Forums » Suggestions
New Voice Chat Suggestion
Going from here: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/19005#238703
I am a frequent player of another on-line combat game that has a very well implemented voice chat feature. The game is Aces High 2 from hitech creations. It's a WW2 air combat game, much like this one in many ways with Squadrons (Guilds), three different "countries", and base capturing.
Because it is a flight centered game, almost no one attempts to play it with only a keyboard and mouse. Full flight setups with HOTAS and rudder pedals are common. Typed chat, while it exists, is rarely used during the fast pace of combat.
The voice chat is fairly simple to use. There are two types of chat. Ranged Chat is voice chat sent to every friendly player within a certain range. It is assigned a programmable hot key and when someone speaks, their name is displayed in the upper right corner. A beep can be enabled for each incoming message, mainly to distinguish it from the second type which is Channel Chat.
Channel Chat goes out to everyone on a specific channel, OR to a specific player if that players name is entered as the channel. Some channels are nation specific, some are not. ie Channel 2 is nation specific. Only people in the same nation hear what is broadcast on 2. Channel Chat also has a programmable hotkey and beep feature. A recently added feature is a SQUAD channel for communicating with one's squadron. I have both programmed to my throttle.
It works surprisingly well. There is a "report" feature so someone using harsh language in what is a family game can be dealt with. If one gets reported too many times, one loses the ability to voice chat on range or channel for a while. There is also a mute function if you are just tired of listening to so-and-so whine about getting vultched, again.
For VO I would suggest that there be added a targeted hail and a simple key bind to respond to the hail by "tuning" to the last hailer's channel (Kind of a voice /msg), or possibly a third "Hailing Frequency" voice chat, possibly limited by range, that allows for inter-nation commo.
I know jack about how to program something like this so I don't know how hard it would be to implement. But on AH2 it does work very well and we often have upwards of 200 players, and as many as 600, divided among three nations in the main arena. In use there is some "flooding" as was discussed in other threads but it is actually minimal considering the number of people involved and actual broadcasts are limited to about 8 seconds.
So. Submitted for consideration by the powers that be. I'd really like to see this happen if for no other reason than so I don't get slaughtered by a "Privateer" simply because I failed to notice his stand to and prepare to be boarded "request" in the stupid chat buffer.
I am a frequent player of another on-line combat game that has a very well implemented voice chat feature. The game is Aces High 2 from hitech creations. It's a WW2 air combat game, much like this one in many ways with Squadrons (Guilds), three different "countries", and base capturing.
Because it is a flight centered game, almost no one attempts to play it with only a keyboard and mouse. Full flight setups with HOTAS and rudder pedals are common. Typed chat, while it exists, is rarely used during the fast pace of combat.
The voice chat is fairly simple to use. There are two types of chat. Ranged Chat is voice chat sent to every friendly player within a certain range. It is assigned a programmable hot key and when someone speaks, their name is displayed in the upper right corner. A beep can be enabled for each incoming message, mainly to distinguish it from the second type which is Channel Chat.
Channel Chat goes out to everyone on a specific channel, OR to a specific player if that players name is entered as the channel. Some channels are nation specific, some are not. ie Channel 2 is nation specific. Only people in the same nation hear what is broadcast on 2. Channel Chat also has a programmable hotkey and beep feature. A recently added feature is a SQUAD channel for communicating with one's squadron. I have both programmed to my throttle.
It works surprisingly well. There is a "report" feature so someone using harsh language in what is a family game can be dealt with. If one gets reported too many times, one loses the ability to voice chat on range or channel for a while. There is also a mute function if you are just tired of listening to so-and-so whine about getting vultched, again.
For VO I would suggest that there be added a targeted hail and a simple key bind to respond to the hail by "tuning" to the last hailer's channel (Kind of a voice /msg), or possibly a third "Hailing Frequency" voice chat, possibly limited by range, that allows for inter-nation commo.
I know jack about how to program something like this so I don't know how hard it would be to implement. But on AH2 it does work very well and we often have upwards of 200 players, and as many as 600, divided among three nations in the main arena. In use there is some "flooding" as was discussed in other threads but it is actually minimal considering the number of people involved and actual broadcasts are limited to about 8 seconds.
