Voice in SL?

It's great to find a thread with so many good reasons why voice should be included as an option for increasing the level of interaction with other users. Especially if I could invite others to join in a conversation like a teleconference. As with any teleconference, if users don't "mute" until they want to talk, or raise their hand to speak, it gets chaotic. But, that's part of the "learning curve" . So, I found this thread because I was searching to see if the feature was built-in yet, but I see it's while away, in favor of 3rd party apps. Nothing wrong with that, for now. But, I would like to be able to record the conversation along with the synchronized video ie: machinima style...actors, presenters, etc. I guess I could do a hardware patch. Now I'm searching for a one-way streaming solution, so I can broadcast like a DJ would. I would like to be able to "pass the mic" so others can contribute to the live stream. Is that possible? Talk to you later!

Many people use Shoutcast. If you set it up right, you can "pass the mic", though it would be easier to have something like skype, ventrillo or teamspeak to invite people in.

Ack, I think I accidently voted "yes". I ment to put "no"

I really hope SL doesn't implement a voice feature. Some of us really enjoy the freedom of gender expression, and wouldn't want our voices to be heard and identified as some gender.
We would also run into the problem the hear and/or speech impared might face. And possibly people with accents... it'd just be opening a window to prejudice.

I could also so it causing mass lag and spam. Voice chat would obviously take more resources than simple text chat.
I agree with the others here who have said there's plenty of other ways to voice chat. It's on pretty much every chat client out there. If a player really wanted to hear another player's voice, it's not that hard to exchange screenames and take it outside SL.

I'd really rather SecondLife remain that - a *second* life. I don't want my real life and SL getting wrapped together. Takes the escapism out of it. =P

Hello. I got Secondvoice yesterday and it seems to work partially. So far 2 friends of mine got it as well. I cannot hear either of them but they can hear me. All I see is the green bar when they speak but no sound even with my volume maxed. I tested the the sound and it worked fine.
Anyone out there know how to work this thing??

I definately do NOT think that voice chat is a good idea. Second Life is all about creating alternate personas ... a new existance of yourself ... something limited not by the physical world but only your imagination. If you integrate voice chat into Second Life, then you are immediately bringing the world out of your imagination and limiting it to your physical body. I know men who play as women and women who play as men, they would not be able to talk with out getting laughed at or ostracized. I have met people from Germany, Russia, and other countries and while they could type enough English to converse, asking them to speak it and speak it well enough that they don't feel like an idiot and have people make fun of them would be a huge failure. People here are beginnng to role play as children and be adopted by parents which I think is a wonderful new way of exploring different aspects and facets of our personalities. If a male with a deep voice wanted to do this he would feel very awkward doing so in voice chat.

Now before everyone says, "but you won't be FORCED to use voice chat, it will be an OPTION." That is a falicy and you know it. EVERY game that I have been in where they have implimented voice chat you had to use it or else you were automatically believed to be hiding something or faking it. The fact that it's there and everyone else is using it but you're not cuts you off from the group and makes it impossible to interact. For instance, I play Dungeons and Dragons Online as well (soon to cancel, though) and it has integrated voice chat. I refuse to use it, though, becuase I mainly get alot of guys saying "Huh, your character looks hot." or even the ever present, "Waaa .. look at me ... I can talk like an idiot and make you listen ... Waaa!" Now, since I refuse to use voice chat in game and only type out what I want to say, EVERY SINGLE GROUP I have been in refuses to believe I am a woman. *checks between her legs* Yup ... I'm a woman, but the people I play with sure as hell don't want to believe it.

If you have a group of people you regualrly communicate with in SL, then try to agree on Skype, Vent, TS, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, or any of the other myriad of voice programs already out there. I know that I have some friends who use vent, some who use skype, and some who use TS so I have all of them on my machine. They are all free programs, so it doesn't cost you anything to have them. Does it make it a bit troublesome at times to get everyone together, sure, but in the end it is worth it becuase we can talk to one another and not be bothered by everyone else. Perhaps if a club wants to become a "Talky" they can post a sign at the door giving the program they are using and the server to connect to. Can you imagine what it would be like if you were in a club with 20 people and everyone was talking at the same time? It would be mass hysteria and no one would be able to understand anything.

Not to mention what would happen in the strip or escort clubs. You also have to look at the bandwidth issues. Right now SL is pushing huge ammounts of data through the pipe due to EVERYTHING being customizable and unique. If you add voice chat to that, expect even longer and more frustrating rezzing times than we have now.

