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Voice Communication & Gaming Etiquette 162

Posted by CmdrTaco from the new-developments-in-gaming dept.
Goldberg's Pants writes "The BBC have an interesting article on XBox Live, regarding the voice communication used in the game. Some interesting insight into the culture, and politics of the players."
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Voice Communication & Gaming Etiquette More

Voice Communication & Gaming Etiquette

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  • TPS (Score:1, Funny)

    by SqueakRu ( 212186 )
    Rule 2: No player's digital representation may have an ass for a face or have the face of Ben Affleck.
  • ... is that guy who gets wired out on caffinated beverages at the LAN party, and starts shouting at the top of his lungs for even the simplest things.

    On the other hand, talkin' smack is a great part of multiplayer games, especially FPSes like Quake*, etc.

  • PA! (Score:5, Funny)

    by LoudMusic ( 199347 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:31PM (#5556691)
    A more reputable online news service, Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com], has their own take on voice communication in gaming.

    The Strip: "So, Com? [penny-arcade.com]" - Enjoy!

  • Been there, still doing that... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Wavicle ( 181176 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:31PM (#5556692)
    The points the article raises are valid. However we've had voice comm enabled in PC games for a long time and have all this is old news. The biggest reason I'm reluctant to give up my Half-Life based games is not just because they are really cool, but the built in voice chat is far superior to any external voice chat program I've seen (Roger Wilco or BattleCom).

  • insults (Score:4, Interesting)

    by poil11 ( 186519 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:31PM (#5556695)
    it is quite funny when you play couter strike and most of the comments that come out of voice comm are you suck you nub. but that is mainly in pubs only. voice comm is key in team play, much like it is in real life. but in counter strike you can ignore, which is also a very key feature.

    • Re:insults (Score:4, Interesting)

      by AlexMax2742 ( 602517 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:38PM (#5556768)
      The problem is that voice chat isn't widespread enough in CS to make it feasable as a means of communication. Which means only a few people got it, and half of them do it to piss you off.

      When it's standard, like in SOCOM, guess what, it actually gets used, and used well.

      • Re:insults (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Moloch666 ( 574889 ) <jeff-junk&tds,net> on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:55PM (#5556938) Journal
        There have been numerous times a good player, will start issuing 'orders'. Especially when the team is losing, since we are desperate to start winning most people listen to him. It's quite impresive how one person can change the outcome with pretty much 1-way communication, other than text here and there, or a radio command. Other half of the time people are just chatting. Then you get those people that are just annoying, making stupid sounds. I quickly and easily mute those people.

  • If people want to spend more time chatting, fine (Score:5, Funny)

    by B3ryllium ( 571199 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:31PM (#5556698) Homepage
    Don't bitch at me if I happen to frag them for camping, though ...
  • noobs and people are insulting each other and this is supposed to be surprising? look at any game and it happens there...why should they think it would be any different just because people can actually talk in the game...

  • Its More Fun (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LordYUK ( 552359 ) <jeffwright821@noSPAm.gmail.com> on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:32PM (#5556705)
    Its more fun to actually "talk" to friends while playing, and at times I have used GameVoice (pretty good) and Roger Wilco (also, pretty good), but right now prefer MCI's The Neighborhood plan to speak with friends while playing online games. Circuit City (as well as other retailers) sell inexpensive headsets that work really well (I use the Jensen model, 19.99 very nice).

    Still, the voice communication software is better than typing, especially with RTS games or FPS games.

    • We use our Nextel cell phones for game chatting, since they usually have unlimited minutes on the weekends. Add a head set to it and you are good to go. The other nice thing with Nextels is the ability to do big conference calls. (more than three people) There is no lag and are very clear.

    • Re:Its More Fun (Score:2, Insightful)

      by ELCarlsson ( 570500 )
      I've always had more fun playing games like Perfect Dark and Bond on the N64. With the 64 you can actually talk with your friends as you plan. Not to mention that you can also throw stuff at them, pummel them, unplug their controllers, duct tape them and lock them in the closet(oh like you haven't done it before). Voice communication will never compair to actually sitting in the same room.