So. Submitted for consideration by the powers that be. I'd really like to see this happen if for no other reason than so I don't get slaughtered by a "Privateer" simply because I failed to notice his stand to and prepare to be boarded "request" in the stupid chat buffer.
It's a cool idea, VO is unfortunately the kind of game where people will mute you for no other reason than they don't like your in-game politics, so muting powers are generally a bad idea. Ignore mechanics works though, i'd definitely like to see an expansion of voice chat in this way
Awesome idea.
Awesome idea.
In AH2, muting someone on range or Channel chat only means -you- won't hear them. Others still will. Only the game admins can mute you completely and that is only done if one abuses the voice chats with bad language or harassment of other players.
Guild Software / Vendetta Online isn't presently large enough to provide active admin coverage of chat 24/7, so there is a /vote mute feature. It's not perfect, but it does help the community to self-regulate to an extent. I try to keep an eye on chat whenever I'm in game, but I generally prefer the devs' "hands-off" approach to the "my way or the highway" tack I've seen some games take. To err on the former is much less severe than erring on the latter.
It sounds like Channel Chat corresponds to our channels, Ranged to our sectors, and Squad to our groups. VO currently has a chat filter which I and many others utilize; not sure how that would work if everything was voice chat, as I doubt the devs will ever completely ban foul language.
Yeah, tarenty, it's kind of like that. In my experience on AH2, moderating the chats was not really a problem. If someone started getting too "expressive" in their language they get reported by multiple people. The in game mechanic to do so is pretty easy. The admins will look at it at some later time and if they think it was a violation then that person can't use voice chat for some specified time, typically a week.
It works because voice chat became so essential to squad operations and wingman tactics, that nobody wants that to happen to them so they self moderate. If you're in a Spit MkVIII with a FW 190 on your tail and you go hands off long enough to type out a request for help, you -will- die. Being completely muted will hurt your chances, and your in-game standings, in a furball, on missions, everywhere.
Now that doesn't mean their is no harsh language on voice chat. Everyone gets over excited sometimes and a certain amount is tolerated for that reason. There are children on the game, though because of the steep learning curve, not usually -young- children. I imagine VO is very similar in it's player base. So it's not like someone would have to sit and monitor chat 24/7.
Considering that Team Speak is already a part of the game for the voice chat that is available, perhaps it could be expanded?
It works because voice chat became so essential to squad operations and wingman tactics, that nobody wants that to happen to them so they self moderate. If you're in a Spit MkVIII with a FW 190 on your tail and you go hands off long enough to type out a request for help, you -will- die. Being completely muted will hurt your chances, and your in-game standings, in a furball, on missions, everywhere.
Now that doesn't mean their is no harsh language on voice chat. Everyone gets over excited sometimes and a certain amount is tolerated for that reason. There are children on the game, though because of the steep learning curve, not usually -young- children. I imagine VO is very similar in it's player base. So it's not like someone would have to sit and monitor chat 24/7.
Considering that Team Speak is already a part of the game for the voice chat that is available, perhaps it could be expanded?
I would be okay with optional sector-wide general VC. Anything more I think would be impractical. Text is more convenient for global chat anyway. Voice is real-time - if somebody says something but you're distracted, you miss it. With text, it gets buffered so you can easily scroll up and read it when you get a chance. You can also just skim through it to see if anything was relevant to you or some other keywords you care about.
You can currently switch between the Guild VC channel and Group VC channel with /voicechattoggle - Bind that to a joystick button or something for easy access.
"You can currently switch between the Guild VC channel and Group VC channel with /voicechattoggle..."
Okay, especially for the people doing heavy combat, how do you coordinate between guilds on the same side of a battle? In AH2 I fly with a bomber squadron, on of the oldest Squadrons in the game. We often will invite a fighter squadron to fly escort with us. We each have our own squadron channel, but for communication between the two we use Range, which as I said before, is nation specific.
"...if somebody says something but you're distracted, you miss it."
