Voice Chat, good or bad move ?

I was actually referring to people switching genders and whatnot. Sorry if I offended.

I'm actually pretty introverted when talking to new people but I've learned to overcome it when needed while still being myself and retaining my solitude when I want to.

Maybe this could be an opportunity for the people that use SL to be anti-social to come that much closer to healthy interaction!

I agree with the RP people, though. I do non-sexual RP in places and when I'm in the middle of a game I dont' want to know about any of the people IRL because it changes my perception of everything. I think it's good people can turn the chat option off on their land. I don't want to hear Cartman talking out of a burly, red-haired dwarf!!

I also wouldn't use it on the mainland. Too many people and it's harder to control who you are forced to interact with.

I will not be using voice because there are usally people around me when I am logged in. I think what will happen is a few people will use it but most won't. The voice users will become just another minorty on the grid.

That will be a somewhat strange experience, then. Being in the majority for a change.

I find it amazing how pessimistic and resistant to change so many people are in SL considering it's such a new thing. This all reminds me of what people said about so many items that we all use daily.

Just an observation...

Hehe - and I may be able to pick up some extra lindens helping folks from England pronounce Welsh place names prior to their holidays <grin>

*** Pronounce "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch" like a local farmer for only L$500 !!! *** - lol

Seriously, I think voice will be fun, have it's uses, and not be used by the majority for years.

I tried it in there.com, and didn't like it. Again I don't think most preople will use it. Not all new things catch on (wern't we all supposed to have picture phones by the 21st century?). Most people don't want them and most people don't want voice on the internet including games. Voice shoud be oo\p-in not op-out (see new feature proposal #3267).

I agree with that. You should start with only having chat with your friends and then click specific people to "un-mute" them. Voice mute should also be independant from typing mute.

And as far as "picture phones"...how many of us have cameras in our cellys?

I don't even have a cell-phone, but then . . . don't have a use for one

Well maybe if you talked more IRL...just kidding

I have one, but I hardly use it. It stays in my car.

Voice has a lot of problems associated with it when you get groups involved in it, and especially multiple groups in proximity and in different conversations. If voice is 3D rendered, IE those closer to you will come in louder than those farther away, will eleviate some of it as long as someone in an adjacent group does not come through very loud. Also new ediquite needs to be adheared to as only one person can speak and be understood at a time, this is far easier than it sounds. It was hard enough to establish this ediquet among 6 users on my guild Vent server emagine trying to do so with larger groups.

I do not see this being effective for mass communication, I see it more being used within groups rather than openly, not so much to hide a conversation but to avoid voice overlap with others. Maybe I am wrong, just another thing that is "Wait and See" on my list I guess.

haha...it's called "civil conversation". I think people will be able to figure it out.

I am not sure about the voice being good for classes because it would be hard to go over the chat history and catch up if you fall behind.

My first reaction would be that chat will still be the best for classes but who knows?

I was really surprised how nice it was to hear voices, to hear them even in the background. But I come from a large rambunctious family and like the hustle bustle of other people around me. That being said, I say more in chat than in voice..I'm far more shy in voice than in chat.

Why is this always dredged up? Can't people enjoy using the feature without labelling/demeaning/judging those that don't?

Played a few games where voice was used. HATED IT! Went from mildly annoying to a sheer cacophony of pointless babble. There are aftermarket voice systems if someone is so inclined. I dont want to be forced to listen just because some folks cant type. Regardless of the fact that the smoky gravel of my phone voice could get me laid, I have no desire whatsoever to be tied to some microphone and headset. BAH HUMBUG!!

FPS Games...Playstation, X-Box, etc...

There was a HUGE rise in the amount of folks who bought games w/ voice chat after they found out how to:

1: Mute a hopeless idiot

2: Use voice to coordinate a team or train (mostly team - oriented fighting videogames use voice, so you can coordinate in Real Time), this can be translated ta SL classes and making Machinima, building a Sim or an Island, etc.

3: "Grow up" because everybody else wanted ta USE THE SERVICE & not just be disrupted. The ones who kep sendin white-noise into the mic got repeatedly rejected, bored, & quit the game.

4: Learn controls, features & functions at least TWICE as fast as usual, cause folks could tell em the basics in "a hear-beat", instead of 10 minutes of text.

THESE points at least make Voice sound good ta me, even though I'll probably WAIT for a while...& let some of the initial random chaos go down, since I'm bipolar psychotic. LOL, I would probably get banned...too reactionary.

Thats one more thing BTW...our RL personalities are gonna be brought into SL A LOT more than before...which will change a lotta current relationships too.