I LOVE Second Life ... I am having an amazing time and meeting some incredible people ... one in particular (and you know who you are *wink*). I love it because Second Life is this abstract creation of the imagination a social experiment on a grand scale ... a world of the mind and what you can do when it has no limitations ... If you tie it to the physical ... If you add voice chat to the game, it will ruin all of that and it will soon become what all other games and apps that have voice chat have become ... dependant on it. I know that if SL impliments Voice Chat, I will never use it ... not even with my friends in SL because I personally believe it takes away from the experience and neuters it entirely. Will I get thousands of people saying, "Ure not a gurl ... u wont talk to me"? Yes. Will I get people saying, "Your avatar is hot, will you talk sexy to me?" Yes. Will I live with it and go on? Yes. But SL will be much the poorer for it and so will the experience.

That's just one girl's opinion ... please no flaming ... I doubt I will post in this thread again since it would probably only be responses to people attacking me and I don't want to do that at all ... this is Morrigan ... signing off.

You make a really good point and I've gotten the whole "your not a girl!" accusations even without chat. lol
I was mainly curious of what else I can possibly be able to get out of SL. ~@HUG!!@~

Requiring people to type limits communication to "your physical body." I understand that some people come to SL to create an A.K.A., an alternate personality. That's fine. But others come to SL because of the possibilities for creativity, for using their imagination to further RW experiences.

Voice is absolutely essential for activities that are currently not practical in SL. Because of the lack of voice, certain creative pursuits are limited. Imagine a world were people go attend conferences, conventions, and school without having to spend a lot of money on travel, hotel, and food expenses. Imagine being able to attend a convention in SL where RW people can exhibit their products (be it music, art, books, etc.) to RW attendees--their respective avatars filling in for them in the virtual landscape.

In those instances, typing is not only inefficient, it is ineffective. Much is lost when the free flow nature and interactivity of speaking and listening is not possible. Virtual conferences, conventions, and schools will not be well attended if people must wait for the slow, often inaccurate, typed messages of the instructor or student.

Using voice in SL does not curtail creativity, it does not limit the imagination. Instead, it helps the mind and creative spirit express itself more successfully. Why limit the number of senses a person can experience in SL? The virtual world should be more than just glorified email.

Voice chat in SL would be of no use to me at all. I wouldn't enable it, if they implemented it.

Same here. When im using yahoo i make up stories when people ask to view my webcam or voice chat. Why do they wana see my ugly face? Or hear my crackly girly voice? I would prefer to just text everything...

Plus it would just need more bandwidth... As for webcams it would reduce FPS or ram...

Surely any computer capable of running SL is capable of doing real-time transcription.

A few thoughts I remembered about voice chat. They're mostly irrelevant, since voice chat will be implemented, regardless of what people will say here. Statistics show that the number of people going away from virtual worlds/MMORPGs when voice chat is introduced is rather insignificant, contrary to "popular belief" — it's just that the anti-voice chat lobby is particularly "vocal" about it! (Ironic, isn't it?)

What this means is that from 220,000 or so people, perhaps not as many as 10-20,000 will leave SL because of voice chat. Perhaps some additional 10-20,000 will be ostracised and discriminated because they're a tiny minority with, literally, "no voice". They will go to their own sims and hold their text-chat events among their tiny group. They'll also lose 90% of their friends and acquaintances. The ones prepared to do that will survive in their voiceless world all by themselves, while everybody else will have fun griefing and shouting around. I'll be on the sims for the voice-impaired, hosting my text-only events, and holding classes for the voice-impaired :) 10-20,000 people will still be a nice community, and I think I can survive there, not being part of the "cool gang" having fun shouting around all over the place... It'll be a cosy, friendly spot in SL, where people will probably be listening to nice music (without voice griefing, it should be great ;) ), on sims where you'll be able to click on a flag to have a "no voice" environment active. While it won't be the same as being part of a large community of voice users, it won't be a catastrophe either. I'm not too worried. SL is about to change in a huge way, and I'm preparing myself psychologically for that — losing all my friends, yes, but also gaining a few new ones in exchange.

Anyway, I have found out that most people have better visual recognition than audio recognition wired into their brains. This is very likely for two or three different reasons: one is that apparently you have much higher "bandwidth" on your optical nerve than on the audio one. Also, as we have evolved from visual-based predators, we're like super-fast pattern-matching brainy devices — while audio recognition is pretty slow and prone to failure.