  • Voice is good (Score:4, Informative)

    by Blaine Hilton ( 626259 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:32PM (#5556707) Homepage
    I think voice chat will prove very successful with gaming. Not just for yelling insults, but for complex strategy games where teamwork is required to win. For instance multiplayer games like Castle Wolfenstien and CS can really use this type of technology. Now if only the game consoles can play against computers too.....

    • Re:Voice is good (Score:2, Interesting)

      by easyfrag ( 210329 )
      For instance multiplayer games like Castle Wolfenstien and CS can really use this type of technology.


      I agree, but the games you cite are team-based, does the Xbox Live system allow you to filter who gets to hear you? No need to give info to the enemy.

      • It doesn't give you the option, this would have been really cool with Mechassault but everyone hears everything in Mechassault. Perhaps games in the future will allow it.

        -- iCEBaLM

      • Re:Voice is good (Score:2, Informative)

        by mvizos ( 622166 )
        Yes...You can press and hold a button, and during that time, only members of your team will hear you. That way, you can coordinate attacks, plan strategy, etc.

  • Banter and Insults... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Shant3030 ( 414048 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:33PM (#5556710)
    Have always been apart of competition. Whether its on the football field, basketball court or even the battlefield, their will be some people who are more vocal than others. And yes, some will have a complete disregard for the other person's feelings.
  • Some games are filled with Trappist monks who barely utter a word to each other, aside from the odd grunt or heavy breathing when the microphone is too close to someone's mouth
    : )
    Some people have turned trash talking into an art form, almost all of which cannot be repeated here
    seems like a few slashdotters have an Xbox
  • Unless I'm playing an invite-only game with friends, I keep my headset unplugged. I have no desire to listen to a bunch of foul-mouthed kids yelling obscenities at each other.
    • Did I get modded down to zero because this post wasn't funny (well, me complaining about other people swearing is pretty funny), or because some mod has a stick up his ass about my posts in the Iraq war thread?

      I can see my post getting modded down if it was off topic, which it wasn't. But I call shennanigans on this.
      • No kidding. Clear moderation abuse, IMHO.
        If anything, I would have modded you +1 Insightful if I was moderating right now. (and I don't agree with your Iraq thread)
        And now I bet I'm going to get modded down for Offtopic. =)

        Calling metamoderators...

  • Strange days (Score:3, Funny)

    by nagora ( 177841 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:37PM (#5556758)
    I never thought I'd see a news item on the BBC with an image called "38972221_meachassualt203body.jpg"!

    TWW

  • From the article (Score:5, Informative)

    by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:38PM (#5556766) Journal
    You can be kicked off a game for a variety of reasons, from sheer whim to acting as a punishment to cheaters.

    "Kick him, kick him, kick him," is the tribal chant of those gamers tired of another's childish antics.

    There's no "cheating" on Xbox live, which is why they banned modded boxes from the service.

    You get 'kicked' when you win. The same thing happens on all the free services like xbtunnel. The online gaming community is chock full of kids with l337 names talking about 'm4d sk1llz0rz', but as soon as they start to lose, they either kick you, or if they cant, they quit.

    It's pretty much why I dont bother with online gaming anymore, except for stuff where I'm playing peer to peer with a (real life) friend, or my kid brother, or something like that.

    Too many idiots in the world, and it's just no fun. MSFT should have looked at human nature before they sank so much into Xbox live, because it's going to fail. I know 3 people who've bought it, and none played more than two weeks, and none plan on renewing the subscription, pretty much for the same reasons I've said.

    It's really annoying to be accused of 'cheating' because you fragged someone in Unreal.

    • From Tribes: Aerial Assault (PS2) Radio...

      ~E~ AlexMax shot down RandomDude
      ~E~ AlexMax: Woohoo!
      A vote to kick ~E~ AlexMax has been initiated
      ~E~ AlexMax: Shazbot!
      ~E~ AlexMax: Shazbot!
      RandomDude: I love it!
      ~E~ AlexMax: Shazbot!
      Vote to kick ~E~ AlexMax passes
      RandomDude: Woohoo!
      ~E~ AlexMax disconnected

      It's not just Xbox Live......grrrr......