Voice Chat will flop on the main grid.
- Talking to a PC will be uncomfortable for many SLers. People with accents, speech issues, who are introverted, weird voices, etc., will all avoid this like the plague.
- SL is a social community, there is no game. Voice actually creates social barriers between SLers, and will probably lead to voicism.
- LAG
- Many of us, myself included, don't have sound turn on. I prefer to listen to music while in SL.

No-

And thats why Voice will be devisive

At least until people realize that people can still voice and hide things.

Then things will go back to normal.

I expect a bumpy year though.

They have that covered already .

Philip is excited about adding the feature to graft your RL appearance onto your avie as your skin.

Meanwhile, identification will march on as well:
The above does relates to voice because each step is a step away from a Second Life to an e-Life where we're all just who we are in RL.

Too late!! Folks have already predicted it'll be then End of Second Life *cue dramatic music*- Sims Crashing, Griefers Griefing, Furries & Goreans Living together in harmony! TOTAL CHAOS!!!!!

Seriously, Like all "new" things in Second Life- it'll be a novelty at first. Then slowly it'll quiet down till it finds a nice lil' niche for itself.

Gah - this is is too much.

Nam does the RL skin graft thing - its expensive (cheap for an artist's work tho) - looks pretty good.

Guaranteed it looks better than LL's version will tho. lol

RL appearance will end the Racier Sex in SL faster than anything else -
who will work in a virtual strip club when at any minute someone from your rl could walk into the door.

Your Pastor, Your Boss, Your Dad, Your Husband.


I wonder if Phil is in touch with the Real Second Life -

I cant think of many people on my freidns list who would want to look exactly like themselves in real life.

I cant think of less whod want their RL name available.

It will be kinda funny. Bc people can turn off voice feature entirely, so they won't even recognize others are trying to communicate with them.

Also, a lot seem to forgot about the emotes, like I often do *smiles*, ook, I can do that in voice too (tho I won't use it, my relatives don't appreciate me laughing at 2am *s*) but what about more complex thingies? Plus I don't wanna flirt with anyone with a voice, because that's almost like RL and I'm really not one to mix the two and go into sex phone biz lol.

But I fear I will be left out of things this way, eventually forced to use it and there goes my illusion away (tho it will be gone sooner, cos all my friends sounding SO different than I imagined them). As someone mentioned... this was like reading a book... with voice, on beta it felt I'm in a conference call with some colorful mannequins (avies) representing the RL people.

I tried voice chat a few beta's ago. It was OK. I use Skype with friends from time to time, so, that doesn't bother me. I'll probably enable it on my property.

I DO see where there are going to be some issues tho. I doubt it will work well on marginal computers. And I something tells me it's going to be a while before someone comes up with a real time live speech Babbler type device.

My friend who joined me on the test grid had issues. I could hear her and talk to other people, but she couldn't hear anything.

Just like everything else that happens in SL, voice will settle in at its level of acceptance, and no one will worry much about it any more.

Voice is gonna affect escorts more than anyone else, probably,and a lot are really worried about it. And NOT just because some of them are guys! I run a small escort agency and polled my girls about voice and they were overwhelmingly against it, and I do not believe 95% of them are really boys! The poll was so surprising that I started the Escorts Union of Second Life to get a wider opinion, and so far am finding the same thing . . escorts don't want voice. The reason, I think, is that it's gonna make us into RL phone-sex girls at Linden prices, and much as I love escorting, I'm not willing to become a RL whore. So our sim will be voice-free, though I'm gonna be interested in seeing whether market forces drag us into voice against our will. If it does I know a lot of girls who will leave the biz. I think voice is a shame, only because it blurs RL and SL, but I guess those who want to use it will love it . . I tried it on beta-grid and thought it detracted from SL's magic. Oh well, as Shakespeare said (way over-educated whore), we shall see what we shall see.

I personally feel that voice will be a sad addition for some residents.

For one, it does destroy some illusions. You can easily fill in the blanks about some aspects of an avatar, including their voice, which makes them more appealing and comfortable. It's like reading a great novel and filling in the details yourself -- suddenly the book becomes more alluring.

Secondly, and this is the big one -- people who are deaf and/or mute. SL is the great equalizer for many of us with handicaps (self included) and I would be very sad to learn that some residents will be adversely affected by voice for reasons other than griefing and immaturity. While I use speech-recognition and can provide my own built in "text to accompany my voice", I do dictate punctuation and other commands -- who on the grid wants to hear that?

Now... it is exciting, and the flip side is voice will save many who are borderline tendonitis victims. But it's a double edged sword. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.