Discussion: NCsoft and Vivox Voice Chat
By
Anarchist_Kitten,
Posted on: 2008-05-13 15:13 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
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I will be inordinately unhappy if that's what the launcher turns out to be. I do not play Valve games, and Steam factors significantly into why. The CoH launcher is lightweight and, frankly, easy to skip. I want nothing to do with the downloading of patches or other data "streaming" in the background at times anything other than of my choosing.
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The PlayNC launcher only streams updates in the background if you let it. You can configure various download options in its settings -- everything from auto-updates to no updates at all. You can also have the launcher set to exit after you launch a game so it doesn't tie up any resources when you're playing. It's not invasive at all (I used it for Tabula Rasa when I played).
As for voice comm, love it dearly -- with people I know. Using it with pick-up groups? I'm a bit more leery there but I'm sure any implementation that might eventually come to CoH will be optional, so no big deal.
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I had a different experience with the launcher when I tried Tabla Rasa beta. It basically slowed my whole computer down. Just to make sure, I uninstalled it, computer ran fine. Reinstalled, computer started working like a dog again. I have no idea what the launcher was doing. I thought it was a cool idea but my computer didn't like it so it had to go. Maybe it's better now and the launcher was a beta version too but I'm still a little apprehensive about using the NCSoft launcher again.
IF it's going to be anything like SecondLife Voice, then:
1. Optional - Use it or don't, it's your call, when off voice chat program doesn't run.
2. Spatial chat - chatting in an area like Atlas Park, volume depends upon how close or far away you are. (either camera or avatar listening)
3. P2P chat - you can 'call' another person directly and talk to them.
4. Team/SG or VG/Coalition - talk within your allies or team
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I am not a big fan of voice chat. I do use vent or skype with some friends and it is ok, but a resources drain on my system.
As an optional feature, voice seems to be ok, but I do hate other games where you hear hords of kids cursing in the background.
My big fear is that even as an option, it will be expected for members of a PuG to use it by the group. For example, my friend that uses skype will not team with people that don't use skype.
So count me in as one of the "DOOOOOOOM!!" sayers.
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Features are awesome, but what would rock is if the Devs took a damn poll. Not just made blind choices for us, feels sorta like the Government. We pay our taxes but have limited say on the working of our nation.
When they took the poll on what powersets we wanted players were crazy happy. I dont plan on using the voice system myself and I normally play with my comp muted. (only glowie missions get sound)
Poll
<ul type="square">[*] A) Spend resources for a voice chat system.[*] B) Spend resources to finish power proliferation[/list]
Voice mail = Voice spam. It's going to happen.
"But in our enthusiasm, we could not resist a radical overhaul of the system, in which all of its major weaknesses have been exposed, analyzed, and replaced with new weaknesses."
-- Bruce Leverett, Register Allocation in Optimizing Compilers
NC has this on Tabula Rasa, and it sounds like crap. I spent most of my time saying "what? ha?".
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Reading comprehension FTWz.
This is in the launcher not integrated in game. LH has no further technical details.
Yet the majority of posts ask about in game integration, how do you turn it off and for more details. The answers are there is none, simply don't turn it on if you don't want it and no one knows yet.
Enjoy it if this is what you want. Personally I skip the CoH launcher and have my cat click on the EULA if I must run it for a patch and won't run the NC Soft one, but to each his own.
There will be 3 types of people here- those who have TS or Vent (myself included), those who won't voice chat and those who will.
Infinity and Victory mostly
dUmb, etc.
lolz PvP anymore, Market PvP for fun and profit
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If i was to be forced to join a voice channel to play a game then that means that you would have to listen to my french all the time.
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Accents are hawt.
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Features are awesome, but what would rock is if the Devs took a damn poll. Not just made blind choices for us, feels sorta like the Government. We pay our taxes but have limited say on the working of our nation.
When they took the poll on what powersets we wanted players were crazy happy. I dont plan on using the voice system myself and I normally play with my comp muted. (only glowie missions get sound)
Poll
<ul type="square">[*] A) Spend resources for a voice chat system.[*] B) Spend resources to finish power proliferation[/list]
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The Government has spoken.
