VoIP-How to enticing/lure people to use it?

(Jamieson) #61

[QUOTE=Apples;227699]Not really, cuz (dont fool yourself here) you pretty much know that many player from qw will play the game, and you also know that they’ll turn on voip, inciting other “new” player to do the same IMO.

I can agree that its not the best choice maybe, but its not such a big mistake (I wont enumerate the many others :D, I sweared to myself not to get med over brink anymore ;))

Peace[/QUOTE]

Well thats true, I stopped getting mad to, notice me posting less lol, I don’t have high hopes for Brink but will see what people think of it.

(H0RSE) #62

With brink its the opposite so I can just see servers empty of VOIP because there will be no point talking if no one can hear you. VOIP will just be reserved for clan play and matches like the old days which is just sad, might as well just use TS or vent only.
But the game is still just as playable with or without VOIP, and since it isn’t “required” to play, having it off by default makes sense to me.

(Cankor) #63

[QUOTE=Apples;227699]Not really, cuz (dont fool yourself here) you pretty much know that many player from qw will play the game, and you also know that they’ll turn on voip, inciting other “new” player to do the same IMO.

I can agree that its not the best choice maybe, but its not such a big mistake (I wont enumerate the many others :D, I sweared to myself not to get med over brink anymore ;))

Peace[/QUOTE]

I have a feeling that if the game hits the target audiance the developers are hoping for the ETQW players will be an extremely small percentage of the people playing the game. So they won’t make an appreciable difference.

Again, it’s the self fulfilling prophecy thing, if it’s off, no one will bother using it, and since no one’s using it there won’t be a reason to turn it on.

Raldo seems to have had a lot more bad experiences with immature behaviour than the majority of people who have voiced their opinions on this topic, with the consensus is that it’s a platform specific problem and isn’t a big deal for PC players.

So leave it off by default for consoles if there are that many nitwits on that platform, but don’t make it an uphill battle for the PC community to make in-game VOIP the communication method of choice. Anyone who doesn’t like it can very easily turn it off. But having it off by default is harmfull to the people who actually think voice communication is a good thing in a TEAM BASED game.

PC players are apparently on average more mature than console players. Hopefully the developers will agree and respect/allow for that.

(light_sh4v0r) #64

This is a very thin line, you are still taking away functionality. You could also argue to disable grenades by default because they are not "required’ to play.

I’m with apples though, it doesn’t really bother me, will probably use other means of voice communication anyway for most of the time.

(H0RSE) #65

This is a very thin line, you are still taking away functionality. You could also argue to disable grenades by default because they are not "required’ to play.
Now that was a much better example of "very thin line…Let’s see, VOIP, a completely optional game mechanic, that has no effect on core gameplay vs grenades, a mechanic programmed to be used in the game by default, and thus have been tested and tweaked for balance and is an actual aspect of gameplay…yeah, that was a great comparison you did there…

It would be more accurate to say enabling VOIP by default, is like enabling HDR or Vsync by default.

(Jamieson) #66

Tell you what Horse,

Lets remove typing from the game, its not required at all to the gameplay. Ahh you say but thats different. How is it different?

They are both means of communication that add functionability to the gameplay. In fact while we are getting rid of all these uncessary things that are unrequired. lets get rid of vsays, how about the HUD, or crossairs hell lets take away all the variety in guns, their not required lets have everyone have 1 gun.

See what I mean, a lot of stuff is unrequired but gaming has moved on, its not the 90’s anymore you know, the more functionability the better.

Seeing as SD went to all the trouble to implement the SMART system, the Character Customisation, the unlocks and weapons/ranks asking them to implement a defualt on VOIP system is not a lot to ask for. Considering since the PC one can just be copied over from ETQW. In fact we already know there is going to be a VOIP system so turning it on by defualt is not hard.