The biggest reason for "audio chat" has mostly been given as: "it's way faster to talk than to type". That's an undeniable fact. Even a fast typer will probably manage to type 3 times as slow as they speak; most people will probably type 4-5 times slower. So, even text-to-speech devices won't help much here; the voice-impaired will never be accepted with such a device in a "normal" voice region; people won't wait for them to stop typing and listen to a "drone" talking.

On the other hand... and try this at home by reading out loud a bit of text to a friend... we can actually read 10-20 times faster than we can listen to voice! Now this is something that I suddenly realised one day I woke up, when someone called me on the phone, and I forgot what I was doing before picking up the phone. It was a sudden moment of enlightenment. When I'm listening to people, I'm dedicating all my brain to that — to the point that I can't follow a conversation while reading at the same time.

But I can read several things at the same time — and pick up from the spot I left in each one! This rarely fails. So, from the analogy of the brain-as-computer:

- Audio takes 100% of your "brain's CPU" and is low-bandwidth (that's the reason we speak at the rhythm we do; if we could process voice faster, we would speak much faster!)
- Reading (pattern-matching with your eyes) uses a high-bandwidth connection (your optical nerve — where images are even slightly pre-processed before sent) and it works in parallel; also, it takes less "brain CPU" (you can read and do other things at the same time easily), and, the best part of it, you can place "brain bookmarks" on what you're reading :) (ie. it's easy to pick up a train of thought when you're reading several things at the same time; not so when you're listening to someone!)

That's one thing. The second thing is that listening is synchronous. If your attention span is not fully focused on hearing, you loose definition. Typical example: put your stereo on with your favourite music, at normal sound level. Now call a friend on the phone. Disconnect the stereo just before putting the phone down. Do you know what the next bit on the lyrics will be when you turn the stereo back again? :)

A huge amount of people won't know; the best they'll remember was the bit just before they picked the phone up :) It's an amazing discovery — and you'll also see that this is not universal, some people are actually able to remember the words if they know about the test beforehand. To make the test valid, it's better not to tell them what you're going to try out.

This is because apparently we can only "take in" audio synchronously, one "stream" at a time. You simply don't have enough brain CPU & bandwidth for both; music/lyrics "fade into the background" (you know it's there, but it doesn't register consciously, just at a subconscious level) while you pay attention to someone else listening. The same happens in a crowd, where you'll listen to the person yelling the loudest, but all the others will fade into the background.

Now try the example with reading. Read a book, listen to the stereo, close the book. Are you able to find out where you were? :) An astonishing amount of people will probably not be able to listen to the lyrics and read the book at the same time (not enough brain CPU for that!), but as soon as they turn back to the book, they'll find the passage where they were :) (Some people don't; these are the ones that were never able to study in busy cafes, or work while the stereo was on, and have to do the reading in utter silence).

Another example came to my mind. I have attended Philip's Town Hall meetings in the past (often used at the repeaters; the main locations are too rowdish for my taste). The last one, as well as the upcoming one tomorrow, will be all in voice. I mostly remember all the text-based ones. The other day I was trying to remember when Philip announced that they would go the open-source route, and I said to myself... "hmm, October or November 2004". And I was totally right (check it up :) ). Then I tried to remember what Philip announced on the last voice-only Town Hall meeting. I couldn't remember a single line! Although I vaguely remember that Hiro was the first user to speak, and that Selador Cellardoor was having some difficulties in coming out clear... I don't remember anything else at all! What was discussed? What was said? Who participated? It's a total blank; but the worrying bit is that it "blanked" on the following days, while I still remember all the other Town Hall meetings in the past year and a half... even if they're blurred.

And a further example was given by a friend the other day: he was asking another friend if they'd heard the latest podcast. The answer was: "sorry, it takes 45 minutes, I don't have time to listen to it". So true! I'm not a podcast fan for that reason. Something that takes 45 minutes to listen takes just 5 to read — and I can read several things at the same time.

The reason is that reading is "assynchronous" (it doesn't require a continuous stream) and "parallel, multi-tasking". Our brain copes with that much easier.

