in text, rather than having to own those comments in voice chat. But perhaps that was a peculiarity of the guild I was in, or of the EQ1 community.
(EDIT: Mistake corrected. Also... When in voice chat, I tend to be the creepy lurker whose total input into the conversation is "Yeah, I'm still here.")
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
To enjoy chatting, all members must respect the use of the channel. No nonsense talking when we need the voice channels for raid/group coordination. To avoid the issue of spamming the channels, we usually form our own little sub-channel inside the Vent server, so the few friends stick together and chat among themselves, till they need to join the big raid channel.
For me the question revolves around speed and function. It's simply quicker and more concise to be able to tell somebody something than it is to type it out. It will take me much longer to type it out and therefore I tend to take shortcuts with my words that I don't take when I'm talking. Also, since I can listen and talk while keeping my right hand on the mouse and my left hand using the keyboard to control my character, I don't lose any functionality while using ventrilo whereas if I try to type it out, then I basically lose all game control.
And note that I am pretty fast touch typist. I can type somewhere in the range of 40 wpm now and I could at one time type around maybe 60 or so wpm or faster. Even at 60 or 70 wpm, that's woefully slower than talking which and that's when I'm not excited, like if I just got ganked by the horde!!!! LOL
So for me, voice chat is simply better because it allows me to convey the same things I could by typing, only more quickly, more concisely and without the loss of any playability. While it may be a bit more annoying listening to people drone on about there last trip to the dentist, I still prefer it over finding out too late that I'm about to be run over by a patrol.
EDIT: Oh and I just thought of another reason why I really like using an outside voice chat service like Ventrilo. How many times have you asked your friends on Ventrilo "Did you just get disco'd?" or say "I just got disco'd, don't aggro till I get logged back in". You can't do that in game...because you're not. And something else too, if I get disco'd from the game and from Ventrilo at the same time, I know it's not Blizzard's servers that are the problem. It's on my end.
Leveling and Questing - Typing.
Party vs. Party/Guild wars/Siege - Voice chat.