(H0RSE) #67

Lets remove typing from the game, its not required at all to the gameplay. Ahh you say but thats different. How is it different?
not everyone has a mic - everyone is using a keyboard, and nobody is talking about “removing” VOIP, just disabling it by default. If you don’t want to type chat, you don’t have to. And if you happen to be using a controller on PC, then type chat wouldn’t concern you anyway.

VOIP is a much more “specific” option, since you need extra hardware to use it (mic) and everyone who has a mic doesn’t necessarily use it anyway. Trying to compare that to typing with a keyboard on a PC game, seems like a desperate, last resort effort to get a point across.

(Jamieson) #68

[QUOTE=H0RSE;227789]not everyone has a mic - everyone is using a keyboard, and nobody is talking about “removing” VOIP, just disabling it by default. If you don’t want to type chat, you don’t have to. And if you happen to be using a controller on PC, then type chat wouldn’t concern you anyway.

VOIP is a much more “specific” option, since you need extra hardware to use it (mic) and everyone who has a mic doesn’t necessarily use it anyway. Trying to compare that to typing with a keyboard on a PC game, seems like a desperate, last resort effort to get a point across.[/QUOTE]

You have still not told me why typing is required for gameplay and VOIP is not. i.e. my point that they are both forms of communication that add fucntionabiltiy to the gameplay.

But what ever Horse, if our long debates over the last couple of months have taugh me anything then it would be that its pointless to argue with you because,

A) you clearly don’t know what you are talking about
B) you wont see logic and reason when its sat right in your face, hell logic and reason could run up to you naked hand in hand, run around you in circles screaming HERE I’ AM, COME ON MAN PLEEEASSSEEE! and you still would not see it.

(H0RSE) #69

You have still not told me why typing is required for gameplay and VOIP is not. i.e. my point that they are both forms of communication that add fucntionabiltiy to the gameplay.

I never said it was required for gameplay, like I said previously - “If you don’t want to type chat, you don’t have to.” You were talking about REMOVING type chat, when nobody is talking about REMOVING VOIP, just disabling it by default. It is still there to use, just like type chat. I guess type chat just appeals to more players, since I don’t usually see a “disable/enable type chat” option.

(LyndonL) #70

Ok… let’s remove receiving type chat messages by default. You have to go into a separate menu and specifically activate the ability to read messages from other players. NOW we’re talking about the same thing. Do you also agree with this?

(Cankor) #71

I’m truely baffled that you PC players think it’s a good thing to disable it by default. How is it hurting you by having it on when you can easily turn it off if it bothers you?

The opposite scenario (having it off by default and then turning it on because you like it) is problematic because it most likely won’t be utilized enough for people to bother.

If idiots talking on VOIP bother you, mute them individually or turn of VOIP completely. Again, just make it insanely easy to do. Make it a MOTD tooltip thing when the game is loading “did you know you can mute idiots by …”

This addresses the concern of idiots ruining the game for casual gamers and a VOIP system which is useful for those that want to use it.

Tell me how it’s better for you to have it off by default when you can easily turn it off yourselves. What, you can’t set an option in a menu?

(Voxie) #72

Indeed, if voice communication defaults to off on the PC you might as well not implement it at all, due to how seldom it will be used. By the same token, if you can only speak to part of your team (i.e. your fireteam) VoIP will almost never be used.

To effectively combat mic spammers you could make it so that M is bound to a quick mute function – press M then 1 to mute the person who spoke most recently. Push to Talk being default, rather than voice activation, is also a must, but I’m sure that goes without saying.

Separate buttons for team and global talk would be awesome as well - I really liked that feature in ETQW.

(stealth6) #73

I really like VOIP, most of the time I am on teamspeak, sometimes to communicate in battle, but other times just to have a chat while playing :smiley:

But I was thinking of a new idea for VOIP, instead of wasting resources on making a VOIP ingame, cause most of the time they aren’t very good quality or limited, maybe they could let you use teamspeak/ventrilo/mumble through a plugin or something.

So what I mean is that you can access teamspeak without using alt-tab or windows key, or alt-enter.