    • Re:From the article (Score:3, Insightful)

      by prozac79 ( 651102 )
      but as soon as they start to lose, they either kick you, or if they cant, they quit.

      This is my largest pet peeve when I play NHL 2K3 using Live. I once had a night were someone quit 2 seconds before the game was about to end just because I was winning. And I swear people unplug their ethernet cables so the game goes into a "dropped" category instead of it being an official loss. I hate the pettiness of the players online that I never came across playing online on the PC. Sure there are taunts and flam

    • You get 'kicked' when you win.
      Been happening for years on all sorts of servers. When I first got Freespace2 I fired up the online play, started a team-vs-team game. Stealth fighters on both sides, but also one SWACS ship per team. Destroy your opponents' SWACS bird, you disappear from their radar.

      So of course as soon as I fought through the flak and beams to destroy the ship I got "I can't see you! you cheater! *quit*"

      Needless to say I didn't bother playing online much after that.

    • Re:From the article (Score:3, Insightful)

      by LoudMusic ( 199347 )
      There should be much more focus on "System Link" games, in my opinion.

      It's pretty much why I dont bother with online gaming anymore, except for stuff where I'm playing peer to peer with a (real life) friend, or my kid brother, or something like that.

      That's pretty much how I feel as well. I'd rather take the time to round up 8+ friends to play networked Halo rather than jump online with a bunch of punk kids for a few rounds of Unreal.

      Additionally, Internet gameplay has never been very fun for me because
    • The online gaming community is chock full of kids...
      Too many idiots in the world...
      Xbox live...[is] going to fail.

      So, it's a case of the place is so crowded that nobody goes there anymore? :)

      TTFN
    • There's no "cheating" on Xbox live, which is why they banned modded boxes from the service.

      actually, unreal championship has a few bugs:

      unlimited TAG rifle ammo (the BFG of the game)
      invencibility (at the cost of not being able to shoot anyone)
      getting outside the maps/inside mountains/floating in the sky

      the problem is that in unreal, you can't kick people.

  • Reputation systems (Score:5, Interesting)

    by GeorgeH ( 5469 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:39PM (#5556777) Homepage Journal
    I suspect that reputation systems like http://www.gamertagdatabase.com/ [gamertagdatabase.com] will go a long way to keeping the service clean (at least as clean as eBay :) ), but that depends on them being integrated with the gamer matching system.
    • ...its got about as much chance as moderation :)

      In theory its a good idea...but its too easy to abuse.

      player 1 is good, kicks the ass of a bunch of pre-teen morons with "mad skillz"

      Pre-teens morons go to the site...put up a bad report....

      player 1 comes back with friends, puts up more bad reports...

      • Re:Reputation systems (Score:5, Interesting)

        by GeorgeH ( 5469 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @02:41PM (#5557625) Homepage Journal
        Doesn't have to be as centralized as moderation, it could be a friend-of-a-friend system, where the fewer friends between you and another person the higher the person's score.

        It could also be a percentage based system, where if I rated you as 80% cool and you rated Alice as 50% cool, she would show up in your list as 50% cool but in my list as 40% cool.

        Instead of establishing baseline scores for people, you would be creating gaming social networks.

  • Aces! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dark Lord Seth ( 584963 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:42PM (#5556801) Journal

    I'd like to see this with CounterStrike! No, I don't play the game, I think it's retarded and dull, but can you imagine the interesting voice communication?

    CS'er 1: Oh-em-gee! Oh-em-gee! Oh-em-gee!

    CS'er 2: Dubbleyou-Tee-Ef???

    CS'er 1: Jay-zero-zero wallhacksor! Yur mother is a fag!

    CS'er 2: En-zero-zero-bee! Es-Tee-Ef-You! Jay-zero-zero just sucksors!

