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Teamspeak 3, Ventrillo and Mumble really?

DerWotanDerWotan Member Posts: 1,012

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I absolutely hate having to use a voice tool in order to enjoy the game. Tried to do my first siege run in Darkfall this day but sadly had to decline because I'm not willing to use a VT but well tried to introduce my GF into the game although didn't work out too well :-)

Whatever happened the good ol' chat? Its not just Darkfall I've experienced the same bullshit in Aion even for instances I've been playing over 10 times and knew everything about them.  Perfectly remembering my first World of Warcraft raid coming from Everquest 1 and used to a clean chat UI special channels ...the first thing someone wrote: "join our TS at...." - I was like its optional yes? Guild (also raidleader) then went on: it was but now its duty.

Missed the raid, left  the guild (still classic). At some point I realized that every better guild has this BS now so I installed it, hearing stupid OT while raiding was just well...stupid (people talking about sports, their day, weather.)...took me some time and guildleaves till I found out a guild that was a.) succesful  b.) used TS only in raids and then very restricted: only raid and classleaders were allowed to talk. It was a "choice" for me although I hated it and still do.

I want to play with others and chatting with them but I don't want to talk with them because in my mind its crossing a private line that I don't want to cross.

Played in one of the top Everquest 2, Vanguard guilds and TS has always been optional never a duty needless to say the raids were better, more comfortable and I didn't go to bad with a headache.

So my question:

Are voice tools really needed or just a lazy way for people unwilling wo write down a full sentence?

 

We need a MMORPG Cataclysm asap, finish the dark age of MMORPGS now!

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«13

Comments

  • DillingerEPDillingerEP Member UncommonPosts: 366

    Personally i like Ventrilo, i know theres a good deal of people who don't.. and i respect that. But it's not a lazy way for people to type out a sentence. It's just another tool to communicate, w/ others. I have a good core of solid friend's i play MMO's with, met them in Vanguard, then moved on to Warhammer, and AoC with them. Always check them on vent ,and talk with them when their not on, or on playing. Personally to me, it's no different shooting the shit with them over Vent, then shooting the shit with them in text chat. 

    Now should it be, something that's forced?? No not really, but it does make it a lot easier for everyone, doing a raid, or organizing group PvP.... so everyones on the same page. Calling out targets on the fly, and etc etc.. w/o stopping to have to type it all out.

    Because there would be times playing Warhammer for example, and I would be playing my Zealot (Healer), and high dps class like a Slayer from Order.. would be punching me in the face. If i was to type out for help, stop doing what i was doing.. to type out for help, and location... i would be easily dead(Typing help is real hard, i know).  A Slayer could kill low armor classes in 2-3 GCD's if he wanted.....but just pushing a button.. while being still actually being able to play and heal, would actually help keep me alive... when i call out for help, just another advantage.

    Now, i understand people did w/o voice chat back in the day... I've been there, but for me.. having voice chat, and good group of people to play with... owns standard old ways, but thats just my opinion. Though it shouldn't be totally forced for every single thing.

  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 32,955

    Hey OP, I am with you. I despise it. I really do.

    The only time I will ever acquiesce is during a raid or in certain games if we are in a group doing a dungeon that I don't know and it is certain that the group leader (which will always be my guildmates) will be giving instructions.

    Otherwise I don't do it.

    It's just awful. differing levels of sound or a few pick up groups where the chat was of no interest. It is scratchy bad sound quality that overshadows any of the sounds in the game.

    I can see top guilds using/requiring it but I have no real interest to be in a top guild by default. I just want to enjoy myself.

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  • SuperXero89SuperXero89 Member UncommonPosts: 2,551

    With the fast-paced combat of modern RPGs and the script heavy nature of most end game raids, I will at least say typing commands in raids has become more difficult than it once was, but it's not impossible.  To be honest, I even find it logical to require voice chat on a raid, but not so much to require players to speak on it or to use it when not on a raid.

