Hello,
as the title says, I am wondering what you are thinking of teamspeak/mumble or other programs. When you are in a game, are you all of the time in some kind of voice chat then, even when not necessary? I am asking this, because I am a person who really enjoys guild and group chat and I kind of hate it, when the only thing written in guild or group chat is "hi" and "bye" (sometimes you have to be lucky to get any respond at all, because people immediately stop paying attention to written chats at all, once in voice chat).
I find constant yackety-yak really getting on my nerves, so I join teamspeak only for really hard content or raids and am glad when I can leave it after. This goes so far that in new games I immediately join a non-TS guild (when there is one) and don't mind that it will probably fall behind in progression.
What is your approach to voice chats?
depends on the game for me. if its like Eq1 i am not usually in Vent/Mumble/TS unless we are raiding. most games however require too much clicking and button pushing to be able to use the text chat and still play at the same time; so in the more actiony games i am in a voice chat nearly all the time so i can socialize while i play.
The best use of voice chat I have ever had is when I play with some of my old friends from undergrad that I haven't seen in a few years. Most of the time we are playing something that only one of us plays often (LoL, Starcraft, etc.) rotating the games so its nice to have the more experienced players directing and we get to catch up. Outside of that though I have never really had a good experience with just general voice chat, sometimes I find peoples voices annoying or they find mine annoying and its so much harder to ignore audio than it is someone text shouting.
This has changed somewhat for me over the years. When I first started playing MMOs I played alone and slowly built up a core of in-game acquaintances, eventually joining a guild. I was much less likely to spend time in voice chat outside of specific times I was needed (ie raids, gear grinds, dungeons, unlocks, etc). These days however, I am most often playing with my fiance and my two younger brothers. She and I live in Canada and they live in the States so gaming has become our chance to stay connected. In addition, we have managed to pull together a tight, albeit small, group of gamer friends we have met throughout the years from various parts of the world (US, Canada, Australia and Europe mainly) and our mumble channel allows us all to keep in touch (I'm betting that some of you will one day make the cut ;).
So I would say these days I'm inclined to be in voice chat more often than not for these reasons. If you were to go back in time 10+ years I would only be in voice chat when I was needed.
I'd like to say that I enjoy socializing via voice chat, but as others have mentioned, I find it radically destroys my immersion in a game like Pantheon.
Perhaps it is a necessary evil for raiding, but I prefer the old days before TL;DR. Everyone seems to have the attention span of a fruit fly these days.
Celandor said:
I'd like to say that I enjoy socializing via voice chat, but as others have mentioned, I find it radically destroys my immersion in a game like Pantheon.
Perhaps it is a necessary evil for raiding, but I prefer the old days before TL;DR. Everyone seems to have the attention span of a fruit fly these days.
I completely understand that sentiment.
One of the things l liked about the pace of EQ was that you had time to type while engaging mobs. A unique part of it's challenge in the early days (back when I needed to boot with a specific batch file just to the run the game) was the complete lack of voice communication.
I'm with Zaketh on this one - I prefer to have no voice chat in game as it is immersion breaking for me as well.
I understand the need for it on raids to free up hands maximize DPS, coordination etc., but it makes gaming to me less game-like and more job-like.
Also, similarly to reading a book and then watching a movie of that book, people's voices are always different than what I imagined them to be. Translate that to gaming... there's something off about the voice of a 12 year old boy coming out of a massive Ogre.
I also prefer not to use voice chat in games, and I feel more strongly about it in a game like Pantheon, attempting to bring back the old school feeling of EQ for me. I'm glad to see others here share the same point of view. I guess the best way to describe it for me is what others have said, 'immersion breaking'. I want to listen to every sound the game has to offer; from music to wildlife, to weather, to my own footsteps - without the interference of outside voices. I want to really feel like I'm in Terminus.
I met a few other players on the EQNext forums who felt the same way, and since we felt we were somewhat outsiders in this way of thinking, we decided to start our own guild with the ideal we prefer text chat, and would give way to voice chat for a raid if needed. To our surprise, we gained 35-40 total people who wanted to join this type of guild. Once the big reveal happened of the type of game EQN was going to be, everyone was pulled in different directions, some wanted to play Landmark, some liked the style of game EQN was, and some were disappointed, hoping that it was going to take us back to the EQ1 days (like Pantheon is).