    • Re:Aces! (Score:5, Funny)

      by extrarice ( 212683 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @02:03PM (#5557072) Homepage Journal
      Actually, this is exactly what happens in CS. That's why I mute anyone on my team with a mike.
      • what CS servers do you play on? people don't actually say letters over voice com. Actually the most mature people use voicecom, because all the noob kids are too afraid to actually use their voice, because it adds another element of social-relaism that they're not ready for.

        But I do have to say, once in a while, you do get an annoying kid on voicecom, and then I just go ahead and mute him.

  • Free(?) advertising (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gdeacon ( 617293 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:43PM (#5556807)
    It's a shame that this seems to be blatant advertising for Xbox Live - 8 counts in the article. Online gaming and voice communication has been around for quite a while now!
  • Requisite PA Reference [penny-arcade.com]

    That is all

    -JungleBoy

  • 1337 h4x0rs (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Lord_Slepnir ( 585350 )
    Don't claim that your 4 straight headshots halfway across the map with your AK had anything to do with skill. It was either luck or hacks, and if you claim it was skill, we're going to assume it was your skill in getting past the cheat detectors.

    Also, near the end of the round when half the CTs are watching you, and you see someone 200 ft away, at least zoom in before you have you snap to his head, fire, then snap back to where you were going. I mean, give us some credit.

    /me is sick of all of the CS ha

    • Well at times I will get more than 4 head shots in a row, especially with the m4. I've always done pretty good, but when I got my Logitech mx300, man it's so easy. I'll actually start aiming for the chest area just so no one accuses me of cheating. It's usually not a problem, but I usually just stick the few same servers with skilled, nice players. I don't want to risk getting banned or anything. Although, I doubt I would ever get accused, since these players are good enough to spot a skilled player vs a ha

  • Some insight into this article... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    MSNBC had an article [msnbc.com] covering something similar to this a while ago. Good read, somewhat insiteful, and includes a link that shows reviews on the best and worst X-Box players.

  • Just Great.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by VinniTheGeek ( 565982 ) <techn9@@@gmail...com> on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:45PM (#5556822)
    Now I get to hear that 13 year old screaming in his pre-pubescent voice "take that faggot! I owned joo!" while I play against him. They should include, by default, a voice modulator that drops them a few octaves so they at least SOUND like they are males.

  • Actually, I see this as the beginning of the end for gamers, like me, who used to be fairly swift at both running around in FPS games while launching verbal taunts with the keyboard simultaneously. Nothing felt sweeter than to blow someone to pieces, send them a notice saying you did it, and keep strafing simultaneously.

    With voice communications, there's no additional bonus for multi-tasking. Any idiot can curse when they die...only the swift can pun with the best using a keyboard and a mouse. And as an a

    • The swift and witty will still be swift and witty. Coming up with a good taunt or witty banter is, in my mind, the hard part. I see this as a transition much like when motion pictures moved from silent movies to "talkies."

  • Natural Selection Ettiquite (Score:4, Funny)

    by smasherbob ( 634806 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:48PM (#5556844)
    Oh, how I love being the commander in a public game of Natural Selection (linkie linkie [natural-selection.org]). It usually goes something like:

    Okay team, build those two infanty portals!
    Nice, now build this armory!
    NO, DON'T ALL HUMP IT AT ONCE! THE SKULK RUSH IS COMING! THE SKULK RUSH IS -- OH DEAR GOD, NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!

    On second thought... maybe I don't enjoy it as much as I thought. =P
    • Or even better:

      "ok, after building that armory, I want you to get two clips and build this res node"

      clicky-clicky-waypoint
      clicky-clicky-waypoint

      noob gets 250 rounds of ammo primary, and 30 rounds secondary, taking 2 precious minutes.

      *grr*

      "GO!"

      clicky-clicky-waypoint
      clicky-clicky-waypoint

      "can I have a jetpack?"

      no.

      "HMG?"

      no. the game just started. We need res.

      clicky-clicky-waypoint
      "move to your waypoint soldier"

      "armor?"

      no!