    While I'm unable to carry on hour long conversations with guildmates/friends while running dungeons with a group as I did in EQ, I've never been in a situation where I felt it was sensible to require voice chat.  Sure, it  makes it "easier," but voice chat always makes communication "easier."  There just wasn't anything about any dungeon I ran that couldn't be handled with either a pre-fight breakdown or two or three simple hotkeys. 

    As far as voice chat being used for simple socialization, it is complete and total laziness and also highly annoying to a great many peple (myself included).  When I think about this, I'm reminded of some of the guild rules I saw in a lot of old school EQ and UO guilds, which had rules about "monopolizing" guild chat.  Basically, they didn't want players to use guild chat for private conversations, group communication, or anything that really didn't include the guild as a whole for fear of annoying other players who aren't included in the conversation.  I don't see this rule in many modern guilds anymore, and players "hogging" guild chat was never an issue with me because, at least, I wasn't looking at guild chat every second of my playtime.  In reality, all the chatter just made the game feel more active to me.  The problem with voice chat in many guilds is that no matter what you do, you can't get away from it.  From stereotype to stereotype, whether it be two kids talking Chuck Norris jokes or a 45 year old former breast cancer patient talking about going through life with one breast, if you turn off voice chat, you essentially turn off guild chat.  Forget listening to music while you play.  Forget playing on mute.  If you're in a guild that uses VC frequently, you're missing out on almost any and all interaction with the guild members for the duration that VC is muted, which tends to divide the guild between "voice chat users" and "non-voice chat users," and that only serves to create favoritism within the two groups and slight animosity between the two.  

  • cukimungacukimunga Member UncommonPosts: 2,258

    Some games like DF or FE or DDO you pretty much have to use voice chat to make things a whole hell of a lot easier.. These games don't have auto atttack so basically you have to stop doing what you doing and sit there like a dumbass and type while getting hit. For these type of games I understand the requirement so that a party can run more smoothly.

    But games that have auto attack I don't see why typing can't still be used. People used to run raids in EQ and did it via chat so why can't it happen now. Yes it may be easier to use voice chat but it can still be done the old fashion way.

  • eHeroeHero Member UncommonPosts: 42

    Originally posted by SuperXero89

    As far as voice chat being used for simple socialization, it is complete and total laziness and also highly annoying to a great many peple (myself included).

    That seems like a pretty gross exaggeration.  To many people, it's not about being lazy, it's about voice chat being a better option, period.  I've been typing for a long time now, I have no problem typing in chat.  I'm good at it.  I like typing.  Talking while playing the game is just better. 

    Honestly, if people are having dumb conversations in Vent, they'd be having those same conversations in guild chat.  And if it happens alot, then the guild is not for me.  I've managed to find a good core group of friends through voice chat.  It allowed me to talk to them while messing around in other games.  I mean, half the point to these games is to socialize right? 

    Now the random voice chatting over consoles, where anyone in the world can just pop up over your speakers and start screaming like an idiot?  That's annoying. 

  • AutemOxAutemOx Member Posts: 1,704

    I don't mind it being required, it does make things more efficient.

    But the sort of gaming experiences that require voice are usually ones I don't care for much, like long boring raids.

    Some people I like to voice with, and some I prefer chat.  It really depends on who it is and what mood I am in.  I think I understand OP though...  Sometimes I just really don't want to talk to people or even listen to people banter, especially because it makes me feel different/left out in ways that chat does not...  It is easier to ignore chat about something you do not like, but in voice you have to hear it and confront the fact that the people you are playing with are very unlike you and in some cases you realize that you do not like them or that you do not think that you could ever be friends under normal settings.

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  • negentropynegentropy Member Posts: 241

    My kin hates the in-game voice in LOTRO and we tried Vent, TS, etc. Too many issues.

    We finally started using Skype in conversation mode and it works great!

