VoIP do we need it?

Tumbla

Well-known endo
Joined
Aug 9, 2019
Messages
62
#42
I think itd be pretty cool, would add immersion and roleplaying, say you want to board a ship or ask for their surrender you hail them on the radio. Or your taking prisoners and you need to communicate, you cant do that if everyone is in different discords.
 

Jetthetank

Veteran endo
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Aug 9, 2019
Messages
118
#43
A game version of The Expanse, embodied in Starbase
Lol, that is all I can think of when I see this game, well, not all...
 
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#46
Rust for example, very little VOIP use until you've either won or lost the battle or there's a stalemate, like someone camped inside their base. 99% of the rest of the play time it's unused.
My experience of Rust is totally different, I have used VOIP to make friends and allies and get to know my neighbours, I've been able to use VOIP to get information from players through generally chatting in a manner in which can't be conveyed easily through text. Another thing I have done is that I've defused a situation in which someone was shooting at me, and I showed them I was harmless, if I had stopped to type I would have been dead.

As far as dev factions and large groups; they will almost always evolve to using third party software after forming a group.
Such large-scale factions may actually engender such need for VOIP. The man on the spot, both in general and in combat situations, may either need or want fast access to voice communications while they are going about their business. This is especially the case with the Dev run factions, they will be directed by the devs and player factions will pledge themselves to these two factions. While there may be some sort of attempt to bring organisation and communication lines, not everyone will be involved because this will be a loose allegiance, and many will likely come together only in times of war. In fact, many of these player factions could easily end up being rivals, vying for both power and political favour (on a side note I'd love to see the Dev factions acting as a sort of system of government or patronage system in which all levels or in some way reliant and competing against each other to further their needs).

On the point of war, if I'm fighting for control of a station, and I'm fighting alongside people from other groups in an assault ordered by the devs, then I need to be able to talk to them on the ground, on the spot, while still in the game, I can't waste time flicking through voice channels to find the right people, there's going to be people trying to kill me and I need to respond fast.

It's also good to see text, where you can scroll back and see someone is recruiting for a mining run leaving in 30m, and you missed the voice call to action because you weren't around.
A verbal and a written call would be optimal and both can be used, this point isn't really a useful point.

I don't see it worth the time to develop if instead we're given similar instant-forms of communication like emotes and so on which can convey meaning to players.
In part, I refer back to my response from the second listed quote, and further it with the issue that I am going to need much more in-depth interaction in such interactions than emotes can offer.
 
Joined
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#47
Voip would be fantastic. The ability to hold people up for goods with chat instead of having to type in hyper tense situations is invaluable. Performing an inroute trade and being able to talk and keep your hands ready in case something goes south.

The plus' are endless.
 
Joined
Aug 11, 2019
Messages
4
#48
I figger there's lots of reasons to include VoIP -- more engaging multiplay with more interesting PvP, more opportunities for fun player interactions, etc, etc.

Game like this? Prolly should *default* to including VoIP. Discord is no replacement.

However, I can think of one real good reason NOT to include VoIP: immersion!

There's nothing more immersion-breaking than 12-year-old screechers, mic breathers, tuba practice, and SpongeBob soundboards.

I like Biglet's proposal. Make VoIP a more immersive element of the game, the way ELITE does.
 

Commissar Awesome

Learned-to-sprint endo
Joined
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Messages
21
#49
What is wrong with text? Voice communication is far more personal and with strangers is sometimes too unpleasant on the toxic internet. A good chunk of people will want to turn it off which will render it useless overall for communication.
 

Kane Hart

Veteran endo
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Aug 9, 2019
Messages
153
#51
At first and this was like the first week I thought it was dumb.. Why would you need VOIP with Discord and many other programs. But as time went on thinking of things like GTA RP, etc... I started to really crave and see the need for the VOIP. Imagine boarding a ship and giving them the choice of living if they give say 50k credits to you and then just leaving or something simlar.

I'm thinking how do you trade or barter with someone? Type in chat spamming and advertising a Discord URL and spending time wasting while that is happening?

In the end I really noticed and felt that VOIP Was really not an option but a must in the end to provide a more depth experience to the game.
 

Morrgard

Master endo
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Aug 9, 2019
Messages
374
#52
As long as there is a mute option so you can solve problems of trolls trying to play music & other weird sounds and such through their part there is nothing negative with VOIP, only positive.

