EP: 1: Voice Chat for Better Game-play!
Part one of a series of "Priorities For Updates."
If you are like me, its frustrating when you are in the midst of a battle, and you can’t tell your fellow players what to do or alert them to something without taking your hands away from the controls to laboriously type in the chat box. And half of them don’t even pay attention to the chat box anyway. Team ordination is very very difficult. What this game sorely needs, and would make it 110% better is voice chat. Something like Team-Speak. We need some sort of in game voice chat, with Mic activation button. It would make team coordination much easier, and the game would be allot funner and more social. I think it should be the first thing on the agenda, is to get voice chat for this awesome game.
What do you think? Say Yay, or Nay at the top of your message if you agree or disagree. And leave your comments, because the more people show interest in this, the more likely this feature will be added in future updates. And remember, this game is very much in the Beta stage, so I am sure they are open to any additions to the game that would make it better.
PS: I am a newb, so, yeah…
That is why people use teamspeak. If you add it to the game itself you are then forced to listen to all the immature people yell and scream obscenities and yell about bacon. I can promise you I would not use it.
There also would not be a log of what was said to get rid of these offenders, and no way to ban them from chat.
It would also cause more traffic on the server and more lag.
The most important is the first… thing about the immature people… at least with Teamspeak, we have control over it.
Voice communications is probably a low priority thing and if it got implemented you would probably mute almost everyone b/c by watching global chat you could see where it would end.
That is why people use teamspeak. If you add it to the game itself you are then forced to listen to all the immature people yell and scream obscenities and yell about bacon. I can promise you I would not use it.
There also would not be a log of what was said to get rid of these offenders, and no way to ban them from chat.
It would also cause more traffic on the server and more lag.
The most important is the first… thing about the immature people… at least with Teamspeak, we have control over it.
But it would not work in team-speak because players are in different games. It would be confusing if it was all on one channel. In game v-chat would work if we were able to mute people, and there should be at least one moderator, maby someone from this forum. On the lagg note. I don’t think that should be a problem. Because isn’t more traffic what Star Conflict needs? It needs popularity. And if it gets to the point of being laggy, well they can just get a better server, with all that money they are making from the extra traffic. And banning, well, if someone is annoyed by someone, there can be a vote, every player votes weather or not to permanently mute/bann a player from the voice chat. I don’t know very much about these things. There are many obstacles that will come with this, but we can find solutions, and make the game better! 
Voice communications is probably a low priority thing and if it got implemented you would probably mute almost everyone b/c by watching global chat you could see where it would end.
That is why we need moderators. And we need, before we even implement it, discourage people from shouting profanity on the voice chat, with a bann, or mute. I know they can bann you from the game servers. I think that would be reason enough to shut your face. 
So I think this can be dealt with. But I think a moderator is needed.
I’m in favor because of how well the squad comms work for planetside2.
Anyways - comms shouldn’t be global coz that’ll just fail.
Instead you have voice servers that is paired to match servers. You auto join them when you are placed in a game and only for that session.
Gonna be trolls that’s unavoidable but the added value to teamwork is too good to pass up. Can always mute the 5 year old who can’t stop talking about my mother for eg.
As for lag, keep voice servers seperate from the match server and if it’s affecting your connection, make an option to manually disconnect.
Cost is the real factor here and whether or not Gaijin is willing to fork out to have the feature in place. Can even make it so that licensed pilots can speak and freepilots listen only - i dont mind.
This is such a big plus for lobby systems where random people are placed together in essentially a teamwork heavy game.
I’m in favor because of how well the squad comms work for planetside2.
Anyways - comms shouldn’t be global coz that’ll just fail.
Instead you have voice servers that is paired to match servers. You auto join them when you are placed in a game and only for that session.
Gonna be trolls that’s unavoidable but the added value to teamwork is too good to pass up. Can always mute the 5 year old who can’t stop talking about my mother for eg.
As for lag, keep voice servers seperate from the match server and if it’s affecting your connection, make an option to manually disconnect.
