Voice chat goes live; brains scarred
by Mark Crump 
Oct 15th 2007 at 7:00PM
When I first heard voice chat was being integrated right into the WoW client I was ecstatic. You see, I play mostly on a Mac and I stopped trying to get Ventrilo running when I got to the point in the instructions that said: "take one eye of newt and bowels of young chicken; combine in small bowl." Ok, it wasn't quite that bad.D&D Online was the first time I used in-game VoIP and was amazed at how much easier it made grouping. Yes, I know, you're going, "Dude, welcome to the new millennium." DDO had a small, niche audience-at least that's the spin the marketing guy put on it when he explained the low subscriber numbers to me-so the players were fairly mature. Then I remembered the big-time game system with built-in VoIP: XBox Live.
Ah, yes. If Obi-Wan was still with us he'd say, "Never will you find a more wretched hive of thirteen-year-olds with unsupervised access to the Internet." The last time I pugged Gears of War on the Xbox, I'm convinced one of the players was engaged in something immoral with a mule and I'm not going to assume which way it was happening either. The braying and wailing blasted out of my surround sound causing the cats to flee the room and my wife to become very concerned about my own unsupervised Internet habits. It may sound like I'm taking creative license here but I assure you the only part I played up was my wife's reaction; she's already maxxed her concern about my internet usage.
I don't know about you, but the words "Barrens chat" and "microphone" used in the same sentence cause me to break out in a cold sweat. It's really only a matter of minutes before "how to mute world of warcraft" is the top search on Google.
With that, I bring you five realizations I can guarantee people are going to have:
- That female night elf has an unusually deep baritone
- That dwarf sounds like he got kicked in the nuts. Maybe he needs an ice pack
- I'm a career sailor and even *I* needed to look up the cuss words that kid used
- I really hope overhearing, "yeah, baby, lower" means she was giving him a back rub
- Why is it the raid leader spent five minutes explaining the plan for the final boss, but the only word I understood was INCOMING?
How about you? What's your biggest fear once the great unwashed think it's open mike night?
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Humor
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BadMage Oct 15th 2007 7:08PM
I don't use the in game chat. After trying it out and finding the quality to be less than acceptable I have stuck to using Ventrilo. My guild agrees, the quality of Ventrilo makes using the insufferable in game codecs unacceptable.
Plus, when the servers were going up and down that first week, it was much better having everyone in Ventrilo, still able to communicate...
Lancedulac Oct 15th 2007 7:11PM
I've tried the voip in-game and I have to say it is ok, but the quality in no way compares to vent or teamspeak. I was hoping for a little more considering the bandwidth it is using. I never had connection issues before but now that the voip is on I get booted at least once a session. Usually at the worst time. So I guess it's a mixed blessing, or curse depending on how u look at it.
Rich Oct 15th 2007 7:22PM
I tried it and went back to my TS server. I got one for $20 for 6 months and isn't nearly the resource hog and all my friends can get on,
Alyssa Oct 15th 2007 7:26PM
I found that the audio quality is pretty much equal to the character quality on the other end of the microphone. Both have much to be desired. I tried this for one evening and I won't be going back. Not everybody deserves a microphone.
Justo Oct 15th 2007 7:31PM
other than the sound quality being completely horrid, hearing people and them hearing me is also an incredibly retarded issue. everything is jacked to max and i cant hear people nor can they hear me. ive heard "turn on your mic boost" but if i do that it makes my output on Ventrilo sound like a horny Wookie.
d503 Oct 15th 2007 7:48PM
Mark Crump has a penchant for blue humor...I'm not necessarily sure that's a personal requirement of my favorite wow news site...
Hopefully we won't have to start rating the podcasts "M" and above ><
But seriously, not like I'm some old codger who can't handle naughty imagery, but it's just kinda surprising to see...
My 2ยข
d503
kunukia Oct 16th 2007 1:28AM
Although we have a guild TS, my son and I tried the in game voice chat while grouped the other day. It wasn't bad at all. Since he and I often pull in three others for an instance and can't always get guildies, we are pretty pleased. I suspect the only pick up folks that are horrifyingly immature will be the same ones who were annoying in other ways in party anyway. Kicking will be just as easy, if necessary, and since my son is always party leader, he can shut 'em up if that is all that is needed.
Wolfstalker Oct 16th 2007 2:43AM
The in-game voice chat is fine and works just as well as Vent/TS. The only problem with it is that most people haven't bothered to set it up properly yet.
And it doesn't work in General zone chat.
