To this day, I still think one of the most useful (if not the most useful) courses I took in highschool was typing - yes it was still typing on a typewriter at that time, not keyboarding.  I learned all the basics there, from ASDF JKL; to speed.  By the time that class was finished I was typing very proficiently, and it’s served me well ever since.  In MMOs, it was typing by chat box that was the main vehicle of communication in-game for several years.  Even today it’s highly used and still very much has its place in these games.  But voicechat has come on strong - very strong - to the point where a lot of guilds use voicechat in addition to text, or sometimes exclusively.  In addition, some games have now been built with voicechat support from the ground up, or are including it in later patches.  Voicechat has come of age and is now spreading its wings.

Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane.  I can remember first learning about “voip” (voice over internet protocol) several years ago, back before the turn of the century (hehe…always wanted to say that).  I think the first voicechat programs (products actually) I used was Gamevoice by Microsoft (but Roger Wilco was also available at that time).  My dad and I used it while we played through Asheron’s Call and through some of the Baldur’s Gate games.  I then moved on to Teamspeak and used that in CoH and EQ2 when it launched.  I was finally introduced to Ventrilo in WoW, and found the audio to be superior to Teamspeak, so I switched over.  Recently I was introduced to Skype, and I have to say it is probably the clearest voicechat I’ve used to date.  I’ve definitely had more years at the keyboard, but I’m coming up on 6 years or so of using voicechat in MMOs.

Don’t get me wrong.  Typing still definitely has it’s place in the world of MMOs.  There are times when you don’t feel like talking, or you can get across more roleplaying goodness by typing than actually speaking.  It’s hard to LOL or ROFL or OMG over Vent sometimes, and it’s easier to just type BRB or AFK.  There are also those guildmates and friends who inevitably are not on voicechat, so you’ll need to continue to type to communicate with them.  Obviously typing was the exclusive method for awhile, and I remember forging good relationships and communicating well (I thought) back in the EQ days.  So it can definitely work, but I’ve grown to love voicechat for all that it can provide.  I don’t really see it as an “either/or”, I see them as both tools I want to use while playing an MMO.

All that said, I think voicechat is here to stay - and why not?  It’s how we naturally communicate.  I have found that the use of voicechat can offer a lot.  First, it offers fun - I can’t count the number of funny comments and moments that happened on my WoW guild’s ventrilo server.  Priceless stuff.  Secondly, it frees you up.  No longer are you trying to execute your abilties and move your character around while trying to type commands and information.  You can just naturally speak while you are also running things via the keyboard.  Third, it can increase efficiency in giving raid instructions.  You don’t have to macro and hotkey a bunch or raid instructions, or sit there and type a novel for five minutes while the raid waits around.  You can just speak and tell people what’s going on, answer a few quick questions, and get going.  Finally, voicechat can build and enhance relationships just as it does in real life as we talk to people and get to know them.  You actually come to associate each person’s voice with their character, to the point where it seems like a very natural extension of what you are seeing onscreen (at least for me).

Voicechat is great, and can work great provided you have a guild that’s mature enough to know how to use it properly, not talk over raid leader, not scream into the mic, etc.  So a level of maturity is needed, or else voicechat can become a complete nightmare.   So what are some of the objections to using voicechat?

1.  “I don’t want to hear the voice of a 14 year old boy coming from our Ogre main tank.”  This is probably the most common objection (or fear?) I hear.  In practice, I’ve never seen this happen.  For me, hearing a real person’s voice has not broken immersion, it’s only become an extension of the character itself.  And best of all, I’m actually hearing (and getting to know) the real person, not reading lines of text having to imagine (or infer) meaning. 

2.  “I don’t like how I sound - I’d rather type“.  O.k…well, not much to say there.  If you don’t like how you sound and want to type, that’s perfectly fine in my book. 

3.  “Everyone talks over each other during raids and it’s too chaotic“.  I think some simple groundrules, moderation and maturity nip this objection in the bud.  If you use voicechat a lot, and raid a lot, people learn when to speak up and ask a question and when not too.  Or when it’s o.k. to crack a joke and b.s. a bit and when not to.  At least that’s been my experience.  I raided very extensively in WoW using Ventrilo, and we never had an issue with hearing instructions because people knew to be quiet during those times.  At other times however, even during a boss fight (if it was one we knew well), we might be joking and cutting up, just enjoying the game.  Some guilds have solved this issue by only allowing raid leaders to talk, or by coordinating instructions with group leaders in separate channels, etc.  Whatever works!

So what is the future of voicechat?  Will it continue to be mainly provided by third parties, or will more and more MMOs build in voicechat from the ground up.  Well, one company is trying to do that latter - Vivox. 

Vivox provides online games, virtual worlds and other online communities with robust, integrated voice chat. Vivox delivers superior quality voice chat, video, Instant Messaging (IM) and presence – all of which greatly improve gameplay and social interaction. Today, Vivox is bringing voice to over one million subscribers in more than 180 countries.

Vivox’s integrated voice solution and managed communication services enable you to create an online experience that reflects the individuality of your game or online community, including its social structure, look and feel, user interface, brand identity, and genre. Tightly integrated within your virtual world, Vivox voice chat services make real-time communication simple and scalable – whether you support thousands or millions of users.

Vivox will be making an appearance at the Austin GDC in September.  Just take a look at some of the technologies they will be showcasing - this is cool stuff!  3D Positional Sound?  That sounds pretty darn interesting in itself.  I think Vivox has some interesting technology there, and I’ll be interested to see how voicechat from this company and others is integrated into MMOs over the next several years. 

If you’ve always been skeptical of voicechat, heard horror stories, or just have the fear of hearing that 14 year old Ogre, I’d urge you to give it another try.  You may find that you actually enjoy talking, laughing and celebrating with your friends and guildmates using your voice, instead of the keyboard.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 7:24 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.