And a reporting system that is fast to access for those who abuse it preferably
 

Commissar Awesome

Learned-to-sprint endo
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21
#53
I just worry that people would expect me to respond to their voice chat when i have everyone muted and might just shoot me instead of typing a message. If in game voice is a thing then i hope the game will display which players have it active and which have everyone muted.
 

Morrgard

Master endo
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Messages
374
#54
I just worry that people would expect me to respond to their voice chat when i have everyone muted and might just shoot me instead of typing a message. If in game voice is a thing then i hope the game will display which players have it active and which have everyone muted.
I had more individual muting in mind, as if people are following VOIP in a reasonable manner you should not need to mute it, but if they don't you must those specific people.

That way you don't miss anything important and you get rid off the nuisance of VOIP at the same time,
 

Vexus

Master endo
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Aug 9, 2019
Messages
280
#55
If it were something easy to implement and manage, and figure out all the conditions for (providing the option to mute 100's of local players, detecting who enters and leaves range), I agree, VoIP is extremely valuable to a game like this. I don't think they've made any work to add it into the game and figure out how it would work, so it's months of development time to get it going, and I don't see it being critical to the EA launch. I'd love to see some kind of VOIP implemented eventually, just unsure how well it would work in an MMO environment. There haven't been many other large scale MMO games with VOIP like this. Remember Starbase will be matching players with potentially 100's of nearby other players. All the "what-ifs" are going to be a monsterous hill to tackle.

Edit: I'd like to also clarify; when I'm talking about Rust and DayZ and similar games in terms of winning a fight, I'm trying to point out - it is in only tense situational and often brief moments where you really wish you had VOIP. It is not a "requirement" 99% of the other gameplay, and most players are in a Discord server with friends. VOIP adds a ton of fun to games, I'm not against VOIP, I'm saying the effort to make it happen in Starbase... I don't see it being worth the dev time (at least not yet). I could totally be wrong. As such, it's not "needed" - what is needed for example is for a player to be able to make their ship go forward. That's a "need" to make the game work. VOIP is necessarily a "want" item. For example, I vaguely remember a game where one player would guide another player through a puzzle remotely using VOIP. In that game, it was required to have VOIP. It made the game work.

If all those unique problems for Starbase could be solved in a short time frame and it would work great and all the conditionals were taken care of, I'd definitely want VOIP. I just don't see it being worth the dev time, again, at least not right now.
 
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Commissar Awesome

Learned-to-sprint endo
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Messages
21
#56
I had more individual muting in mind, as if people are following VOIP in a reasonable manner you should not need to mute it, but if they don't you must those specific people.

That way you don't miss anything important and you get rid off the nuisance of VOIP at the same time,
Not everyone likes using VOIP with strangers so if it is forced on everyone that would be very obnoxious to me. If VOIP is implemented there absolutely must be an option to disable it, if not i would much rather it not be included at all. Having to constantly mute individuals would be horribly obnoxious as well. No thanks.
 

Morrgard

Master endo
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Messages
374
#57
If it were something easy to implement and manage, and figure out all the conditions for (providing the option to mute 100's of local players, detecting who enters and leaves range), I agree, VoIP is extremely valuable to a game like this. I don't think they've made any work to add it into the game and figure out how it would work, so it's months of development time to get it going, and I don't see it being critical to the EA launch. I'd love to see some kind of VOIP implemented eventually, just unsure how well it would work in an MMO environment. There haven't been many other large scale MMO games with VOIP like this. Remember Starbase will be matching players with potentially 100's of nearby other players. All the "what-ifs" are going to be a monsterous hill to tackle.
As long as they have a local chat at least it should be fine, there would not be a rush to get it in ASAP.
 

Morrgard

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Messages
374
#58
Not everyone likes using VOIP with strangers so if it is forced on everyone that would be very obnoxious to me. If VOIP is implemented there absolutely must be an option to disable it, if not i would much rather it not be included at all. Having to constantly mute individuals would be horribly obnoxious as well. No thanks.
Yea I still think the option should exist for sure, I was only mentioning as you had said "what if they demand and you cant hear"
 
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#59
I just worry that people would expect me to respond to their voice chat when i have everyone muted and might just shoot me instead of typing a message. If in game voice is a thing then i hope the game will display which players have it active and which have everyone muted.
I'm too lazy to type much in game so if there's no voice chat I would just shoot you anyway.
 
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