The choice is:
C) Both and a lot more.
No, ten thousand times no.
But, being that it's already been posted as coming, I suppose it's now too late to object.
But if it's not too late, then No. Ten thousand times no.
"All that crap is grey to me, no XP." - Positron 5/15/05 8:36am . . . The world stopped and silence ensued except for the sound of a crying infant off in the distance.
"Everyone needs to chill the hell out." - BackAlleyBrawler 11/13/08 3:26pm . . . Geeks around the world stopped and blinked.
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The PlayNC launcher only streams updates in the background if you let it. You can configure various download options in its settings -- everything from auto-updates to no updates at all. You can also have the launcher set to exit after you launch a game so it doesn't tie up any resources when you're playing. It's not invasive at all (I used it for Tabula Rasa when I played).
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That sounds pretty reasonable then. I wouldn't have a problem with that as described.
I still wouldn't have a used for the voice comms. I don't PuG in general, so I wouldn't care much about expectations that I'd chat there. I understand that concern, though.
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If it does, I guess I'll just be soloing more while trying to find "non-voice" teams.
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Lv 30 LFNVT 
So when do i get to enjoy the squekers who think being an "adult" is cursing every 2.4 seconds.
Please oh please give me hundreds of high pitched voices asking for PL in Atlas Park.
And in other news 5.1 surround sound is the worse thing to have now.
Yes i like to exagerate. 
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As a point of clarification not included in the press release specific for City of Heroes and City of Villains, this new voice chat technology will be used through the PlayNC Launcher and not directly through City of Heroes.
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Through the launcher? Interesting...
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I took a fast look at the V-Corp site. It looks like they handle the data for voice through their own equipment; one of their selling points is that game servers don't have to deal with extra load.
I'm interested but wary. There's plenty of times I don't want to chat with people while gamng. Plus, the potential for awkward silence is going to be hysterical.
"So. We're, uh... really tearing through those CoT, huh?"
"Yeah."
"....."
Somehow, that kind of things is less bad in chat =)
The good? Coordination. The bad? Having anyone in the room listen to your inane COH comments ("Hold that Mob? What are you taking about over there?).
It is critical that you pay attention at this time.
Gaming in Limited Times
Guide to Plant/Ice Doms
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Love Vent for TF's and for playing with friends. Will use it for sure. I am really surprised at all the venom this one has brought out though. You'd think they were going to have DXP weekend EVERY weekend or something like that with a lot of the replies here. Oh well, to each their own I suppose.
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My SG also uses Vent, and so does cast of DJ Jules' "Unmasked" show on SI Radio (Fridays 10 - 1 EST, y'all!), so I think a move to integrated voice chat is a natural move. Apparently I'm in the minority here, but c'est la vie.
Still, I think if *I* had to deal with yammering voices channel by channel, I'd probably turn it off too.
- Green Lantern
"Say, Jim...woo! That's a bad out-FIT!" - Superman: The Movie
Me 'n my posse: http://www.citygametracker.com/site/....php?user=5608
A lot of people will welcome and use this feature, so I certainly don't object to it. I just as certainly will seldom (if ever) use it. I'm an RP'er. In fact, I never play without being to at least some degree "in-character." Sure, OOC chat happens, but when a team's chat starts being dominated by OOC stuff, I view that as time to move on (in a PUG), or time to gently admonish SG-mates and friends (who are also RP'ers, obviously). It's all about immersion for me.
I've found voice chat to be one of the worst immersion killers in MMO gaming. Unless the people using it are gifted vice actors, do their best to stay in character, and have voices at least reasonably suited to the characters they're playing, it rips you right out of immersion in minutes. Tried it in LotRO, an incredibly immersive game, and it just didn't work.
I'm not sure I even can run it with my current setup. I installed Skype (for non-game-related purposes), and have had a heck of a time getting my system to recognize the mic. I'm running a USB Audio interface (Lexicon) for music recording/creation purposes, and I suspect ASIO driver conflicts and possibly other weirdness. Maybe I should forget about the headset and just use a boom stand to position one of my "real" mics!
