I came here because SL DID NOT have voice

because it does give them the ability to hide behind a made up persona

So as a consequence, text got ignored, and I could not have a conversation with them, and these were my friends.

Okay, so on the whole voice issue;

I've been known to frequent several Welcome Areas, specifically Violet and Wengen (Chalet Linden), mostly Violet.

Anyway, when Firstlook first dropped, and voice came to Chalet, everyone had it. Eventually it came to Violet, and everyone had it there too. And we all used it a lot. I had it mostly to speak to my girlfriend with, which I still do.

At first, everyone was using it almost exclusively. There was a point when my mic broke, and I tried to have a conversation with people who were on voice. I could hear them, but I had to type. They had the hardest time reading text and typing, and I even found myself facing that problem. So as a consequence, text got ignored, and I could not have a conversation with them, and these were my friends.

That was around when it first came out.

Now, no one even bothers with voice anymore in Violet. They are bored of it, uninterested in using it, and back to almost exclusively chatting with text again. And I've noticed this trend everywhere I go, be it other hubs, stores, clubs, wherever. Almost everyone has slipped back into just using text, or using voice very sparingly.

I think unlike a lot of games, maybe voice is just going to be something of a novelty to SL-goers. I love it, especially the private voice chat conference, I use that a lot with Mia, but other than that? Not too much. I, like most people I know, have slipped back into typing again.

kinda sums it up for me really...... the implication appartently is that if you don't use voice, you must be hiding something. Nothing personal Johan, just the fact that you and others before you have said this in their posts rather too often and too casually for my taste.

Thanks for relating that sweetie. Maybe if enough people who were objective at least and even enthusiastic about voice come back with experiences like that then people will realize that those of us not looking forward to voice for these reasons are not paranoid and not whining over imagined drama.

there ye go........ luckily i've not had that experience yet, but others in earlier posts have described the exact same thing. Shame huh.

Yeah, it is a shame when your own friends can't be assed to read what you are writing

Being an optimist, i kinda like to think it's not a matter of not wanting to, but rather finding it too complicated to deal with multiple forms of communications all at once ))
i have not and (... guess it must be fairly obvious by now ;-p ) will not be using voice (must be hiding something ) but from what i've read the communications window is also huge, so perhaps that adds to the problem?

I was at a pretty popular beach last night and there were German people, Spanish people, French people and the usual Brits and Yanks. All chatting like mad with each other in different languages.

And I thought: what on earth would this be like if everyone was using voice? Total chaos.

And how do you catch up with conversation when you emerge from an IM? You can't.
Plus, there was live music playing. What do you do, talk through the music?

By the way, I'm not hiding anything, beyond the fact that I find it difficult sometimes just to keep up with written chat (slow typer)) Voice will be a nightmare.

89% of the females in SL are males who will tell you they have no mic or will come up with a reason not to speak,Lots of typing will still be used.

Honestly, I do not mind at all what assumptions people may make in regards to my sex due to my lack of desire to use voice features in SL. I dont have a microphone, I have no need for one, and will not obtain one - unless of course I ever do decide to DJ again in SL.

I have a family... a husband and children and I will not drown out my real life with a set of headphones... nor will I force them to suffer by listening to other people in a video game, who far too often dont know how to conduct themselves in a decent way. SL is a game to me, if I wanted to hear people speaking I would call a friend, or go someplace where I can punch someone in the face if they have the gull to ask me if I want to go have sex with them.

I dont want to hear anyone else other than the occasional DJ at an event I attend, and just because I choose not to utilize this feature doesnt mean that Im "hiding" anything at all... but like I said, if it causes people to believe so then I really could give a damn.

There is a huge problem with some people in the community who do not understand that SL is a game, they live-breathe SL as if it were RL and have lost all ability to seperate the two. This feature is just going to make that worse.

I was born hearing impaired,I was able to have a operation to restore a very small amount of hearing in my left ear.I can hear some music and DJs speak but never put on my head phones unless I am working at my SL job.I have never had a hard time in SL,99% of the large clubs and attractions have voice turned off.Do not worry to much about it ,89% of the females in SL are males who will tell you they have no mic or will come up with a reason not to speak,Lots of typing will still be used.

There is a huge problem with some people in the community who do not understand that SL is a game, they live-breathe SL as if it were RL and have lost all ability to seperate the two. This feature is just going to make that worse.

89% of the females in SL are males who will tell you they have no mic or will come up with a reason not to speak

kinda sums it up for me really...... the implication appartently is that if you don't use voice, you must be hiding something. Nothing personal Johan, just the fact that you and others before you have said this in their posts rather too often and too casually for my taste.

I'm implying no such thing, all I'm saying is that those who ARE doing so dont like voice for this reason. I'm not at all saying those who simply (for whatever other reason) are hiding something. You took what I said out of context.. I did mention that some may not like it because of a speech impediment, being a mute, or an unusually high voice for a male, or low for a female... there can be more reasons than just wanting to continue a charade, I'm simply pointing out that those who do, dislike voice. Besides, as I said before, voice is not a requirement, if one doesnt wish to use it, dont... it's that simple. The argument that "my friends ignore me becauase I dont use voice" is stupid as well. If your friends ignore you, they're not your friends, go find some, there's 40k people logged on.

I just don't want to be miked. I listen to background music when in SL. Also I don't need to hear the "YOU pretty. Have sex with me now?" It's annoying enough in text chat.

89% of the females in SL are males who will tell you they have no mic or will come up with a reason not to speak,Lots of typing will still be used.

Okay, so on the whole voice issue;

I've been known to frequent several Welcome Areas, specifically Violet and Wengen (Chalet Linden), mostly Violet.

Anyway, when Firstlook first dropped, and voice came to Chalet, everyone had it. Eventually it came to Violet, and everyone had it there too. And we all used it a lot. I had it mostly to speak to my girlfriend with, which I still do.

At first, everyone was using it almost exclusively. There was a point when my mic broke, and I tried to have a conversation with people who were on voice. I could hear them, but I had to type. They had the hardest time reading text and typing, and I even found myself facing that problem. So as a consequence, text got ignored, and I could not have a conversation with them, and these were my friends.

That was around when it first came out.

Now, no one even bothers with voice anymore in Violet. They are bored of it, uninterested in using it, and back to almost exclusively chatting with text again. And I've noticed this trend everywhere I go, be it other hubs, stores, clubs, wherever. Almost everyone has slipped back into just using text, or using voice very sparingly.

I think unlike a lot of games, maybe voice is just going to be something of a novelty to SL-goers. I love it, especially the private voice chat conference, I use that a lot with Mia, but other than that? Not too much. I, like most people I know, have slipped back into typing again.

there can be more reasons than just wanting to continue a charade

It's optional.

Most people won't want to use it in public.

It has an 'Only Friends Call' function.

Most people use it in either IM or Conference mode anyway.

What's the big furore?

Before I get flamed for being insensitive, I both have a small amount of hearing loss from birth AND have hyperacuity. I'm still gonna use the voice ...

I will keep saying it over and over: A male using a female av is not more of a "charade" than me using a cat one. It's called a virtual world vs. real world.