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  • kaiser3282kaiser3282 Member UncommonPosts: 2,759

    Originally posted by cukimunga

    Some games like DF or FE or DDO you pretty much have to use voice chat to make things a whole hell of a lot easier.. These games don't have auto atttack so basically you have to stop doing what you doing and sit there like a dumbass and type while getting hit. For these type of games I understand the requirement so that a party can run more smoothly.

    But games that have auto attack I don't see why typing can't still be used. People used to run raids in EQ and did it via chat so why can't it happen now. Yes it may be easier to use voice chat but it can still be done the old fashion way.

     Because in most games auto-attack = nearly useless, justa  little bit of extra dps every few seconds with nearly all of your damage coming from actual skill use.

    Plus, yes it can be done the old fashioned way, but as you said its easier (and much more efficient). Sure, we could be required to actually go talk to eachother face to face like we did before back thousands of years ago before we had the knowledge and tools to write with and had to travel miles and miles to get to the person you needed to talk to... but you dont see that happening do you? Why would we purposely make it harder to communicate with eachother?

    I get that it can be annoying at times to join a vent, especially a random/PUG one, but if youre in a guild with any sort of leadership that has a clue wtf theyre doing running a guild in the first place, they have organized Vent channels for general chatter, raids, parties, pvp, etc just like regular in game chat channels are seperated. If needed for anything of importance they can get everyone together in 1 channel in a matter of seconds by either paging people or moving them to the required channels themselves. The leaders/admins also have the ability to mute people so that if they're causing a problem and not sticking to the rules they can shut them up. It sound smore to me like some of you guys are running into more of a problem of horrible leadership & disorganized guilds rather than the actual voice chat itself. Some say things like you were in a "top" guild, but it sure doesnt sound like it.  top guild to me doesn't mean most members or most popular or whatever, anyone can mass recruit and power level and crap like that. To me it means having good leadership and members who work together & communicate well to get things done.

  • DerWotanDerWotan Member Posts: 1,012

    Thanks for the great responses. I agree, it might be easier to use but for me it always means more stressful which isn't very good while playing. Also theres the private area: spoken words can't be withdrawn, written once - onthe other hand - can. I've never seen guildmates as such a private place so I'm thinking before I'm writting to them. If things are heating up which can happen quick during a raid theres always a big chance for flames, blames and in my mind that doesn't help. Like I said playing in a Everquest 2 topguild (~ 5 worldwide) VT's were optional and raiding worked great. Maybe I'm so used to the "own thinking" instead of "Wave X coming from right - MOVE", dont know.

    Darkfall should have been my first siege battle today so I really didn't know what to expect but felt a bit shocked they wouldn't let me participate without a running VT. Maybe some siege veterans can enlighten me? as for Warhammer: Did play a zealot there too (and played around with the crappy skill tree) but at some point I simple gave up asking for defense. Maurauders running meters and meters away from me, screaming for heals (I said before we joined the scenario if you need a quick heal pls macro it like "DerWotan - NEED HEAL COMING BACK"), well they forced me to join TS and what can I tell you it ended in a desaster. Instead of using the macro the were screaming in TS I'm here heal me. So wrote them they have to stay with me in order to heal them, well they spllited up again so I decide to give everyone a HoT to get more time running from place to another by doing so I got grilled by the almighty bright wizards same guys were screaming for heals again, needless to say that I was dead. I've played lots of MMORPG's but beeing a healer in Warhammer has been as painful as it gets because our mirrorclass "warpriest" has been superior to us in every possible way.

     

    as for Everquest 1, Ultima Online: My exact feelings we did manage to coordinate up to 72+ raids without TS and it worked fine. Till TS became popular I'll never ever had anything to do with it nor wanted but somehow in the middle of Vanilla World of Warcraft it growed fast and more and more guilds were using it. Even in SSC I felt we could perfectly life without it: Vash could have done with some macros too in my mind. I have to admit we weren't on a Nihilum, Risen or Fires of Heaven level but pretty solid and succesful for having 2 raids a week. I think many people don't know how to use the guild chat: I've always felt Its for thinks like organization, hi&bye, talking about the future...private stuff has to be well...private I always used tell and buddy channels for it.