To each their own, and I realize a lot of (in fact, the majority of) players don't RP much or at all. For them (and perhaps even for me under certain rare circumstances, like Hami raids), it's a good thing. But for the most part, I'll pass.
"And in this moment, I will not run.
It is my place to stand.
We few shall carry hope
Within our bloodied hands."
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Yes i like to exagerate.
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Hyperbole ftw? 
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People saying "it is optional, it won't effect you if you do not want it to" ..
It is there for everyone to use, much more than vent etc. so it will be used a lot.
For those who do not want to use it? Tag along in a team and not hear what is going on. RP blown out the window. Lousy choice.
Turn it on? Roleplay blown out the window anyway. Lousy choice.
Yes, it might not be that cut and dried, but overall I feel this will be more negative than positive.
I DO use Ventrilo in other games.. raiding games, FPS war games.. City of was the best place for more roleplay type play, I fear that is going to be lessened to a great degree when this comes. I find that in other games where Ventrilo type voice is the norm, if you try to roleplay with live speech instead of in text, it is accepted and not ridiculed much much easier if the rp is in text... as long the whole team is using text, otherwise it is usually ignored at best. I find people that do not roleplay normally can even get into it if it is text and not overdone, I've converted a few now excellent roleplayers via being in character via text. Doesnt happen with speech.
Does not matter if built in speech is in the launcher or the game itself, it is the same in your face availability, and the pick up group masses shall use it.
Guess we see how it goes.
My hubby doesn't like it when I chat with teenage boys. Go figger.
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As a point of clarification not included in the press release specific for City of Heroes and City of Villains, this new voice chat technology will be used through the PlayNC Launcher and not directly through City of Heroes.
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Through the launcher? Interesting...
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What is this "Launcher" thingie?
Sometimes, I impress my boss. Sometimes, I impress myself. The rest of the time, I scare people. I can live with that.
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Yeah! Because my SG have been waiting 4 years to speak over the internet to each other... oh wait. We did not wait.
Well, I'm sure this newfangled soloution will be much better than the two very popular and well-loved, cross-platform / cross-gaming systems out there (there is more, but vent and TS are pretty much the top 2).
All I can hope for is that someone got a decent payoff at NCSoft for this; otherwise, why waste your time?
Scratch that. I forget. There will always be the Atlas Park teaparties of sg-less n00bs to cyb0rz themselves silly...
I guess this is an OK idea after all.
-r0y
(seriously, who isn't on vent, TS, skype, etc. by now?)
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Im not, cause it sucks..I dont wana talk to others like that. Had vent and TS, got rid of it, hated it.I wana play the game not BS. I dont even like talking on the phone, the hell if ill do this.( ugg all those voices) blah blah blah UGGGGG.
Anyway, it will be good for those doofesses that like to have everyone hear them complain and those who like to cyber 
SADNESS!!!
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It is there for everyone to use, much more than vent etc. so it will be used a lot. For those who do not want to use it? Tag along in a team and not hear what is going on. RP blown out the window. ... Turn it on? Roleplay blown out the window anyway. Lousy choice....
[/ QUOTE ]Opinion seconded. I usually play late at night when the rest of the house is asleep - it's the only free time I have. I turn all the sound off, so voice chat of any sort is really not an option for me. And it's really a drag when I hook up with a team and suddenly they're off doing something and I'm typing away, "Wait, where'd everyone go?" and trying to figure out what they're doing. About 5 minutes later someone'll send back, "Oh, sorry, we're all on vent." 
The launcher is a separate program that opens a window to gives you access to all NC soft games on your system (CoH/CoV, CoH/CoV eu, Auto Assault....wait, what?). Kind of like a highlight that program and launch. The window would also have update information along side your applicable programs.
I like typing. There is something more elegant about communicating that way. (ok maybe this is only me)
I am usually disappointed when I hear a players voice, because it just doesnt match their toon or my mental imagery of 'who they are'.
I wont use it under normal play. However, for TFs or base raids, it does help to have voice with coordination.
Warlord: You are looking at a man that can run you through with this sword without batting an eye.
Monk: You are looking at a man who can be run through with that sword without batting an eye.
--old Korean folk tale
something like that, well at least those with a mic anyway