      "comm, you suck!"

      *chomp chomp* newbie dies with 300 rounds of ammo.
      • Hehehe...I don't play comm, because I don't have a voice headset, but I know exactly what you mean.

        "hey comm, gimme jp"
        "dammit comm u suck, gimme a jp"
        "need shotty"
        blah blah.

        And that clustering around the armory? It's great when you sail in as a skulk and bite all of their heads.

  • Breaking news? (Score:4, Informative)

    by ebuck ( 585470 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:49PM (#5556853)
    Although ther article seems to rable on with some nifty bits of data, there's very little analysis. Still it's fun to see how people can bend this new tool to their uses.

    Is it any revelation that many easily accessable net games watch their chat channels turn into forums for trash-talk, profanity, or non-game purposes (like pointed questions about age/sex/location, net-dating, cyber-sex, political forums, etc.)? If the author isn't aware of this, it seems that the X-Box is his first foray into the world of online chat. Games chat channels only tend to have a bit more, umm... reference in determining how you will be derided.

    Yes it's cool that now it's voice, and I'm sure that many others will be suprised and entrigued by the ongoings which previously was known to a smaller audience. Still, if anyone is suprised that younger gamers have foul mouths, or that veteran vs newbie tensions arise, I'd be flabbergasted.
  • you obviously are cheating, and you're such a n00b. you are such a camper, and a shockwhore. The ViRuS clan dominates you fools, as usual. stop spamming like girls, do you even know how to play this game? you suck.

    (why 15 year olds should not play online)
  • This article is not news. Voice communications in the most popular multi-player game engine ever, Half-Life, has been around for years now. This article seems like a blatant XBox info-tisement. I wonder how many advertising dollars MSFT has put into BBC Online's coffers ?

  • Did you swallow poison? (Score:5, Funny)

    by dr_dank ( 472072 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @01:57PM (#5556981) Homepage Journal
    Put away that ipecac syrup and induce vomiting with this choice quote from the article:

    "I have had the privilege of having been graced by an angel through Live," wrote Ico on one of the Xbox Live forums.

    "It was the golden gate to my soulmate," he added.

    Sorry if this ruined anyones upholstery.

    • Re:Did you swallow poison? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Cruciform ( 42896 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @04:00PM (#5558545) Homepage
      They've been on two dates already and he's made it to third base, and still hasn't realized it was just a linebacker with voice masking :)

    • While his choice of words may not be to your liking (or mine), how does this really differ from all the others who have found their mate online, for instance via newsgroups, bbs's, YaPhew Groups or simular?


      After all, I am flying to the USA in a little over two month to meet (for the very first time) someone who has quickly turned out to mean a lot to me... I just hope things work out face to face as well as they have via e-mails, IM and the aforementioned YaPhew groups.

      • I hope they sent references.

        You could end up like a fellow from the UK I used to talk to in the mid 90s. Moved to Florida to be with his net love. She turned out to be a heroin addict. Oops.

        The thing is though, hooking up online hasn't seemed to be any worse than meeting girls in bars. One way or another the bad apples make themselves known eventually. The big plus is for those whose looks are "less than perfect". Someone who doesn't give them a second look in a social setting can become attached to them
  • That article brings up an interesting point, about which I have been thinking for a long time. Computers are able to do anything a television or phone can do... except 99% of them don't. That is, not without extra cards and hacks, and even then, I haven't come across a phone card for my computer. So why do we still use such outdated devices when we could be using only our computers? 80 GB of answering machine tape would be nice...

    In the same way, who would have ever thought two years ago that you could

    • Hacks? Um, it's called a modem. A 3 second google search found http://www.kengolf.com/en/ and http://www.voicecallcentral.com/
      • You don't understand. I mean a root level system integrated phone built into software and hardware. Computers just don't do that. Those programs you mentioned are third party, and furthermore, are not for mac os x. That aside, granted, you can turn your computer into a phone. However, how many people do you know do that?
        • I'm not sure what you mean by "root-integrated", you're right. I mean, computers don't have video capabilities - you need a video card for that. Same goes for network connectivity. So what if it's third party? There's nothing stopping Apple or M$ from integrating it into the O/S. It's usually just easier to pick up a handset to make a call. OTOH, if you're already online doing stuff - I think it would be preferable to answer the phone via the computer. I know a few people who use pc software for phon
        • However, how many people do you know do that?

