Voice Beta Live!

Well, I managed to do another round of tests today, this time with that USB Audio Adapter attached. There were not many others present, so I didn't get a good test of what others sounded like.

I found that if the USB Audio adapter was NOT attached to my Mac Mini, the latest Voice Beta, downloaded today, still shows me no functioning indications that Voice exists. I could toggle the personal preference for Voice Enabled or Voice Disabled, but it had absolutely no effect, even when I was standing in what I was certain was a voice enabled area (The platform at Lusk). I still can not tell for sure if I would be able to hear someone speaking in this mode. No one was near me when I was in that mode. I suspect that I remain deaf without the adapter, even though I hear footsteps and other sound effects.

I found that if I DID have the USB Audio adapter plugged in and active, but with NO MICROPHONE, that I could toggle the personal preference for Voice Enabled or Voice Disabled, and if I told it in preferences that I was voice enabled, I could see the indicators for that on myself as well as others who were voice enabled, but only when I was also standing in a voice enabled area. The indicator on me was the "Voice Enabled" white dot, even though I had no mike. There was no one nearby who seemed to be saying anything most of the time, though I think I did briefly hear one fellow cough on the Lusk platform, when I moved my camera closer to him. If I was on a parcel that had voice disabled in parcel controls, I had one icon on the menu bar, but no clutter on screen. If I moved to a voice-enabled area, the icon on the bar went away, and the white dots appeared in the name balloon area over enabled Players. Incidentally, I find the placement of that indicator to be VERY bad, as it's right at the same place as the player's name and group tag. I guess the developer who decided on that placemenbt always turns off the names and group tags in his client.

Hypothesis: My earlier inability to see or hear any indications that Voice was enabled or in use seem based on the lack of audio input capability on my Mac Mini. Having a valid USB audio input device added to the hardware, even if there was no mike attached to that port, was sufficent to allow me to see the indicators, and to hear others.

I logged in with an alt and tried talking, in a voice-enabled area. But the USB Audio adapter that I borrowed does not seem to work without an amplifier between my mike and the device. I had to shout to get the sound input control panel to recognize that there was sound being detected at all. SL was unable to do more than register a faint indicator that I was trying to talk. I tried three mikes, and two different audio ports on the adapter, and both the Mic and Line settings for input. I count that as a failure of the adapter and not a fault of the beta.

We now have a voice chat preference option for the spatial location what we hear. It can be based on camera position and orientation, or on avatar position and orientation, or on avatar position and camera orientation. The latter would be the most realistic if you're in mouselook mode, or if you're looking at a group of people. Basing it on camera position and orientation is an idea I still don't much care for. You could hear things far from your avatar but be unable to hear someone right next to you.

So, I guess aside from the social hazzards that people who use Voice will ignore or marginalize those who don't, I guess I am happy.

* With my Mac Mini, Voice won't exist for me. Period. Yay! I can continue using SL and can ignore the existance of Voice Chat, and I don't have to see visual clutter or hear the chatter.

* If I upgrade to a better computer, Voice won't exist for me unless I activate the "Voice Enabled" option in my own preferences. As long as I have it off, I can continue using SL and can ignore the existance of Voice Chat, and I don't have to see visual clutter or hear the chatter.

* If I upgrade to a better computer, I can see if others are Voice Enabled and can hear them if I choose to activate the "Voice Enabled" option in my own preferences. I don't have to plug in a mike to do this. It will, however, give others a "false positive" that I can talk, even though I have no mike.

The USB Audio Adapter that I borrowed is something I still need to play with for a bit, to see if I can use it to record to CD some old vinyl and glass LP records that I have. If I get the audio input to work, I may do a little more testing. Otherwise, I'm going to consider my own testing of the Voice Beta to be concluded.

If you're crashing during login, try clearing your cache under Preferences... Network. This has worked repeatedly for me.

Voice chat I'm sure will be really very useful from company meetings to conventions, study classes to wider, more efficient business communications, chatting with friends to more immersive cyber ***! lol (this will probably be it's wider use!!!!).

I totally agree with how bad an idea this is in that it excludes those who are deaf. According to a really scandalous article I read & I quote:

"And we all know how doesn't need voice -- the deaf, the transgendered, the shy, the insecure, the old, the foreign. That is, all the people who have Second Lives unlike their first lives -- and we're about to find out just how many of us there are like that."

Not sure if this person uses SL, but wow, just a slightly over-opinionated & disgusting comment!
(rest of article http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/02/vox_lindeni.html)

The reason I've mentioned the above is that in testing voice on beta, I got a very small taste of what is to come in one area and the quote kinda sums up the mentality I witnessed: A load of people bringing their unwanted RL **** into SL, trying to be funny, being outrageously bigotted, behaving in a manner that can only be described as childish at best!

Fair enough, I met some nice people too. Thankfully!

For every deaf person who complains about Voice, what about every BLIND person who complains they cant SEE Second Life?

What about someone with Parkinsons who cant use the keyboard well enough to type? Or quadraplegic?

Voice is an OPTION.

