VoIP do we need it?
- Thread starter Bloodydavyflint
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I think VOIP is necessary in this type of game for communication with people not in your crew.
Not having VOIP doesn't make the game unplayable but it would be much more fun with it. I think it should be a high priority after EA launch.
As for Vexus' point of "we're robots" I think realism should only apply when it's fun.
And obviously people will abuse it too so it should include a simple GUI allowing you to quickly and easily mute any player in range.
Not having VOIP doesn't make the game unplayable but it would be much more fun with it. I think it should be a high priority after EA launch.
As for Vexus' point of "we're robots" I think realism should only apply when it's fun.
And obviously people will abuse it too so it should include a simple GUI allowing you to quickly and easily mute any player in range.
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- Aug 9, 2019
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Its a little hard to "hello" or "surrender" with just your headlights, let alone more in-depth interactions that you might want to do ship to ship.
Also, though my memory might be hazy, it is humans that are, lore-wise, controlling these robots that we play as right? If so it wouldn't be too far to imagine that these robots have some type of speaker system in which the controller could speak.
Also, though my memory might be hazy, it is humans that are, lore-wise, controlling these robots that we play as right? If so it wouldn't be too far to imagine that these robots have some type of speaker system in which the controller could speak.
Hailing solutions seem to resolve most downsides.
We're robots, so we dont even need extra tech. All endos are equipped with short range radio transmission and detection.
Can have an option to hail target, or hail everyone around.
For ships, we can have similar and longer range, maybe requiring a piece of equipment to extend range. Hail in a narrow cone in front, or hail in area.
Not as easy to implement as always-on voip, but much more thematic and immersive.
We're robots, so we dont even need extra tech. All endos are equipped with short range radio transmission and detection.
Can have an option to hail target, or hail everyone around.
For ships, we can have similar and longer range, maybe requiring a piece of equipment to extend range. Hail in a narrow cone in front, or hail in area.
Not as easy to implement as always-on voip, but much more thematic and immersive.
My main point against is the development time for VoIP isn't worth it when the few cases it's going to be used for and increase the gameplay value of is, generally, an aggressive stranger interacting with a defeated target.
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.
DayZ for example, very little VOIP as it can reveal your position, so again, it's only used when you've already won (you could have killed the person but didn't) or when you've lost ("don't kill me I'm friendly").
I don't see the time developing this to be a serious need or worth the time and again, having human voices and all the spam-memey songs blared at full volume and so on... it's fun, don't get me wrong, but it devalues gameplay. A in-game keybind that allows you to "derpa-doot!" which everyone learns is "hands up!" serves relatively the same purpose, ties in with emotes, can be thematic, and avoids all the downsides VoIP brings.
I think we all understand; communication is powerful. That's the root issue. We need ways to communicate instantly. VoIP is a great option but has it's downsides. I think there's better ways to accomplish the communication, which again is the main issue. Not VoIP, but that we need to convey information quickly. I feel a wide selection of in-game emotes and sounds can go a long way.
At 3:07 of this video you can see the robot laugh and some sounds after the kill. It's a lot of fun:
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.
DayZ for example, very little VOIP as it can reveal your position, so again, it's only used when you've already won (you could have killed the person but didn't) or when you've lost ("don't kill me I'm friendly").
I don't see the time developing this to be a serious need or worth the time and again, having human voices and all the spam-memey songs blared at full volume and so on... it's fun, don't get me wrong, but it devalues gameplay. A in-game keybind that allows you to "derpa-doot!" which everyone learns is "hands up!" serves relatively the same purpose, ties in with emotes, can be thematic, and avoids all the downsides VoIP brings.
I think we all understand; communication is powerful. That's the root issue. We need ways to communicate instantly. VoIP is a great option but has it's downsides. I think there's better ways to accomplish the communication, which again is the main issue. Not VoIP, but that we need to convey information quickly. I feel a wide selection of in-game emotes and sounds can go a long way.
At 3:07 of this video you can see the robot laugh and some sounds after the kill. It's a lot of fun:
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There's a key in game that orients you to the surface you're pointing at. What I see it being is a hail key that hails a player you're pointing at and maybe a second key to hail everyone within a certain distance.