     

    @dumb conversations Problem -> you can't control it yes you can "mute" them but if they are important for the raid and refusing to use the chat well...you're screwed. If they manage to do this in the guildchat I switch them off or put them on ignore for the time beeing and once the raid is starting remove them from ignore and focusing on a "macro" sadly they'll refuse to use one. Think it was my 3rd WoW guild flaming me for using chat-macros I mean WTF I told them I'll use TS only to hear them NOT talking to them... I mean do you really want to hear about the weather, sports, politics or some other stuff 10 minutes before the raid? I for sure don't. As someone mentioned VT is creating two classes of guild players the heavy VT users and they once who refuse to do it are often left out. Even thats ok for me to some degree but when it comes down to events, raids and guild futures only handled in VT I'm out of it. Sadly guildchats have become rare since the increase of VT.

     

    Kaiser:

    Like I mentioned my Vanguard and Everquest 2 guilds had it optional and it worked perfectly - no one was left out. We had a heavily used forum for the all important information, great leaders, marvelous guild structure and lots of freedom. I don't know how they managed TS because I've never been there. If top guilds like Feral Fires, Darkwind can do this why can't others?

    Especially Aion and World of Warcraft are some pretty negative experiences with VT. Aion back then wasn't really that fast paced combat but they still required you to use it. I'll agree its on the guildleaders to "control it" but how do you that if you're sharing a TS channel with 100 people? I can honestly tell you I had a hard really hard time (played a cleric) muting people because otherwise my Abyss-performance would have sucked badass, things like: need a rezz, heal me, buff me, decurse please almost killed my "coolness" because I heard it ever damn second I mean, telling a healer "heal me" is like telling a doctor "cure me" .  One can say you should be used to stuff like that since WoW but its one of the things I will never ever getting used to.

    We need a MMORPG Cataclysm asap, finish the dark age of MMORPGS now!

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  • SuperXero89SuperXero89 Member UncommonPosts: 2,551

    Originally posted by eHero

    Originally posted by SuperXero89



    As far as voice chat being used for simple socialization, it is complete and total laziness and also highly annoying to a great many peple (myself included).

    That seems like a pretty gross exaggeration.  To many people, it's not about being lazy, it's about voice chat being a better option, period.  I've been typing for a long time now, I have no problem typing in chat.  I'm good at it.  I like typing.  Talking while playing the game is just better. 

    Honestly, if people are having dumb conversations in Vent, they'd be having those same conversations in guild chat.  And if it happens alot, then the guild is not for me.  I've managed to find a good core group of friends through voice chat.  It allowed me to talk to them while messing around in other games.  I mean, half the point to these games is to socialize right? 

    Now the random voice chatting over consoles, where anyone in the world can just pop up over your speakers and start screaming like an idiot?  That's annoying. 

    Wow did you read my post at all?

  • uquipuuquipu Member Posts: 1,516

    If you're a raid leader you need a way to talk to people. It's just too much work to type all that.
    .
    Other than a raid leader, you can probably do away with vent.

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  • AxehiltAxehilt Member RarePosts: 10,504

    Largely I'm fine with it.

    The exceptions are when it interferes with a game's audio (in games where it's important to hear a particular audio cue) or more recently in Modern Warfare 2 where my friends insist on Skype (which I haven't figured out how to stop it from reducing the audio levels of non-skype sounds while someone's mic is open -- which is always.)  I'm not sure why they prefer Skype to Vent or in-game voice (the former would work better; the latter would be more convenient.)

    Compounding the issue is MW2's refusal to alt-tab cleanly most times (mostly it just takes a good 10-15 secs for the game to get going again, which is irritating.)

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  • FalfeirFalfeir Member UncommonPosts: 492

    Originally posted by SuperXero89

    Originally posted by eHero


    Originally posted by SuperXero89



    As far as voice chat being used for simple socialization, it is complete and total laziness and also highly annoying to a great many peple (myself included).