Voice isn't going to be enough to make SL playable for someone who can't see or control a computer. It may be enough to make it hostile for people who can't deal with voice.

Exactly my point. Everyone whines "What about Deaf people?" What about other handicaps? Why discriminate? The Blind CAN use a computer. People unable to control their body CAN use a computer- EX: Stephen Hawkings. So I can't see "voice chat" cutting off some of the population.

And from what I've seen so far, on the voice grid, when someone without a microphone comes on- Guess what Happens?? WE TYPE TO THEM! OMG!!! We INCLUDE them in the Conversation!!!

So all this fuss over voice being the end of SL for many is a load.
Ya'll whine & worry over nothing.

And yea, there are some things that need worked on. It would be easy for now, to spam voice chatter. Mute options need tweaked a bit.

Which is why if someone asks me more than once in the same session if I will voice with them I will mute them. Forever.

Makes sense in a way. Anyone determined to have you "talk" to them could be up to no good.

I like voice as an option tho. The only other downsides to it: It makes you realize that you're interacting with a real human being on the other side and not just a bunch of pixels. Besides, who wants to bother interacting with meatbags? Humans are such nasty lil' critters.

As far back as I can remember, Linden Labs would try to stress that every avatar you see is controlled by a real person just like you and me. At least that's how I've always seen it.

I've had nothing but good experiences with Voice Chat - and I'm using a generic crappy headset and an even crappier computer. The people I've come across were always polite and welcoming. I've actually made many new friends through it.

full of calcium rods

Exactly my experience.

The voice part just drives home the "every avatar controlled by a human" part.

At least I know its not a Bot

Doesn't work for me at all. Probably a mac issue. Talked to another person who said his friend uses a mac and can't get it to work. Ibook G4.

This is going to be a great boon for classes though. No more typer's cramp. Still working on hardware set up for me though. Sure beats all the costs of trying to run a live stream.

hi jessant,

i have a mac:

->Machine Name: iMac
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Memory: 1 GB
Chipset Model: ATY RadeonX1600
VRAM (Total): 128 MB

and i tested voice today and it worked just fine.
talked and could hear people with no problem.
felt a bit awkard thought, but this is whole different story...

If Lindens are listening...I think everyone should default to "muted" as far as voice goes...not necessarily total mute but just for voice. That way you can unmute whoever you actually want to hear so when you're in a crowded place it doesn't feel like you're on an episode of Jerry Springer with everyone talking at random.

It would be overwelming!!

Otherwise voice chat was awesome...I made more friends in a few hours than I have in a few months! I was never good at crowded chatrooms and that's what a lot of different places in SL felt like for me.

Voice Chat is like playing SL for the first time again!

This is apples and oranges, IMHO. People who have the problems you mention aren't going to be helped significantly at the average movie theater either. Half of the SL experience is directly related to what we see. What good is it to have all of these different characters and then not be able to see them? Are you going to have the voice software describing the SL world frame by frame for the blind or those currently unable to interact with it? You sound like you think there are blind people actually loading up SL, somehow starting it, and THEN going "Oh yeah, I can't see! This sucks!"

I also don't know many quadraplegics trying out for the NFL only to find out they're not able to play and then writing the commissioner about it. People usually decide on activities with some understanding of whether or not those activities are doable. The deaf had no reason to feel that SL was not doable with text interaction. The blind do. So how many of them do you think are currently playing SL without voice complaining about how they've never been able to hold conversations with text?

As far as voice being optional is concerned, having a Social Security card, photo ID, and credit cards is legally an "OPTION" too. Given what little you can do without them in RL, do you really feel like you have the "OPTION" of not using them? That's what I thought. If you're gonna become a leper for not using it, then it's little different from having the "OPTION" of not giving your money to a robber at gunpoint.

Sorry to disagree with ya, Kascha, but I AM one who cant always use a keyboard to type!!!

Hate to kill off your "ignorance streak" but some people with DISABILITIES CANT USE KEYBOARDS ALL THE TIME OR FOREVER.

I use a joystick to maneuver. 1 hand (same one used on the joystick) to type. I have 1 hand that is fucked up from RSI.

So! As we've seen, your ignorance on ALL diabilities is quite clear! You haven't a clue as what others have to go thru.

And the whole SS# crap is ONLY for those indulging in "pixel Porn", odd why you'd bring that one up? I prefer my women real & in-person.

BTW- Stephen Hawkings, if you're somewhat intelligent enough to know about this man, has NO ability to move yet uses a computer and has written a few books on Physics, etc. So saying the disabled cant use a computer just makes you sound like a pompous retarded ass. The BLIND as you mention so thoughtfully, CAN use a computer. The Totally Blind may not be able to, but what about those who are VISUALLY IMPAIRED to a lesser degree?? Again- you show ignorance. Ever check your "accessability options" in the Control Panel of Windows (or whatever they use for Mac/Linux)?? Or are you smart enough to even know where to look?

I've never seen a bunch of ignorant fks only consider 1 group with disabilities. So much for "tolerance". Guess that only applies to something we can't see. From the sounds of it, if you had kids with Downs Syndrome you'd probably drown them.