(Voxie) #74

That doesn’t seem like a feature in high demand though, so I wouldn’t count on it. Coincidentally, the next major release of Mumble will sport an in-game overlay, so you could just use that instead. :wink: I’d much rather have the devs focus on snappy alt-tabbing and/or a borderless windowed mode, as that would benefit general multi-tasking and not only this very specific case.

(Cankor) #75

My understanding is they are going to implement it regardless. The issue is they said that it will be off by default and people are questioning the reasoning behind that decision and the possible consequences.

(Jamieson) #76

Exactly if the Devs had considered the consequences for all 3 platforms they would have known this was not a good idea for PC users.

Just very worrying really as a PC gamer in an increasingly console oreintated gaming world. This, and the Nade issue and the Preslecting tools before objectives speak of “catering to the Console crowd”.

I mean Seriously WTF is going on SD get your **** together or you hardcore PC crowd is going to desert you.

(H0RSE) #77

The fact that you guys defend having VOIP on by default, like it’s some all-important, essential gameplay mechanic, that can’t afford to go unnoticed by gamers, is enough to make me lol.

It’s off by default - if you want it on, turn it on…this isn’t rocket science. The majority of the games I play that support VOIP have it off by default anyway.

If you want to “entice” players to use it, make it something worth using. Since players can play the game without it, using it comes down to being an option or personal preference, and nothing more.

(BioSnark) #78

Well, not quite that simple, is it? If you want to communicate your team needs to have it on.

This is a persistent problem in Left 4 Dead (1/2) on the PC and why I don’t bother playing public games anymore. Brink is supposed to be a cooperative game, too. I’m just imagining how much worse it would be if VoIP was off by default in L4D.

You hit the nail on the head! It’s not worth using if other people can’t hear it.

(H0RSE) #79

Well, not quite that simple, is it? If you want to communicate your team needs to have it on.
they can turn it on also…

You hit the nail on the head! It’s not worth using if other people can’t hear it.

Then they should probably turn it on, or turn the volume up…Since the game is completely playable without it, where is the “importance” of it? What makes it “worth it?” Having to buy additional hardware and set it up, for what? Being able to hear people rather than read their typing? The way I see it, the feature just doesn’t seem worth it to many people. They get a finished product either way. You would have to make it pretty goddamn enticing to have people use it more.

I’m not hating on VOIP, I’m just saying that the thread is asking how to entice/lure players into using VOIP more, and that’s a really good question. What could you say or offer or do to make a player all the sudden want to use voice chat? Makes games require it? That seems a little drastic. Buy the headset for them? I don’t drive - you could buy me a car, I’m still not going to drive it. People are stubborn and don’t like change, and it applies here as well.

(BioSnark) #80

Okay, I’m going to go thru most of your post and re-explain it.

Heh, how about not dissuading people from using the hardware they already have as I just explained -_-

limitations have been explained previously. You might compare cellphone texting vs talking while driving. You might also take my word for it. I’ve been playing teambased shooters like Delta Force 2, Natural Selection, TF2, L4D1&2 (expert/realism/versus), W:ET, ET:QW and in a small community modded VCTF server for UT2k4 for quite a few years.

I’ll also give you a pubtastic anecdote. I was playing on a Quake Wars server recently. Map was Volcano on second objective and there was a backstabber lurking around. Now, there’s one player repeating ‘backstabber!, who’s he disguised as?, etc…’ and another player typing and vsay spamming ‘enemy disguised as me!’ That probably went on for ~30 seconds and I died b/c I had to stop and ROFL and a couple other ppl even got stabbed.

Same as before.

hint Answer has something to do with knowing your not just communicating with yourself.

Many already will if they know it’s effective. If you want to encourage coordination, why worry about fighting a symptom for a treatment completely unnecessary on the PC platform?

I also explained why I expect coordination to important, here. I could be wrong, though. Brink could turn out to be a bunch of lemmings running around on their own little missions and occasionally intersecting like All Points Bulletin and a microphone would be completely unnecessary.