Comments on: Why Voice Chat In MMOs Could Pose CS Issues

By: Staryx

Staryx — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 22:06:23 +0000

I’ve played both DDO and LOTRO and I have to say, the integrated voice chat for groups is a nice addition, but it seems no one ever has it set up right. I can never hear anyone unless I crank my speaker volume, which in turn means I have to turn down the in-game volumes. And then when I’m done I have to mess with it all again to get it back to normal. Too much friggin’ work to hear people I probably don’t want to listen to in the first place. Recording volume… Turn it up people.

By: Andrew Crystall

Andrew Crystall — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:33:46 +0000

Yes, voice chat can be hard. It’s why I’m interested in Teamspeak 3 and the claims about game integration.

And the “general spam” type voice? Er… don’t let public channels be voice. Party and guild only.

By: J.

J. — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:57:55 +0000

I don’t doubt there is such a thing, Eb. Figured there would be one, eventually. But they have to work at it, and it must be extremely consenting.

By: Ebenezer

Ebenezer — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:56:49 +0000

J.
In case you aren’t aware, the kids in toontown online have developed an elaborate emote-language to allow them to trade secret keys ingame.

Granted, its willing, but I’ve watched 2 players doing this, and I could easily have copied the code myself (with some translation help from my niece) if I was interested in cyber-stalking 9yr olds of indeterminate sex.

Don’t ask me how it got started..

By: Heather Sinclair

Heather Sinclair — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:21:27 +0000

There are MMO games that already have integrated voicechat, and it’s not the horrible disaster that some people seem to want to make it out to be. It’s actually very useful to not have to deal with figuring out which ventrilo servers to use.

I spent an awful lot of time playing DDO while working on it, and most of that time was in pick up groups, and honestly the worst I ever got was overenthusiastic kids who went “YAY TREASURE” every time they saw a chest. Also, just to be obvious, I say this as someone who can instantly be identified as “omg irl girl” via in-game voice chat, and the only time I ever got harassed about it was on a ventrilo server while playing daoc, not on in-game voicechat.

Don’t try to do voice chat for general chat, and restrict it to groups and raids. Players already know how to boot people from groups who are idiots, and voice chat just helps you recognize who those people are faster. If you don’t want to use it, you can turn it off, you’re never required to use it. I played with plenty of people who never spoke a word, and preferred to type everything.

It irritates me now when I have to use a third party vent server when I want to use voice chat in game. It’s a feature that is so useful, that it would suck if companies decided not to do it because of knee-jerk reactions to it.

By: Amaranthar

Amaranthar — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:48:46 +0000

It seems to me that, since any individual can be known by the server in the MMO, that a simple ban function would work well here. But that still leaves problems. Most of the difficulties come when there is no active MOD for the channel, or they don’t know how to work the tools. That’s going to be a problem with lots of “rookies” to the technology/system in an MMO. Add the difficulties of CS people being able to track, and the sheer volume of problems.

It’s ok with me if whatever MMORPG I play never has Vent. There’s something very immersion busting about that powerfull mage or warrior speaking in the voice of the 12 year old. Especially when he’s boasting alot.

By: J.

J. — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:23:12 +0000

Disney’s “secret friends” system, that they’ve implemented for Toontown Online and had for Treasure of Atlantis multiplayer (and probably will for Pirates of the Caribbean Online) is the best solution. Let it be easy to make friends and recognize people by avatar name, but don’t allow any communication beyond a rich set of macros, voice or text, without trading codes.

By: Daztur

Daztur — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:02:24 +0000

You shouldn’t even need to mute people. Just allow people to choose who they can hear. I’d set it so that I could hear /group /guild /say and friends but for everyone else I’d set it so I couldn’t hear any of them. Problem solved.

By: Bob_the_Barker

Bob_the_Barker — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:59:07 +0000

MMO games are designed to be cooperative and multiplayer. Players work together to achieve something. To speak to one another is a vastly superior form of communication over text. (No different than using a cell phone to talk to someone is much better than sending a txt message. A lot more information can be conveyed in 2 seconds of talk then in 1 minute of writing a txt message.)

Also, I may be alone in this feeling, but I have a stronger friendship connection with my guildmates when I hear their voice because I can become friends with that person instead of some animated toon on my screen.

With all that said, voice chat should remain 3rd party for two reasons. First, all the poential legal and CS problems would be another burden placed on the game company. A second, I’ve been unimpressed with the software engineering ability of MMO companies that frankly, they would screw it up for years and years before they got it kinda right.

By: Heartless_

Heartless_ — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:48:31 +0000

Obviously people thinking that a simple mute would solve all the issues has not logged into any Xbox Live games. You simply can’t mute the asshats fast enough.