          How many people do you know that want to wait for their computer to boot to make a phone call? How many do you know that want to have a phone call interrupted because little Johnny just crashed the computer? Sure, things can be combined. Why not make every appliance and piece of furniture into one thing? A big stove/fridge/phone/sink/couch/television/radio/ga r den hose/snowblower/car/house/computer. Because there's no need to, people like things the way they'r

  • Aimbots, voice, etc (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I have to laugh, oh yeah voice in gaming is so awesome. All I ever hear, on heat.net (before it died), on XBL, or on Half life is either

    1. Some poor white trash asking talking about "420"

    2. Some little kid, cursing accusing everyone of cheating.

    3. Someone of questionable ethnicity using EO on Capcom vs SNK2 on XBL.

    I've come to the following conclusions:
    No one normal plays video games online.

    It doesn't matter if it's the eurotrash players from third world countries who sold their sister for their co

  • The GamerTag Database (Score:5, Informative)

    by jerkychew ( 80913 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @02:18PM (#5557275) Homepage
    A friend of mine, known as Jfragment on Xbox Live, started the GamerTag Database [gamertagdatabase.com]. It's a site where you can comment on the etiquette of other XbL players, and rate them accordingly.

    The site has gotten a surprising amount of attention, considering that it's all done in Jay's spare time It's been featured in Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com], Forbes [forbes.com], and MSNBC [msnbc.com].

    So, if some 13-year-old from Prague has been talking trash, you can log in and kinda 'mod him down' :-)

  • Yawn (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Even Maraton(which is at -least- 10 years old now) had voice communication support- there was a 'mic' key you hit to transmit. Since every Mac had a builtin speaker and came with a microphone...of course, it was kinda silly if everyone was in a computer lab(it was fun to use sound to try and figure out where the other guy was hiding) but if you were spread out across a campus, it was sorta neat.

    What's so new/exciting about the Xbox stuff? Big enough to appear on someone's radar screen?

    I miss marathon.
  • There are just not fun enough. I much prefer playing a good enjoying single player game with a rich plot against listening (or reading) to a bunch of retards repeat the same old "GG". I am not saying that every multiplayer game sucks but to many game developers are now turning to the mmorpg market. I guess they just can't pass on the option to sell the game at full price and get another 10$ each month. I mean, come on ! You really think that the industry can support dozens of mmorpg's ? This also leads to t

  • Fun With Xbox Live (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    One night my friends and I were really, really bored. We were sitting around playing Mech Assault when it was let known that the host's roommate had a huge collection of pr0n movies on his laptop... After lugging the aging laptop nearer to the Xbox and turning up the tinny speakers, we had a fine old time. We got booted a few times, but it was probably the most productive thing we did that night.
  • As usual, the mass media is incapable of reporting on anything that requires more than 30 second soundbites, sweeping generalizations, and inane observations.

  • Marathon (a DOOM-like game for Macintosh) from Bungie had this feature durring network play: hold down the Tilde (~) key and you could yell into your microphone at whoever else was playing. I never got the chance however, as my lowly 33mHz Performa 400 at the time really had no one to network with :-/

    Now that Bungie is MS's game development crew, this doesn't suprise me. Let's just hope MS doesnt try to patent it, and if they do, someone please throw the VoIP prior art at them.
  • who the hell has time for that?

    when I'm in the middle of a fragfest in Ut2003 because I've pissed off 3 newbies and they are ganging up on me the LAST Thing I have time for is talking..

    Nothing says "IN YOUR FACE" better than a good rocket, doublejump rocket salvo.
  • Check this strip out, [penny-arcade.com] it's the real Gabe...

