VoIP is not something you can "replace" with Discord chat.

[blazemonger]

VoIP is a feature for the game which wil lbe important in many ways. Discord voicechannels are no alternative to proper proximity voice for many reasons.

Yes, VoIP needs to be opt in and off by default. The game should not expose you by deafault to screaming kids, not that I think the game's demography has many screaming kids to begin with.

VoIP, being proximity based or linked to an area around you will allow for seamless and important communication for groups, crews and within companies. It's also a great way to communicate with players you meet in station.

As an example, on our Minecraft servers we started to use Simple Voice Chat, a mod created by a single guy which is absolutely fantastic and instantly changes the entire experience in game. it provides direction as to where ather players are, it will give you information about them leaving the area or arriving and overall, it is much more emersive than having to use Discord.

IMO, for a MMO the depth and scal Starbase has, Proximity VoIP may be optional to use, but is not option to have available.

 

[Amos.37]

While I totally agree with what you've said, if you checked the roadmap, you'd see that 'voice communication to nearby players' is already one of the listed features they plan on adding.
https://forum.starbasegame.com/thre...pment-roadmap-and-new-features-revealed.1905/

 

[blazemonger]

I know, point is that from other communication it woudl appear that it is "on the list of things to get to", which IMO is missing the point that VoIP, for many (potential) players is actually a deciding factor in whether they will choose to play or join the game.

Also voicechat needs to not be just "nearest players". You should be able to enter voicechat for a ship, a base, a group, a company, people in a company with certain roles etc.. Starbase has the framework for awesome implementation for voicechat and I really hope that FB gets this one right as it wil be one of the thinsg that sets them apart.

If they bring in a basic version and build that out over Alpha then that is fine. But many, especially in the RP community where a Space SciFi sandbox is a much desired option, are looking/waiting for features like this.

 

[LauriFB]

I agree with the need. The roadmap is just a promise that feature is coming, and it's not definitive that it has to be only end of the year, at least if we roll it in in parts (like we are doing with mouse controls for example).

That being said, the game is currently quite a bugfest, so we will be busy with the firefighting for a few weeks. Once the dust starts to settle we'll be able to see how the later down the road features will shape up.

 

[blazemonger]

Thank you @LauriFB ..

I'll be honest here, I had low expectations for the game's launch and how it woudl work out for me but you guys have exceeded these by a massive margin and I appreciate this a lot. I wil lnot name names, but you are delivering pretty much everything I had high hopes for seeing with another game currently in development and frankly, that is both refreshing and reassuring.