    That seems like a pretty gross exaggeration.  To many people, it's not about being lazy, it's about voice chat being a better option, period.  I've been typing for a long time now, I have no problem typing in chat.  I'm good at it.  I like typing.  Talking while playing the game is just better. 

    Honestly, if people are having dumb conversations in Vent, they'd be having those same conversations in guild chat.  And if it happens alot, then the guild is not for me.  I've managed to find a good core group of friends through voice chat.  It allowed me to talk to them while messing around in other games.  I mean, half the point to these games is to socialize right? 

    Now the random voice chatting over consoles, where anyone in the world can just pop up over your speakers and start screaming like an idiot?  That's annoying. 

    Wow did you read my post at all?

    apparently he didnt. :)

    he has some good points like you though. we use it because it makes things easier for us. Does it have downsides? of course. If 3-4 people were chatting on guild tab while u were afk, you would catch up with just scrolling up and scanning whats written. "lol" on the other hand cant be compared to a good laugh.

    on raids and such its pretty much mandatory and its not about chatting, its about listening.

    I need more vespene gas.

  • AIMonsterAIMonster Member UncommonPosts: 2,059

    I also coming from Everquest was suprised at how much people actually NEEDED voice chat.  I think voice chat is neat and sometimes necessary for faster paced games (add built in voice chat to your game in this case please); however I don't get why today's generation simply doesn't read chat.  We were playing Everquest 2 a while ago (a game with fairly slow combat) and typing in chat what to do and when to move and the party simply wasn't reading chat.  I didn't realize how anti-reading (for lack of a better term) voice chat made us till then.  We basically HAD to use voice chat to get the party to listen.  We couldn't roleplay or any of that sort because the entire group wasn't read chat, and we couldn't get anything productive done with the group standing around doing nothing (plus roleplay is pointless if nobody is reading).  It was pretty shocking considering back in EQ days voice chat was rare.  Programs like Roger Wilco were occassionally used, but even in end game raiding it was an optional thing and most just chose to use the in game chat.

    I do wish more guilds would limit the voice chat to only their raid leaders and everyone else on the raid can use normal chat.  Even in times where I've been in end game guilds there were way too many people trying to give orders out on raids or just clogging up the vent with needless chatter which would be fine in text, but just irratating listening to 24 people interrupting each other over and over on Vent.

  • MalcanisMalcanis Member UncommonPosts: 3,297

    The alliance I am in (The Initiaitve.) in EVE uses Mumble. We are required to be on comms for alliance PVP ops, and I dont think that anyone could argue that it's not reasonable to ask that. But attendence on ops is not mandatory, and being on comms when you're not on ops isn't mandatory either. Personally, I dont speak on comms; I prefer to type. That's just my thing. My comrades in the alliance are accepting of this, perhaps because they're not a "enforcing rules for the sake of the rules" kind of bunch. It is assumed that if you're in the alliance it is because you want  to fly, fight with and socialise with the members - which I do. I deliver plenty of kills, and dont lose many ships so it's clearly not that big of a handicap to not speak.

    I haven't spoken on comms for over 2 years, and I have never found that this has held me back in EVE. Obviously it means that I cant be a fleet commander, but as I have neither the desire nor the aptitude, that's fine with me.

    A word about Mumble: it was a little more finicky to set up than Teamspeak, but the sound quality is HUGELY better. The difference is night and day. I can't stand it when we do have to use TS 2 now (sometimes we do joint ops with other alliances).

    OP, it seems that your main problem is not the comms themselves, but the people who use them. People who dont observe comms discipline on PvP ops (or Raids, or whenever the group needs to focus) should be asked nicely to shut their noisehole, and if the problem recurrs, be muted. The Push To Talk option is there for a reason.

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  • AldersAlders Member RarePosts: 2,207

      Personally, i stopped reading chat a few years ago. Far too many kids typing about how emo they are or just acting as immature as possible. Those same people are usually reluctant to act the same way on Vent when they hear adults speaking. That and i type way too slow to convey what i need to quickly.