  • The Game often dictates the behavior (Score:4, Interesting)

    by WaysideWeasle ( 654204 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @03:41PM (#5558320) Homepage
    I've played on Xbox Live since it went Beta. The options of available games during Beta lended itself to trash talking at worst. Most of the players were pretty civil, and I rarely had a game where someone had to be booted. There would be the occassional biker on Moto GP that would race backwards to piss people off, but for the most part I liked the voice communication aspect of Xbox Live. Then came November 15th. Unreal, Ghost Recon, and Mech Assualt went Live. Immediately I noticed the difference in player communication between games. Courtesy seemed to be non-existant in Unreal and Mech Assault. However, I found it rare to run into someone who was rude or childish on Ghost Recon. My theory is that this game involves more strategy, thought, and patience to play. In most scenarios, you don't see instant action, and you can often wander a map for 3 minutes before seeing anyone. Communication is key to victory so people spend more time calling out strategy or locations of the enemy than they do chatting or trash talking. This also seems to be the same in pretty much any gaming environment, whether it be console or PC.

  • From experience: it's cool (Score:5, Interesting)

    by frumiousbar ( 587038 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @04:31PM (#5558962)
    The quality of the voice chat you get in these games is directly related to the kind of people you play. After a few nights of playing xbox live, you'll start to see the same gamertags and you'll learn who the "good people" are, where "good people" = skilled AND nice. Playing these people with voice enabled can be amazingly fun. For example, if you want to ratchet the fun level up on Ghost Recon, play with a bunch of people who cover and call out targets to each other.

    Communities of "good people" have sprung up around particular types of games such as Not It! in MechAssault, which is a favorite of mine. This makes finding fun opponents much easier.

    I personally don't mind the noobs because you can turn them into "good people" if you lead by example. There is a small group of idiots that can ruin any game, but at least in some circles the community has come up with ways of dealing with them, such as "regulating" Not It! offenders in MechAssault.
  • There are many stereotypes for different nationalities out there, here's a few I've heard... (FYI, these are not neccisarily my opinions)

    French: Refuses to speak english, if so, it's really crappy english
    Korean: Loves any blizzard game, feasts on PK (playerKill)
    Finlandians(sp?): likes to tweak their config.cfg (in counter-strike) to cheat
    Germans: They are everywhere and should get their own servers for everyone's best

  • World War II Online Voice Comms (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Mittermeyer ( 195358 ) on Thursday March 20, 2003 @05:29PM (#5559734) Homepage
    World War II Online has built-in text for a variety of channels based on squad, mission, objective, channel, individual player-to-player, etc. But many players do opt for the voice comms as the reaction time is crucial, especially for stopping truckloads of infantry or coordinating air groups or AA.

    Two interesting side effects happen in this game that don't happen in most MMORPGs or FPSs, due to the large organization/military nature of the game. The first unique thing is that conferences, classes, training exercises are held on voice comm systems. The second is that the battle voice comms get picked up as part of 'movies' players make from action in the game, and thus becomes a sort of art form.
  • Now why (yeah yeah, with Marathon being a notable exeption) isn't this implemented in pc games? Trust me, enough people have broadband to make it worthwhile, but it has to be out-of-the-box.
    Look at UT2k3; bombingrun is a gametype which needs voice. But because it's not ou-of-the-box, it's hardly used...which sucks.
    Or what about NWN? It would enrich the game, but it's not put in. It sucks. And yes, I am jealous of that aspect of xbox live. I wanna play Ghost Recon with voice ;/

  • Telephone (Score:2, Insightful)

    by RoloDMonkey ( 605266 )

    There are also reports of friends and families living in different countries using Xbox Live as an alternative to telephoning.

    I think this might be the most important part of the article. Traditional phone companies might not be happy to find Microsoft honing in on their market.
    Pre-configured hardware, talk all you want for a flat monthly rate. All MS has to do is put out an "MS Telephony" disc for X-Box. I know the quality is not the same, yet. But, they are a big company. They could give the other

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