Voice chat and the virtual identity
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 1st 2007 at 1:50PM
Terranova has a great little piece up about what they say is "the inevitability of voice" in online gaming. Blizzard has talked (ha! I just made that up!) about implementing a voice chat system into the default client, but at this point, they don't really have to-- I don't think I can remember a higher level instance run that I've done in a long time that hasn't been accompanied by a Vent or Teamspeak server with my friends on it.But the interesting thing about what Nate writes about online voice is that it's more than just being able to react quickly with strategy in a game-- with voice, we're moving ever closer to a deeper connection between our virtual and real identities. Part of the appeal of online gaming, way back in the beginning, was that players were able to keep their virtual identities separate from their real ones-- if you were an accountant during the day, you could hack and slash away at orcs all night, and no one from either world might ever know about the other.
But now, with voice chat, the people you play with get to know more than they ever have about the real you-- first and foremost, your gender, which is why some women still don't bother speaking on Teamspeak. But beyond that, I know much more about my guildies-- their age, their professions, their locations, their situation in life-- than I think I ever would have if I spoke to them only in text. More than ever, as voice chat is commonly and conveniently found in more and more games, it's not just how you play the game-- it's going to be how you sound as you do it.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Guilds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zuuler Mar 1st 2007 2:04PM
The one, and only time, I used vent in an instance, was in strat about a month before TBC came out.
Since then, I have refused to use it.
When we were running strat, we were on the guild's vent server. Another guild member who was not part of the group, a girl, joined the room we were using.
The chat turned into a bunch of horny computer nerds trying to hot on this girl. After a while it wasn't just the instance group anymore, but just about every guy in my guild because there was a girl to talk to. Became too much of a distraction to the dungeon we were doing, and we wiped.
Now I have hormones too. I like to hit on women, but I tend to keep that in the real world and not on WoW with someone I will probably never meet in real life anyway.
Just found it way too annoying.
Beyond that, when I alt+tab out of WoW, it has a tendency to crash on me, so setting up vent when its not running can turn into a disconnect for me.
I prefer to plan out a strategy before attacking a boss, and then everyone knows what they need to do. If you have good players, they will know when a change needs to be made and make it without being told. No need to communicate. I prefer it that way.
I also like to play music while I play, this interferes with that. My hearing isn't so good anymore, so I can only listen to one thing at a time.
Meliv Mar 1st 2007 2:09PM
Is she playing Civ3/4?
Cedric Mar 1st 2007 2:10PM
I can think of a few reasons why a speak client should be integrated in WoW: 1) Unified sound settings, 2) No need to install extra software and 3) Integration in the game (the toon on your screen could display a quick bubble whenever they speak in the microphone, which would help for things like "can I get some water?" usually followed by "who is asking?").
Nelson Mar 1st 2007 2:19PM
@2
Age of Empires
Clint Mar 1st 2007 2:46PM
@3: Complete agreement, and also, I almost fell out of my chair when I realized how much my generous guild management paid for ventrilo. Very expensive. I'd love for it to be built in.
Jund Mar 1st 2007 6:42PM
I'm a 40 something, so perhaps my age and those I tend to play with explains why we don't have issues with players trying to hit on others in chat - ie. maturity.
I've used both TS and Vent for several years - WoW since it went retail and nearly 3 years previously of playing DAoC and Shadowbane. I've found it to be invaluable. In PvE, you can probably get by without it if you're only doing 5 man instances. You do them over and over again and pretty soon, people memorize them. Larger, more complex instances though make it a necessity. It's hard to manage 20+ people without it.
For PvP and RvR, it's a necessity if you want to have a chance at being competitive with other top squads/guilds. Competing players are not nearly as predictable as mobs and you'll find yourself having to adapt and improvise on the fly even with a strategy and handpicked group. You can't do that with a keyboard.
And as far as client generated voice chat goes - it's been done in an MMO already (well, near MMO at any rate). See Dungeons & Dragons Onlne.
Psyrenity Mar 1st 2007 2:41PM
My friend has a voice synthisizer program that he purchased that has an incredible range, now if they could immitate the races like Orcs, Trolls, Gnomes ect that could make role playing alot more interesting, esp for all those men playing female characters :)
Drew Mar 1st 2007 2:39PM
I would LOVE it if they integrated a voice client. I use a Mac, and in order to use Vent, the server must have a specific codec enabled to work. Every guild I have ever been in refuses to go through the trouble of enabling that codec. If Blizz implemented one, that would elminate that huge problem for me.
Genius Jones Mar 1st 2007 3:03PM
Well, I, for one, will never use Blizzard's built-in voice chat feature when it goes in. If you think it's easy to get banned for saying 'Asshat' as it is now, just you wait until they can monitor and/or record your conversations. And anyone who has used vent knows what can go on in there. No thanks, I'll keep it private.
Krystian J Mar 1st 2007 2:38PM
I think voice integration in the game would be really helpful, no having to install software, no need to get vent server info.. Also you would know who is speaking and when. I was thinking the other night while on vent, wow, xfire, and AIM at the same time that voice communication would be a lot better from within the game.