  • majimaji Member UncommonPosts: 2,091

    Voice chat is more fun, more personal. Fewer misunderstandings, more efficient. You don't need it if you do something quick and unimportant with some random dudes. But when you play with anyone you know or do anything that requires a tiny bit of attention: yes it helps a lot.

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  • CanisLupusXCanisLupusX Member UncommonPosts: 14

    My 2 cent about voice chat:

    Nice feature, but not needed.

    As I am playing in different games, when you do a raid/instance/etc where fast reaction is needed, a voice chat can be very helpful, but should be restricted to the players who are actually inside the group.

    In our guild we have different channels for each game we play, where there are groups that do actually play together, and a big "living room" for off-topic things. Ingame guild chat is used for off-topic, because mostly it is laggy beyond the voice-chat lag.

    About the "heal me" screams:

    Dear screamer, get OUT of the aggro/AoE dmg! And stop yelling at the healer, it hinders his/her concentration so he/she misses healing the tank... If it is the tank screaming: Group, get a better healer.

    In AION we did a fortress raid with 48 players from our guild (means 2 alliances of 24 players) , and NOONE screamed about any heal - because every healer didn't do dmg but had ALL 24 players from his alliance on screen. The only things that were heard were "ok we start NOW" for lift-off towards the fortress and after that only warnings if enemy groups showed up from behind or tactical things like "raid A group 1 form a defense line at this door".

    On that day Voicechat was useful because some messages may have been lost in ingame-chat.

  • QuirhidQuirhid Member UncommonPosts: 6,230

    Must have in fast-paced games. Must have in PvP. Efficiency is the key. Efficiency is good. There is no rational, acceptable excuse not to use VT unless you don't have a mic - and they are very cheap.

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  • nariusseldonnariusseldon Member EpicPosts: 27,775

    You just don't have time to type when so many things are happening in a boss fight. You can die & wipe the run if you fingers are away from your movement keys.

    As for out of char chats, i don't see anything wrong with that. If a group of people want to talk abt sports, lady gaga or what-not, there is no reason why they should not.

    Of course if you don't like it, you don't have to do it. And if you really hate it so much, then quit raiding.

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 44,071

    Originally posted by nariusseldon

    You just don't have time to type when so many things are happening in a boss fight. You can die & wipe the run if you fingers are away from your movement keys.

    As for out of char chats, i don't see anything wrong with that. If a group of people want to talk abt sports, lady gaga or what-not, there is no reason why they should not.

    Of course if you don't like it, you don't have to do it. And if you really hate it so much, then quit raiding.

    This would be me.  Truthfully, while I don't mind gaming with players, I don't really care to talk to them or listen to their OOC banter about RL, just not that interesting to me.

    Last night in EVE I jumped in for a minute and my corp gave me shit because I wasn't on "coms"

    I told them the chat box window was a "comm" and they were free to speak to me there whenever.  (I wasn't in a group or organized activity).

    Regarding the first line here, should games be designed to keep players so busy that they can't be mastered unless people are on voice coms?   I don't think so, hence another reason I tend to avoid such designs. EVE really doesn't require voice to coordinate, just too many (mostly younger) players seem to think so.

    Sure, it might be 'easier', but I'm pretty much fed up with the whole "do it because its easy" mentality anyways.

     

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  • Beatnik59Beatnik59 Member UncommonPosts: 2,413

    The demographics of voice comms have been rather stable for the last five years.

    About 1/3 of users won't play without it.

    About 1/3 of users won't touch it.

    The rest (about 1/3 of users) have no preference.

    We've heard arguments now for at least seven years on why voice is essential, yet I haven't seen much shift in the preferences.  Thus, it seems to me that this isn't an issue that can be solved by convincing the other side to give up their preference.

    To me, voice is a requirement users put on a game.  I have a hard time believing it is a requirement that the game puts on the users.  The games have been, and always will be, the translation of visual information to input commands.  To me, this isn't dependent on whether players can or cannot communicate with each other.  It depends on whether each player can respond to the things he or she sees on the screen.