Cost is the real factor here and whether or not Gaijin is willing to fork out to have the feature in place. Can even make it so that licensed pilots can speak and freepilots listen only - i dont mind.
This is such a big plus for lobby systems where random people are placed together in essentially a teamwork heavy game.
Exactly! You took the right words right out of my mouth. But I don’t know about only licensed pilots being able to speak. I think the voice chat should be available to all, because, if it wasn’t, it would hinder the other teammates that do have it, because they can’t communicate with the majority of the players. Because most of the players don’t have a license. But, having the chat paired only with the match, and having the lobby only text chat is a great idea.
About in-game voice coms I’m all for it, but some precautionary measures should be taken.
Here is another video from Extra Credits about somewhat similar topic on how to deal with problems that come with in-game voice coms. They proposed 3 imo effective solutions, on how to deal with them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygSK0pZs3aE
About in-game voice coms I’m all for it, but some precautionary measures should be taken.
Here is another video from Extra Credits about somewhat similar topic on how to deal with problems that come with in-game voice coms. They proposed 3 imo effective solutions, on how to deal with them.
Thank you for this video. This addresses the thing most of us are afraid of when implementing voice chat. I believe this problem can be fixed using one of the many simple solutions shown in this enlightening video.
They implemented this with DDO-Ebberon back in the day and it was ok, but most people never picked up random people for groups due to it.
Ive also found out that the people who dont pay attention to text being typed, wont pay attention to instructions given in voice either. I dont see it being able to resolve the issue of people following objectives.
As for moderators in each room… seriously? even during the slow times there are 50 games being played… do you really think its viable for gaijin to hire on 50-100 voice chat moderators? If your answer is it can be selected players… well that wont work well either as that would make matchmaking even more of a mess and end up in some cases being DMC’s (D*** measuring contests) between mods in the same match.
No moderators - that’s unrealistic. Just mute.
And I have faith in SCon’s community. I cannot recall a game where soooo many people volunteer for support roles as the ones who do in here.
It’s probably a pilot thang y’know. We have a great amount of respect for Aces in a flight game than say people have in first person shooters. The fact that the entire server can see you fail in literally a blaze of shame thinking you are what you are not is also a major feature in humbling pilots.
In-game voice coms add much needed opportunities that i think it’s better to have than not. The fact that pinging targets does so much in this game between strangers is proof enough that the majority of players here are teamplayers. Giving us the ability to coordinate via voice won’t be wasted i’m sure of it.
They implemented this with DDO-Ebberon back in the day and it was ok, but most people never picked up random people for groups due to it.
Ive also found out that the people who dont pay attention to text being typed, wont pay attention to instructions given in voice either. I dont see it being able to resolve the issue of people following objectives.
As for moderators in each room… seriously? even during the slow times there are 50 games being played… do you really think its viable for gaijin to hire on 50-100 voice chat moderators? If your answer is it can be selected players… well that wont work well either as that would make matchmaking even more of a mess and end up in some cases being DMC’s (D*** measuring contests) between mods in the same match.
Ok, yeah I didn’t think about that. Muting is a good idea though. And if somone is bad enough, there could be a public vote on weather to mute him server wide or not.
No moderators - that’s unrealistic. Just mute.
And I have faith in SCon’s community. I cannot recall a game where soooo many people volunteer for support roles as the ones who do in here.
It’s probably a pilot thang y’know. We have a great amount of respect for Aces in a flight game than say people have in first person shooters. The fact that the entire server can see you fail in literally a blaze of shame thinking you are what you are not is also a major feature in humbling pilots.
In-game voice coms add much needed opportunities that i think it’s better to have than not. The fact that pinging targets does so much in this game between strangers is proof enough that the majority of players here are teamplayers. Giving us the ability to coordinate via voice won’t be wasted i’m sure of it.
I totally agree. Because even the best of the best are shot down, and a newb could still be standing. So the view on newbs is very fare. I doubt there would be very much bullying, or harassment through voice chat. And if there is, there is always that wonderful mute button. And as I have said before, if someones language gets out of hand, there could be a vote on weather or not to mute him/her from the entire v-chat server. As Kine said, “Giving us the ability to coordinate via voice won’t be wasted.”