You'd be surprised how quickly you tune in to what people are saying. It's a natural reflex, really, since that is what we all do in our daily lives anyway. There is a reason humanity invented voice communication instead of staying with the earliest versions of text (Morse code). Voice is faster and more reliable. In a furball it can be the difference between winning and losing if you have to go hands off to type out a "Check Six" warning. In two seconds I can say "Monty, watch the high 190 on your six". Took about 10 to type -and- took my hands off the controls of my ship.
Okay, especially for the people doing heavy combat, how do you coordinate between guilds on the same side of a battle? In AH2 I fly with a bomber squadron, on of the oldest Squadrons in the game. We often will invite a fighter squadron to fly escort with us. We each have our own squadron channel, but for communication between the two we use Range, which as I said before, is nation specific.
"...if somebody says something but you're distracted, you miss it."
You'd be surprised how quickly you tune in to what people are saying. It's a natural reflex, really, since that is what we all do in our daily lives anyway. There is a reason humanity invented voice communication instead of staying with the earliest versions of text (Morse code). Voice is faster and more reliable. In a furball it can be the difference between winning and losing if you have to go hands off to type out a "Check Six" warning. In two seconds I can say "Monty, watch the high 190 on your six". Took about 10 to type -and- took my hands off the controls of my ship.
Well, there's a group voice chat feature and anyone who is flying with you is usually in your group. So yeah.
"In a furball"
Read what I actually wrote. When I extolled the virtues of text, I was talking about global chatter, not anything related to actual combat. VC is clearly advantageous for communicating with your team and other nearby people during combat. But it is equally disadvantageous when it comes to keeping up with the global chatter, which you do not want to generally deal with immediately, and you may want to stay involved in even if you step away from the computer for a couple minutes to answer the door or feed a cat or pull your dinner out of the oven.
That is why I said that I would like sector-wide VC (in addition to the group and guild VC we already have), but prefer text for global chatter.
Read what I actually wrote. When I extolled the virtues of text, I was talking about global chatter, not anything related to actual combat. VC is clearly advantageous for communicating with your team and other nearby people during combat. But it is equally disadvantageous when it comes to keeping up with the global chatter, which you do not want to generally deal with immediately, and you may want to stay involved in even if you step away from the computer for a couple minutes to answer the door or feed a cat or pull your dinner out of the oven.
That is why I said that I would like sector-wide VC (in addition to the group and guild VC we already have), but prefer text for global chatter.
My mistake. I misunderstood. In AH2 it works pretty much like that. There is no real "Global" voice chat unless everyone wanted to tune to the same channel for channel chat, and nobody wants to do that because the global text channels there look just like the global channel here: NSFW. Or kids. Or family members.
+1 to expanding the possibilities of voice chat, and I would also suggest having receiving chat be switched on automatically.
I agree with Pizza that a global voice chat feature is not really needed. Global chat is mainly idle chatter* and voice chat would not really add much except for noise.
I think sector voice chat would be nice to give some more immersion in the sometimes empty feeling VO universe. Also it would be nice to be able to do some voice communication with the enemy in a fight, although that might lead to some more expletives being used. (I can't imagine full radio transcripts from fighter planes engaged in actual combat to be safe for work much...).
Also, I think that it should be made easier to use some of the features that are currently only accessible by typing commands into the chat windows, including chat settings but also group invite etc.
* (some of it NSF* but I don't think it's that badly actually; there is some innuendo but if your kid understands it than I guess it's not damaging him/her anymore. Anyway, I'm a European liberal :-)).
I agree with Pizza that a global voice chat feature is not really needed. Global chat is mainly idle chatter* and voice chat would not really add much except for noise.
I think sector voice chat would be nice to give some more immersion in the sometimes empty feeling VO universe. Also it would be nice to be able to do some voice communication with the enemy in a fight, although that might lead to some more expletives being used. (I can't imagine full radio transcripts from fighter planes engaged in actual combat to be safe for work much...).
Also, I think that it should be made easier to use some of the features that are currently only accessible by typing commands into the chat windows, including chat settings but also group invite etc.
* (some of it NSF* but I don't think it's that badly actually; there is some innuendo but if your kid understands it than I guess it's not damaging him/her anymore. Anyway, I'm a European liberal :-)).