    Players have everything they need on the screen to do their tasks correctly in the midst of doing it, without having to type or say a word.  A good analogy is in team sports.  Let's take American football.  There's a lot of communication before the play starts, but hardly any after the play starts.  The reason being is that each player is drilled to focus and respond to his own visual cues as the play develops.  If anything, having to react to shouted things in the midst of a play is distracting.

    It always fascinates me to see a live event spontaneously appear.  People automatically know what to do, and don't need to be told what to do.  People get healed, people tank, people crowd control, and MOBs die; and nobody needed to coordinate or manage these things.  Each time I see one of these played out, it makes me realize that the real communication that goes on in combat has nothing to do with players interacting with players, but rather, players interacting with the things that appear on their screens.

    What intrigues me isn't how players can do their jobs without voice comms.  What intrigues me is why about 1/3 of the players find it necessary.  It seems to me to be a psychological need, rather than an actual one.  Players don't need to shout "heal me" to get healed.  The healer can already see who needs to be healed.  By the same token, shouting "heal me" is no guarantee they'll get healed, because the healer might not be able to fulfill the request.  But when players shout "heal me," they don't feel they can be blamed if they die.

    __________________________
    "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
    --Arcken

    "...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
    --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.

    "It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
    --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE

  • MMO_DoubterMMO_Doubter Member Posts: 5,056

    Originally posted by Beatnik59

    What intrigues me isn't how players can do their jobs without voice comms.  What intrigues me is why about 1/3 of the players find it necessary.  It seems to me to be a psychological need, rather than an actual one.  Players don't need to shout "heal me" to get healed.  The healer can already see who needs to be healed.  By the same token, shouting "heal me" is no guarantee they'll get healed, because the healer might not be able to fulfill the request.  But when players shout "heal me," they don't feel they can be blamed if they die.

    One very handy aspect of voice comm is for emergencies - CC breaks early, or you get unexpected adds.

    "" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2

  • Beatnik59Beatnik59 Member UncommonPosts: 2,413

    Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

    Originally posted by Beatnik59

    What intrigues me isn't how players can do their jobs without voice comms.  What intrigues me is why about 1/3 of the players find it necessary.  It seems to me to be a psychological need, rather than an actual one.  Players don't need to shout "heal me" to get healed.  The healer can already see who needs to be healed.  By the same token, shouting "heal me" is no guarantee they'll get healed, because the healer might not be able to fulfill the request.  But when players shout "heal me," they don't feel they can be blamed if they die.

    One very handy aspect of voice comm is for emergencies - CC breaks early, or you get unexpected adds.

     Players can see that faster than it takes to press the speak key to say it.

    __________________________
    "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
    --Arcken

    "...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
    --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.

    "It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
    --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE

  • UNH0LYEV1LUNH0LYEV1L Member UncommonPosts: 572

    Originally posted by Beatnik59

    Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

    Originally posted by Beatnik59

    What intrigues me isn't how players can do their jobs without voice comms.  What intrigues me is why about 1/3 of the players find it necessary.  It seems to me to be a psychological need, rather than an actual one.  Players don't need to shout "heal me" to get healed.  The healer can already see who needs to be healed.  By the same token, shouting "heal me" is no guarantee they'll get healed, because the healer might not be able to fulfill the request.  But when players shout "heal me," they don't feel they can be blamed if they die.

    One very handy aspect of voice comm is for emergencies - CC breaks early, or you get unexpected adds.

     Players can see that faster than it takes to press the speak key to say it.

     Yea but when the person doesn't see it.  Someone can remind the person via voice chat faster then to stop using their skills type out a message and regain control of their charecter. 

    I know these MMO's are kind of for "nerds" but good god how can you not like socializing at least a little bit.  These people have something in common with you.  Voice chat makes things faster and smoother w/o having to stop to type.  PvP and Raids I at a minimum use it.

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