Jonty Nov 21st 2007 7:14AM
"And it doesn't work in General zone chat."
Be thankful for that...
Manasseh Oct 16th 2007 7:18AM
I was one of the people very excited to use the in-game voice chat. My server was one of the first to get it and my very first use of the system was in Alterac Valley. I am not and never will be an AFKer... I give my all in battlegrounds... but I spent a good 2 minutes standing at the entrance to the cave while I figured out how to disable the BG voicechat while keeping open the channel my guild was in. I heard approximately 60% vulgar words in the 1/2 a minute I was in the channel. The focus of the conversation was in one squeaky-voiced individual calling everyone else derogatory names while, apparently, attempting to devise a "strategy" (ie. tell everyone else what to do). I will never use the feature again except in a small group or with my guild. It saddens me that such a nice computerized feature is so easily ruined by human interaction.
Solex Oct 21st 2007 11:49PM
I wasn't even brave enough to try, something about Vent always weirded me out I finally started doing it when I began raiding and I guess it's because I feel like I slightly know these mysterious guild internet people. I know how BG's go horde side so maybe it's different alliance (doubt it) and I wasn't going to risk my hearing because a 13 year old wants to shriek at me for not piling in for Van. So how much of it is WoW Voice chat and how much if it is the people on Wow voice chat that makes it suck?
M. Thompson Oct 16th 2007 8:38AM
I was looking forward to using the voice chat.
I figured you can say what the kill order, strategy, etc is going to be faster than type it (typing is not my strong point).
I play Horde on Smolderthorn. Let me tell you, they have an unnatural fear of voice chat. All I hear is "I'm not using that crap", "You don't need voice chat for this", battlegrounds are silent on Horde side, but the Alliance have really gotten better in BG's... go figure, once voice chat comes out we start losing about 1/5 of our AV's. Alliance suddenly better? Nope - they can yell for help over VC while still plugging away, while we would have to type *ouchies.. help!*
Smolderthorn is a high population server, and Horde side you have a lot of "Old dogs" that don't want this fancy new crap (even if it is useful). So, I have voice chat set up... and I have been in exactly 3 parties that used it since the day it was released.
daniel Oct 16th 2007 9:03AM
I'm starting to like the Crump :D
Oh and I'm sticking to TS thank you very much.
ThorinII Oct 16th 2007 9:06AM
I haven't tried it. I never plan to. TS works great, why bother? I feel no need to talk to people I don't know just because we're grouped. My friends and I use TS. If someone says something offensive, those offended speak up and those being offensive stop. Most of us are adults and can act accordingly. Those who aren't adults show the adults respect or they're kicked from the server. Can't do that with in-game chat.
Reinforcements Oct 16th 2007 12:49PM
It's like the song says - Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar WoW.
Well, almost anyway.
Taintedmage Oct 19th 2007 1:53PM
Ehhh Even when I first actually used Vent it kindof bugged me that our Guild Leader had a lisp (which to me made him sound kind of gay) and another one of our players accents very odd. EventualLY I got used to it though.
Gimmlette Oct 17th 2007 3:45PM
Mark, have your Vent server configured with Speex and Vent works wonderfully on a Mac. We can't turn people up and down in volume as PC people can, but generally I can hear everyone, including one guy's squeaky chair, clearly. But it has to be done at the server level and that requires admin privileges.
That being said, my guild went to a Vent server where, in a fluke, the owner of the account didn't get admin privileges so I can use it. Enter WOW-chat.
On the first day, we all had to make the "Mr. Roboto" jokes and play "guess the voice", as some people's voices were changed just enough that you couldn't be sure who they were. We have all given it a shot, both in a "general chat" way and in an instance way and the consensus is Vent and TS do not need to worry about this being competition.
For me, the fact that, in an instance I can communicate is good. Some players cannot communicate on anything other than "Voice activation" so when they type or the dog barks or the wife needed the guy to change a diaper, we hear it all. My Mac almost never crashes or freezes, at least it didn't BEFORE the latest patch, but the lag when I have voice chat active is very noticeable and Shatt becomes the new "Lag-Forge". I don't know if any guild members use chat to just chat. I don't enable it unless I'm going to an instance and then, only right when we start.
I have never felt the need to chat in a BG. If some is going to scream at you, they will do it via typing as surely as on voice. Plus, maybe, maybe if they have to type out "You %*(#&@&%#*&@(#*_!(%&#!", they might think about what they are saying to people they don't know and need to win a game.