But I hear the other side with the girl being in the room, once I let my finance hop on vent while I was playing and she was talking in the vent room with my guildies, and I have to agree about the lack of attention the run or whatever you are doing they all focus on the girl and that is it. Pros and Cons to both.
Halicante Mar 1st 2007 2:43PM
Eh I'm a female and I've never had any trouble really on vent...and any trouble that has come up I've dealt with no problem. The majority of people act normal with me. The few people who try to start something get ripped to shreds either by myself or my guildies, who are more protective of me then they should be probably. Of course the standard answer to the "What do you look like" question is of course "I'm a 700lb beached whale, you?" heh
I actually really like vent for the most part. It's fun talking to all my friends together on a daily basis and it allows us to whip through instances at a much faster rate.
Halicante Mar 1st 2007 2:46PM
Oh and also I would find that unlikely that wow would integrate a voice client. Moderating it would be very difficult and I can't imagine that having unmoderated voice chat on a game with kids who play is a very good idea...iirc that was always their stance on vent stuff. If kids were hearing inappropriate things in vent, then it wasn't their fault because they have anything to do with the vent program and this released them from any liability associated with it.
Jeff Mar 1st 2007 2:48PM
@7 Good point dude, that was I was thinking, by example you save the life of a little female human mage and you heard a big masculine voice that thanks you... Blizz would really need to put a filter on the voice, but sound quality would be a big concern, as for CPU Usage for real-time sound tranform... So i think it'll be in-game, but more like Vent, with a password and a channel name by example...
Can't imagine if it wouldn't, all the spamming would be voices yelling for VC runs etc...
Rudi Mar 1st 2007 2:52PM
I think the greater interconnectivity between r/l and online/l is just a byproduct of the cooperative nature of gaming and the aging of gamers. If you need to do something that requires close cooperation you're going to use voice comms. If you're going to organize and rely on people to show up on time for a raid event you're going to get to know them. My guildmates all know my voice, they can see my pic on the guild site, some of them know my real name and a few have my cell number in case they need me. But I'm a 30-something in a guild with all 18+ y/olds (and the majority 25+ y/olds).
clutch Mar 1st 2007 3:06PM
Everyone knows that WoW is only good for role playing. Voice integration can turn cyber sex into phone sex making it more bonertastic!
Yippster Mar 1st 2007 3:29PM
In my mind the girl issue is the strongest argument against voiceover in MMOs.
I call them "digital pimps" and I get disgusted and annoyed every time I hear them. Most of the time the girl just sits there and takes it and doesn't stand up for herself, or is into all the attention she is getting and toys with them to egg them on. Either way, both situations annoy me.
That being said, as far as the game itself, voicechat would be an immense benefit, especially with the difficulty of the new endgame, communication is more important than ever. You've all got to be on the same page, and far too easy to miss out on crucial battle commands from your tank or group leader simply because you failed to look down to see it in the chat box.
If nothing else have an option in the interface menu where you could hear some sort of audible whenever someone posted a message in party chat. So that way you know a message is there and you better look to see what it is. Another solution though is to use /rw for the most important messages that way it pops up right in the middle of the screen for all party members making it pretty hard to miss.
I agree a voice disguising system would be ideal, but I've had experience with that playing socom online, the sound quality is ridiculous, everyone sounds like a cross between an android and an ogre. Maybe blizzard could do it better??
BTW blizzard can record all the conversations of mine they want, because I have nothing to hide. I use profanity but I treat everyone with respect :p
Acrowley Mar 1st 2007 3:42PM
I think voice communications is essential going forward. I also think it would be a good idea if whilst on a instance / Raid that the comms where locked to only allow the members of the group.
Calaf Mar 1st 2007 3:44PM
Instead of Blizzard getting involved with integrating it into the game I wish the makers of vent or TS would take the initiative to offer their programs with more integration options. There has to be a way of making it a mod. Maybe even ask Blizzard to open up some UI options for it to happen.
Kabe Mar 1st 2007 7:42PM
@7 - I love having protective guildies :)
Only once did I have a problem over Vent - the guild I was in was predominantly male, and I was the only female on on a regular basis. A newish guild member was on Vent for the first time and was, at the run's outset, suprised to find not only a girl in the run, but the girl playing a prot-specced warrior instead of a caster or healer. (I've never understood that, but for some reason a girl playing a warrior suprises guys sometimes.) Anyway, he was suprised but mostly polite for about half the run. Then he decided to let an off color comment fly while we were waiting for an AFK to come back.
I didn't have time to get a word in edgewise, as the 5 other people on the channel immediately ripped him a new one :) The boys always took care of me, I miss them.
Druid dude Mar 1st 2007 4:02PM
I run vent on my laptop next to me, not on my game machine. Guess I have gotten used to it, the idea of vent coming out of the same set of speakers as game sounds doesn't appeal to me at all.
One concern would be ingame lag. Enough people in a typical raid have weird lag issues as it is. I can imagine how screwed up things could get with voice chat integrated in the the WoW client. Think about that for a sec... oh man, bad joojoo! Bugs, lag, forums full of complaining about this and that related to the voice chat tool. Not worth it for Blizzard or the people playing the game. Count me out.