Breakfast Topic: Push to talk
by Mathew McCurley 
May 23rd 2010 at 8:00AM
The first communication backbone of World of Warcraft is the chat itself. The fully realized interaction we have with the people inhabiting the world with us boils down to what appears inside that chat box. Communication with chat is limited, however, by typing speed, range of communication, lack of vocal inflection, tone, and volume. Key components of human communication are missing from the very basic communication apparatus we use to interact in WoW.
Communication has a long and varied history in the MMO genre. Before Ventrilo and Teamspeak, my friends and I had a complex system of phone conference calls to make communication in Ultima Online easier. Before Paypal and other cash services, people would send checks, money orders and cash to other countries to purchase items in MUDs, the proto-MMO. These forms of communication paved the way for the pieces of software we take for granted today.
Humans are social creatures. Ventrilo was an inevitability. But there has to be more, something that will become as ubiquitous as voice. So here's the question -- where is communication in games headed? What is the next or new Ventrilo?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Helston May 23rd 2010 8:11AM
I'm actually rather surprised absolutely no one uses the in-game voice chat. Wasn't there a major patch back in BC dedicated to that or something?
Kezren May 23rd 2010 8:18AM
Yeah there was, I've used it a couple of times but it's usually not as clear sounding as vent is. Looking back it's kind of funny that Blizz hyped it a fair amount and used a major content patch to release it but it doesn't get used.
fearthefireblade May 23rd 2010 8:55AM
Remember in-game voice chat?
Neither do I.
L May 23rd 2010 10:10AM
I think the main problem with in game voice chat is that if you get DC'd from game and you are on vent you can explain to people what's going on if you are on in game chat you can't. Also the sound quality is not as good.
bennet May 23rd 2010 10:54AM
For us at least, the sound quality of the in-game voice chat was terrible. A friend demanded that we all try it, and we lasted two days before everyone else stampeded back to Skype, leaving him to protest "It's...crackle...not that...crackle...crackle...bad" all alone until he too gave up.
Zuckerdachs May 23rd 2010 11:55AM
Some (rather common) sound cards interfere with in-game chat, too. Ventrilo doesn't have that problem.
Vibram May 23rd 2010 8:17AM
I don't think that there is anything that could top Ventrilo or Teamspeak, or if there is it's going to be something like mind to mind communication--which is not something I really think we need.
The beauty of Vent is that it is simple and very effective. While there are successful guilds that don't use any sort of VOIP, having one makes coordination much easier. With the push of a button raid leaders can be nearly certain that the other 9 or 24 people know what they are supposed to do.
Hoggersbud May 23rd 2010 11:39AM
>With the push of a button raid leaders can be nearly certain that the other 9 or 24 people
know what they are supposed to do.
Nearly. Nearly.
Yes, that the thing. I've had more than a few Raid Leaders who couldn't explain things well and more than a few players who couldn't understand them.
And then there's the case of the random voice on Vent saying "Hey I don't have " which is not very helpful. Yet so many people can't get it through their heads that they aren't known by everybody in a PUG.
Sorry, gripe of the moment.
Bumblebee May 23rd 2010 8:28AM
I wouldn't be surprised if WoW was to redesign the in-game VC to something more similar to Vent or TS in functionality, especially with the introduction if Real-ID and the changes to the Battle.net community.
As for "Where is communication in games headed? What is the next or new Ventrilo?"
I don't see video coming into this really, since the internet is about being anonymous, so basically, VC is just going to get better, less laggy and better sound quality, but not much more, more than likely.
GrumblyStuff May 23rd 2010 8:34AM
I wonder how much use the ingame chat gets used. It seemed like a big deal when it was announced and I even remember using in a few pugs but it quickly faded into just another bulletpointed feature no one used. Sound quality was the only issue I remember other than not wanting to hear every random person's voice when it was so much more clear who was saying what with text chat. Plus I could scroll up and reread anything I missed.
I'm not sure what they could do to make it better. Quick change toolbar to change you're talking to a la whispers, party, and guild chat?
SgtBaker May 23rd 2010 9:17AM
Problem with the in-game chat is that it crashes, disconnects and freezes the same time your client does.
Stand-alone comms don't have that problem, so you can still say "my client crashed, someone else heal the tank".
Having voice enabled guild chat and a external client would be fairly cool though. Especially if you could run the app in your mobile (i.e. Vivox) - you could just dial-up and join your guild chat no matter where you are - chat with your friends and discuss the raid strats - now that would be useful - and it would help guildies connect.
dodgeballer2005 May 23rd 2010 12:28PM
I wouldn't be surprised iF WoW was to redesign the In-game VC to something more similaR to Vent or tS in funcTionality, especially with the introduction if Real-ID and the changes to the Battle.net community.
Don't try to hide it, because I saw it.
dodgeballer2005 May 23rd 2010 12:29PM
And, no you weren't. XD
GrumblyStuff May 23rd 2010 8:29AM
As an avid fan of Looking Glass games, I've always been fascinated with the idea of ingame voice chat that comes from your characters location and follows realistic propagation. Obviously, it wouldn't be great for a MMO where communication across the lands is key for a social game but I think the effect would be amazing for FPSs or a MMO that strived for an intensely immersive atmosphere.
Ok, yeah, you'd need an army of GMs to slap and mute idiots who'd abuse it but I can dream.
In the meantime, back to Thief 2. Hey! ...thought I saw something. Is someone there? Hm, must've been rat- *blackjacked*
Portals May 23rd 2010 8:30AM
What's next? A webcam that translates my facial expressions onto my characters face. That way when I roll my eyes or /sigh because you asked for help AGAIN on the simplest tasks you'll understand that I don't like the old world because I can't fly there. (yet)
Snuzzle May 23rd 2010 4:45PM
I remember seeing something like that, actually, that was in development (or the imagination phase, or something). But damned if I can find the video link.
Lukeyo May 23rd 2010 8:31AM
I wish more people would use GSC ( http://getgsc.com ). It's just like Ventrilo and TeamSpeak, except that you can have a 200 user server for FREE. Also buddy lists, favorite server lists, and more. Our guild recently switched to it, but you still have to keep Vent around for PuGs and talking to non-guildies. It's almost a waste, but I got tired of paying close to 20$ every month for our rather large Vent server.
GrumblyStuff May 23rd 2010 8:37AM
Hmm, looks interesting. What's the catch?
Lukeyo May 23rd 2010 9:17AM
As far as I can tell, there isn't one. The quality is on par. I guess some people might be reluctant to make an account to actually use it, as opposed to just throwing a name into a fresh Vent install.
Eric J May 23rd 2010 10:11AM
Catch is, there is no current MAC client.