Myself and the others who started the group fall in to the latter category, and we're currently awaiting for Pantheon to become nearer before we make decisions regarding the guild. Perhaps those of us in this thread will find a place together in Terminus, whether it be the guild we created revived, or new one created by someone here with the same beliefs.
Amsai said:
I greatly favor it raid or no raid. Doesnt mean I wont type in game. But its almost to the point I would require it. Maybe Im also just so used to using it even when friends are playing different games. Just seems like Id feel lonely without that chatter in my ear. When I hear it its like my friends are in the room. And for raids its no contest required. Sometimes you need to get peoples attention quick. " Hey Dude quit healing the tank....... hes petrified....... unpetrify first!!!!!!" "Hey DPS...... tone it down a notch before that dragon eats your face!". Sometimes you need to issue critical info. And sometimes you gotta wake people up out of whatever zombie trance they are in. Side note: favorite enraging excuse. "Sorry I didnt use stun (and wiped the raid) i was watchingbTV"...............whaaaaaaaaa?
I find it interesting that you consider it required for raids (somewhat depends on what you consider raids) considering your ffxi background where it wasn't used very much. I mean my linkshell (sortof like a guild for those who don't know final fantasy xi stuff) cleared just about everything there was without voice chat (macros worked for just about everything if you ask me) the only notable exceptions to this would be absolute virtue and pandemonium warden at 75 cap but very few groups did down those so yeah.
For me, I don't like it and probably will not use it in pantheon unless I absolutely must (and if I absolutely must then something is probably not working the way I want it anyway).
I was going to suggest that we could make Pantheon more attractive to younger gamers if the chat interface only allowed you to type with your thumbs.
Then the horrible realization came to me that I'm going to need a TXT->English dictionary to group with anyone.
Maybe we just can't turn back the clock on this one.
Mephiles said:
Amsai said:
I greatly favor it raid or no raid. Doesnt mean I wont type in game. But its almost to the point I would require it. Maybe Im also just so used to using it even when friends are playing different games. Just seems like Id feel lonely without that chatter in my ear. When I hear it its like my friends are in the room. And for raids its no contest required. Sometimes you need to get peoples attention quick. " Hey Dude quit healing the tank....... hes petrified....... unpetrify first!!!!!!" "Hey DPS...... tone it down a notch before that dragon eats your face!". Sometimes you need to issue critical info. And sometimes you gotta wake people up out of whatever zombie trance they are in. Side note: favorite enraging excuse. "Sorry I didnt use stun (and wiped the raid) i was watchingbTV"...............whaaaaaaaaa?
I find it interesting that you consider it required for raids (somewhat depends on what you consider raids) considering your ffxi background where it wasn't used very much. I mean my linkshell (sortof like a guild for those who don't know final fantasy xi stuff) cleared just about everything there was without voice chat (macros worked for just about everything if you ask me) the only notable exceptions to this would be absolute virtue and pandemonium warden at 75 cap but very few groups did down those so yeah.
For me, I don't like it and probably will not use it in pantheon unless I absolutely must (and if I absolutely must then something is probably not working the way I want it anyway).
Though I prefer to RP, most people who play these games, do not as a norm. And VoIP is the now, not the future or something new. What we see, what I've seen is most everyone in game, running to this camp or to that dungeon or to the nearby town, do a quick quest turn in, buy some food, water and bandages then head out again. IRL, people walked or rode horses. They did not run. Especially when carrying a heavy pack, wearing heavy armor and weapons besides. Also, food and water weigh FAR to little and it always has because its an afterthought. Water and a days worth of rations is heavy and you consume more water in drier or colder climates than in temperate or mild ones. Also, the abundance of magical weapons and armor vs. mundane varieties. Far to much magical bling in relation to the non-magical variations likely to be found in dungeons. Linear dungeons, killing mobs that respawn without the ability to really clean it out so that the real RPing can begin. The investigation, scrutiny and exploration. I guess what I'm saying is that you can make the games you play more RP intensive but there are limits to how immersive the game itself will allow you to be. In EQ, as an Enchanter, if you asked me to be...immersive in Seb, while keeping everyone hasted and mana'd while mezzing 2-3 mobs and mem blurring, I'll likely want to chew your nose off. I did manage to type when EQ first came out but later, VoIP was a godsend in some circumstances.