Muting someone is a pain in the ass unless the game tells you was talking, then you have to go find them in a list, and only then mute them. Disabling it is not really what I mean. I mean I have to accept a request to chat, which would be a GUI prompt that might have a key for accepting & rejecting
Muting someone is a pain in the ass unless the game tells you was talking, then you have to go find them in a list, and only then mute them. Disabling it is not really what I mean. I mean I have to accept a request to chat, which would be a GUI prompt that might have a key for accepting & rejecting
I disagree completely that it's not worth that time. VoIP is a pretty major feature when it comes to online games and pre-recorded sound bites aren't a valid substitute for full VoIP. Also, can't really compare the fact that not many people use VoIP in DayZ (which I'd even argue against, since pretty much every time I've played DayZ I've encountered plenty of people using VoIP, but I digress...) since people will likely know you're there in Starbase long before your ability to use VoIP.
Sure! It's a lot of fun indeed! But it does not replace the need for VOIP. Just like in worlds adrift, just like in dayz and just like in rust, it's something that adds to it but not fully replace it. Are you making the argument that we should not have voice because the robots can laughs ? What is happening.
I agree there's a lot of use cases standing around with people after you've won (sitting there around players who have decided to be friendly - you both have won the engagement). You can talk, trade and do a lot of things. In this case, the presence of VoIP instead of text is not critical. It adds to the game, but it's not critical. You can do all the trades, someone can emote a yes or no, and so on. The VoIP was only critical in establishing the win or loss, or stalemate, of the situation. That instant communication was powerful. So although it seems like the VoIP is used, it wasn't that critical after you established another player as friendly who wants to trade for example and you go on playing out that encounter.
And yes, VoIP can be very useful and powerful but also very negative and so on. Already people are saying "make sure I can mute people" and so on, and "it should be opt-in instead of opt-out". Why develop something people have to opt-in for? That's my main point. The time spent creating these systems doesn't add enough to warrant the benefits. Someone who has muted all VoIP is not going to benefit from you yelling in your mic at them.
As far as dev factions and large groups; they will almost always evolve to using third party software after forming a group. 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 (and yes I understand both can exist in tandem). That mining run will send everyone to third party software to be in the same comms. It's only a unique feature in the immediate moments of winning a fight, losing a fight, or stalemating a fight "talking shit". 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 games without voice, like Smite for example, the "VGS" system is used heavily and most people use it over the third party voice systems that arose. For example, in that game, Curse developed an auto-matching third party voice chat, where players can be automatically in comms with their team. It got very little use, and I understand, different game, but the dev time would have been wasted if the game devs made this instead of a third party. This is possible for Starbase most likely, a third party automatching, where groups can be auto-joined into a voice chat if they choose to join in. It's not something the devs need to spend time on solving in my opinion. I think dev time is better spent developing depth for their game in adding instant forms of emote communication, rather than VoIP.
I just don't see it as a 'need' for an MMO where 98 of the nearby 99 players don't really care that you're talking to that 1 person. It's much different in the MMO setting. There is value in it, I understand the value, I just don't think it is a 'need'. WA showed me how little it was used outside of messing with someone either after winning the fight, or after losing the fight. It's only convenience in roleplay otherwise. Likewise, many other games have shown they can succeed without VoIP without any issues, so I'm defaulting to it not being needed, and not being worth the development time.
And yes, VoIP can be very useful and powerful but also very negative and so on. Already people are saying "make sure I can mute people" and so on, and "it should be opt-in instead of opt-out". Why develop something people have to opt-in for? That's my main point. The time spent creating these systems doesn't add enough to warrant the benefits. Someone who has muted all VoIP is not going to benefit from you yelling in your mic at them.
As far as dev factions and large groups; they will almost always evolve to using third party software after forming a group. 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 (and yes I understand both can exist in tandem). That mining run will send everyone to third party software to be in the same comms. It's only a unique feature in the immediate moments of winning a fight, losing a fight, or stalemating a fight "talking shit". 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 games without voice, like Smite for example, the "VGS" system is used heavily and most people use it over the third party voice systems that arose. For example, in that game, Curse developed an auto-matching third party voice chat, where players can be automatically in comms with their team. It got very little use, and I understand, different game, but the dev time would have been wasted if the game devs made this instead of a third party. This is possible for Starbase most likely, a third party automatching, where groups can be auto-joined into a voice chat if they choose to join in. It's not something the devs need to spend time on solving in my opinion. I think dev time is better spent developing depth for their game in adding instant forms of emote communication, rather than VoIP.
I just don't see it as a 'need' for an MMO where 98 of the nearby 99 players don't really care that you're talking to that 1 person. It's much different in the MMO setting. There is value in it, I understand the value, I just don't think it is a 'need'. WA showed me how little it was used outside of messing with someone either after winning the fight, or after losing the fight. It's only convenience in roleplay otherwise. Likewise, many other games have shown they can succeed without VoIP without any issues, so I'm defaulting to it not being needed, and not being worth the development time.
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