Beyond 2.1: Voice over IP (VOIP)
by Dan Crislip 
May 16th 2007 at 5:30PM
As previewed before, the Blizzard developers made mention that they were working on an in-game voice-over-IP system. Well, "Games for Windows" magazine has an article that confirms that Blizzard will be implementing this feature in the future. While the release of this feature has not been scheduled, more specific information and details of the system have been discussed.
Some of the features that have been disclosed include feature that lights up the speaking character's name in the interface, allowing you to actively see who is speaking, and target them if necessary. Also, the voice channels can be separated so that the music can be silenced while a player speaks, or the music can be over normal speakers and voice can be sent directly to a headset.
While the replies of the players are mixed as to the potential of abuse, options of use, and how it will effect gameplay and system lag, I think that this will be a feature that could be amazing if done well. I can't wait to give it a try!
You can read the article here.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Add-Ons
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1up May 16th 2007 6:00PM
Man, this sounds so awesome. I cant wait to stop my subscription to my vent server. Saves me monies!
Lori May 16th 2007 6:04PM
The statement about Blizz not having a problem with using Vent is puzzling since it is totally independent of the game. How COULD they have a problem with it. Same with the statement about compatability. I would think that using both would be confusing.
The idea about piping VOIP to a headset with the other sound going to speakers soulds cool but can this be done? My stero is connected to my PC via USB and since I did that, I haven't been able to get my headset to work at all. Maybe I just don't know how to do it.
Balasan May 16th 2007 6:10PM
Just one word:
Woot!
Oldbear May 16th 2007 6:13PM
I use Vent everytime I play; if I'm grouped or not. So I can see people still needing vent and such if they aren't in a group... But I look forward to having VOIP to make PUGs a little less like a root canal.
someone May 16th 2007 6:36PM
worst idea ever. ever.
Because the game wasnt laggy enough as it is. I hope I am long gone with wow by the time they impliment this.
Rich May 16th 2007 6:49PM
Meh
Daghol May 16th 2007 7:18PM
I do have a little concern that PUGs will actually become harder to set up. If everyone doesn't have the proper headset etc, people will be kicked.
But anyone who has played with a group knows the voice feature in an instance just makes things much, much easier. Maybe PUGs will actually be more reliable. Typing is actually hard when you are in a fight.
Oh, #2... I currently use a USB mic and pump Skype into the headset while the in game sound comes from my computer speakers. So I know it is possible.
stormshado May 16th 2007 7:29PM
Believe it or not there are some people who live where high speed internet is not available. I worry about bandwidth, and share #7's concern about pugs.
Mel May 16th 2007 8:29PM
As if we didn't have enough lag already... *sigh*
Also, I like my voicechat to be independent of WOW, because when I get disconnected from the WoW server I am still connected to Teampeak or Vent and can tell the other players that I'll be back in a few secs.
Krianna May 16th 2007 8:58PM
As a female, this is a HORRIBLE idea.
There are way too many folks who freak out when they realize that the female char they're gaming with is a real female. I'd put it at about twice the number of folks who automatically assume a female character is a female player.
If I ever do use it, I fully expect that I'll have to report a crud-ton of folks for profanity and obscenity. The folks who can't stop themselves from shouting the F word in /2 will not be more restrained when all they have to do is touch a button and speak.
I love my guild's vent, and I think it may be interesting to have a better chance at guessing which Alabama male voice just yelled "bubble me, fast!" with the speaker-is-highlighted thing.
Basically? I won't use this in PUGs. For guild, I might, but in the main, no.
I don't even want to think about the battlegrounds.....
Krianna May 16th 2007 8:58PM
Oh, #8 is quite right.
Gronik May 16th 2007 11:03PM
I have several concerns with this.
1. While with groups and raids this might be fine, but it could lead to discrimination to those who may not have a microphone or those who do not like to talk. Perhaps the person is unable to talk since they are playing at a time when others in the house are asleep. In my guild we don't really care about if a person talks or not just so long as they can listen to instructions.
2. If this ever is implemented outside of groups, can you imagine what barrens chat or Goldshire chat will be like? It would be almost impossible to be moderated and most certainly could not be proven what a person said. The potential for abuse would be way to pervasive for some to ignore. Not only that, could you imagine how hard it would be to make any sense of a conversation when over a thousand people are all talking at once? I have been on high population vent servers and even with under a hundred on, it is almost impossible to have a conversation unless you go into a seperate room.
3. Obviously, bandwith and lag are serious concerns especially on the high population servers. Capital cities are always laggy. Throw in VoIP and you may as well go fix a sandwich after you hearth to give your computer time to catch up. (and that is on high speed internet with a fairly updated computer).
Outside of that, I give kudos to Blizzard for taking the step forward and attempting to integrate the one feature that MMO's are notorious for being lacking. This is no small undertaking and I really hope it works for the masses.
Grendalsh May 16th 2007 11:59PM
If Blizz is smart, the voice servers will be separate from the game server, so a game dc won't result in a voip dc.
Further, I doubt Blizz is stupid enough to turn Barrens General into a voip channel. Granted, they suggested the possibility of player created channels later on, so it's possible players could set up an OPT IN Barrens General - Don't opt in.
I imagine at most besides the party/raid/guild/custom channels there will be a /say channel, so you hear people in actual speaking range.
So, how is this any different than current voicechat options? Realistically, I'd be more worried about folks that speak English as a second language than folks freaking on Females. Female gamers face a threshold, sorta like women in the workplace in the 50's and 60's. Only through exposure will the trolls get used to women being.. women. But ESL folks thru VOIP are bloody difficult to understand..
I do wonder how this will impact hearing impaired users, though. If the majority of folks use voip default, it'll kill the 'connectedness' everyone using text brings.
K Whitt May 17th 2007 12:45AM
While this sounds wonderful, the only problem I see with it is the same problem I see with all voice-chat programs (TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, XFire, etc). 80% of people out there can't set up their system properly worth a damn. I have one person who we all can barely hear and another person who drowns us in feedback, and yet another who bursts all of our eardrums everytime he speaks. Then there are the "voice changers" that are used by people and not tweaked so they sound like bad robot immitaters.
On top of it we have the little kids (I'm talking like 10-14) and the folks who have four-letter vocabularies. While I can appreciate the usage of our languages expletives when it is merited, hearing it every other word grates on my nerves almost as much as people using "lol" as punctuation.
Lori May 17th 2007 4:47AM
@14 A good feature of Ventrilo is that you can adjust other peoples volume. Right click on their name, select miscellaneous and you get a window for special effects that includes adjusting their volume up or down. I hope Blizz includes this ability in their implementation of VOIP.
Avonturier May 17th 2007 5:17AM
I know that /s etc on WoW are logged, but I can't see them do that for voip. What will their policy on voip abuse be?
Thijz May 17th 2007 8:12AM
I hope they restrict it to parties and raids, imagine IF, Shattrath or Orgrimmar with VoIP!!!
Kahja May 17th 2007 10:38AM
In regards to that guy with the lag thing. I'm sure they won't use the same server to run the voip services.
1) it would bog the server down
2) game servers are for games not voip
3) it would be easier to just incorporate a voip server into the game than to make the existing server a voip/game server imo.
Genius Jones May 17th 2007 2:08PM
Are you kidding? With the way that people report people for the stupidest things imaginable in game, and knowing the kind of talk that happens on vent, I am not about to use a Blizzard-controlled voice chat system and have them monitoring my conversations. No way.