I hate that voice chat was introduced to gaming. It 100% kills my immersion factor. Also due to my voices sex appeal, I become a target for female gamers... and I just dont want to be another piece of meat in a video game. I just wanted to be treated like the gnome that I am !
Gadgets said:
I hate that voice chat was introduced to gaming. It 100% kills my immersion factor. Also due to my voices sex appeal, I become a target for female gamers... and I just dont want to be another piece of meat in a video game. I just wanted to be treated like the gnome that I am !
Ahh thank you for my first giggle in the morning Gadgets!
My preference is the same as Red Wolf's (we had some nice chats on vent) in the fact that I enjoy VOIP and it enhances my gaming. Even If i am not doing something that requires ventrilo, my friends and I enjoy each others company on vent. I find this way more social. Yes there is less typing in guild chat because of it, however we use g-chat so we do not talk over one another, to talk to groups in different channels to organize events and crack jokes. I find that g-chat is ignored less because someone will reference/repeat what was typed to let all of us know.
Now this is my group's preference, and when I recruit I make sure the people that join look forward to VOIP,or else they would not get the best fit guild. For those of you that prefer type and no VOIP (and I have also preferred that in some games) I feel it is best to join a guild that emphasizes that so that you get the best gaming experience. When I chat with people who inquire about my guild, and I find out that they prefer written over voice communication I usually direct them to a guild that I know facilitates that method of communication. Actually hello AgentGenx1 you were one of those :) Those few times when I myself prefer written, I look for a guild that promotes that and having that great fit enhances my gaming experience.
I hate voice chat, as it is way too immersion breaking for me.
It's worse if there are many people in it.
And it's not a >>necessary<< evil even for raiding. I used to be a raid leader in a serious raiding guild in EQ, back before Vent/TS became widely used in MMOs. I successfully led large raids, even those above the 72-person limit, that had to be split into two due to EQ raid UI limitations, just using the text chat.
Later in WoW, since many people asked for it, we used Ventrilo. It's only ok if you mute everyone except the main characters - the raid leader, main tank, puller etc. If there are some who really want to talk all the time and listen to all the chatter, make a separate channel just for them (and I won't be in it).
Voice chat for non-raid content (regular groups etc)? No, thanks.
Zarriya said:I usually direct them to a guild that I know facilitates that method of communication. Actually hello AgentGenx1 you were one of those :)
Hello Zarriya! I see we meet again :) Hope you are doing well! Yes, one of your referrals has become one of my closest friends, so thank you for that!
Amsai said:
In all honesty my LS didnt use voice chat until 2007. But we would occaisionally have unacceptable losses at a endgame event (its true we didnt call anything a raid they were all endgame events raid wasnt part of the XI vocabulary) . When I say that I mean on endgame events that we had previously beaten and beaten often. So upon investigating the matter. It seemed the reason was because of unfocussed people. Thats when we decided to facilitate communication with voice chat. So no there was next to nothing in XI that required voice chat. But when we switched over it increased our success and synergy 10 fold. All I can say is distracted or non-serious gaming is the bane of my existence. And voice chat is a good way to wake people up out of there daydreams as well as a more efficient way to give commands.
Perfectly fair approach, every group has its own set of needs and preferences.
What I don't like is the dull, flat voice chat. There should be some drama and adventure and speaking loudly- speaking loudly is not yelling and some people may say "why are you yelling?" if they do, they don't get it. In a fight, Yell encouragement " Once more into the Breach!- Warrior stand your ground! SK?-! " - " Sk stopping the adds here!" - " Getting rough- clerics PRAY!~" " Raise the Bowsprit! Lower the Jimboom! Master brooks!-" "Aye Cap'n?!" - " Lifelines! I say lifelines fore and aft. Mr. Christian.... Mister Christian....MISTER CHRISTIAAAAN?!" That's what I want to hear in chat on a raid. But I think it instead.