All of these ideas to make the integrated voice system both possible and troll-resistant are preventing me from playing Kiss From A Rose into everyone’s speakers. Curse you vile fiends!
That said, this feels like a psuedopod of a larger problem (“Why can’t I play cooperatively with other players?”) Ventrilo/Mumble/Teamspeak are already really good VoIP programs and players who play together are already at a huge advantage over people who do not play together. They are great because they play together, not because of voice chat; those programs only further enhance their coordination. That’s why the evolving metagame will always trend towards coordinated groups who use voice chat.
Dude, the Seal song from the old Batman movies is sooo dead.
All of these ideas to make the integrated voice system both possible and troll-resistant are preventing me from playing Kiss From A Rose into everyone’s speakers. Curse you vile fiends!
That said, this feels like a psuedopod of a larger problem (“Why can’t I play cooperatively with other players?”) Ventrilo/Mumble/Teamspeak are already really good VoIP programs and players who play together are already at a huge advantage over people who do not play together. They are great because they play together, not because of voice chat; those programs only further enhance their coordination. That’s why the evolving metagame will always trend towards coordinated groups who use voice chat.
The problem with using outside programs is this; First of all, players would all be on one server! The voice chat would not be pared with the current game. If you used an outside voice program like Ventrilo everyone would be in the same room, and it would be pointless mid game. If the voice chat was implemented in the game, you would be in a chat room pared with the game, so you would only hear your teammates, therefore making coordination easier, and well, more coordinated. So using Ventrilo/Team-speak is completely out of the question.
The problem with using outside programs is this; First of all, players would all be on one server! The voice chat would not be pared with the current game. If you used an outside voice program like Ventrilo everyone would be in the same room, and it would be pointless mid game. If the voice chat was implemented in the game, you would be in a chat room pared with the game, so you would only hear your teammates, therefore making coordination easier, and well, more coordinated. So using Ventrilo/Team-speak is completely out of the question.
The namedropping of VoIP programs was a very minor part of my argument. I’m opposed to the idea of integrated voice chat on the premise that it does not make people into a better unit. People are cohesive because they work together on a regular basis, not because of voice chat (that’s putting the wagon in front of the horse.)
The deeper reason of why I’m against it (going against my “show, don’t tell” policy) is because it would take programming hours away from the rest of the game when the problem is something that players can solve on their own: getting into corporations and working as a team. Playing solo has severe limitations (hint: this is intentional) and the metagame is geared toward founding corporations, shared commitment, and coordination/cooperation with people who you know and who know you. That’s how average players become good players, how good players become better players, and how better players gain star power and demoralize the other team before they’ve fired a shot.
Furthermore, you better believe I will channel my inner Foreigner when I’m on your team and I’m not even a tenth as bad as what other people will be.
The deeper reason of why I’m against it (going against my “show, don’t tell” policy) is because it would take programming hours away from the rest of the game when the problem is something that players can solve on their own: getting into corporations and working as a team. Playing solo has severe limitations (hint: this is intentional) and the metagame is geared toward founding corporations, shared commitment, and coordination/cooperation with people who you know and who know you. That’s how average players become good players, how good players become better players, and how better players gain star power and demoralize the other team before they’ve fired a shot.
Furthermore, you better believe I will channel my inner Foreigner when I’m on your team and I’m not even a tenth as bad as what other people will be.
The specialization of ship roles has done much to discourage solo heroes. Squads aren’t always necessary (though they’re hugely advantageous), but teamwork is an absolute must.
As a member of a corporation, my bias is geared towards Treezus’s argument. Yes a channel for efficient communication is important, but integrated voice chat brings up a bunch of problems. The potential solutions to harassment, as mentioned above, also require time for the system to gather enough information. Since the community is small (at the moment) and we are still in beta, voice chat is likely a very low priority.