Also, while a podcast takes exactly the same time to listen in than a "live" session, a chat session which might have taken 2 hours to type can be read in 5-10 minutes. What a difference that makes! (And it's archivable and easily searchable) There is a reason, after all, that we reckon "history" to have started when people started to write things down (around 6,000 years ago or so...). But we had lived in a certain degree of "civilisation" before that, 100-150,000 years ago — we simply don't remember anything about those times! So much for "transmitting lore from one generation to the next". Strangely enough, the move from a virtual society based on written text towards one based on voice cat looks like becoming de-civilised :) It's anachronic and goes against our expectations... Even the TV people, the ultimate image/voice medium, have learned this lesson — and that's why all news channels put the top news on tickers these days :) You can simply browse them to know what the main titles on the news will be; strange for a medium that is supposed to be visual/audio...

So it's really a fallacy to imply that "voice is better than text". Voice is faster for input, about three times as fast as a good typist; text is way faster for output, ie. reading. However, it's not "cool" — voice is just sooo much more geeky ;)

Ah well. Just some thoughts; as said, the move towards voice chat is irrevocable now, and we have to learn to adapt. Again, it means moving with the changes, and remember what we have lost in the process. In the mean time, I fully expect to enjoy myself as long as it lasts, and then move in with the voice-impaired community.

Whereas that is true, a rt transcript of chat or IM does not provide the same cues as listening to a rt voice. Much is lost in translation when someone tries to use cute or clever acronyms or emoticons to convey subtleties of meaning.

Communicating via typing is also a lot slower than verbal communication. In fact, it could be argued that for all but the most experienced typists, typed communication is not real-time communication since it takes longer to type out a sentence than it does to think the thought. With verbal communication, however, the thought is communicated in real-time.

I understand the desire of some people to remain anonymous and not spoil their virtual personality with the reality of their real voice. To me, voice communication is a tool that will enable more fulfilling virtual interactions. I would not use it all the time. But I see it as essential for certain virtual activities.

This will be a shame if it happens. That is why I mentioned that I will not use the voice tool all the time. I respect people's differences and will be more than glad to chat with anyone.



Actually, there are some of us who have the capacity to multistream audio without any data loss. I often find that people who are musically inclined (or well versed in mathematics) tend to have highly developed auditory functions that sometimes rival their optical processing functions. A proof of concept is people who are blind by birth have significantly more developed auditory faculties than the average person. Even people who go blind after being sighted for decades develop better honed auditory abilities--much of it, of course, to compensate for the lose of a sense.

But, there are those of us who can listen to several conversations across the room simultaneously and remember much if not all. In fact, I sometimes have a difficult time in crowded rooms because the conversation can be deafening to me. I seem to hear most every conversation at the same time--yeah, I did not ruin my hearing as a kid by listening to music that was too loud.

I agree that voice is not superior to text in some situations. Text is simply a different tool. It is, however, difficult to express the subtleties of communication via text.

In SL and any other MMORPG, I think voice is better than text. Why? Because the sophistication of text-based conversations are limited. It is difficult to have text conversations about detailed topics without taking a significant amount of time. That is one reason why reading a history digest of a SL chat only takes 5-10 minutes. If you where to transcribe a 45-minute podcast, it would take longer than 5-10 minutes to read. There is much more detail and substance in a verbal conversation versus text-based chat.

But, as you say, it is most likely a moot point since SL will go the way of other virtual worlds and provide voice chat tools--at least I hope that's true!

Ok I said I wouldn't post here again ... but what can I say ... I like punishment.

Anyway, why does the above statement have to be true? Just because we fear it is the case? Now, I agree, this might be true if, in fact, this were a game developed to sell the most ammount of copies and be appealing to the average consumer. The fact is that SL, while I am posisitive it is trying to be a viable economic success, is trying something very different. They are trying to create a user defined world ... a world where the people that live in it make it what it is ... give it it's definition ... it's character. Look at the poll above and you'll see that he vote is split 50/50 practially with a slight edge towards no voice. This is obviously a hot topic issue and Linden should listen to what it's user base (the people creating their world) are wanting. That's why they're starting to have these face to face meetings now. If we voice our opinion ... if we make it known what we, as a community or as a simple majority, desire, then I believe there is a chance that Linden will follow that and give us what we want. Is there still a chance that things could go the other way? Sure. But what harm is there from trying? Stand up ... and let your voice be heard ... wait a second ... never mind.

As to the person who said that typing "also limits it to the physical body" ... well that's true. Unfortunately that argument is mising the main point that the entire game is tied to the body. You use you hands to type and move the mouse. You use your eyes to see the screen. You use your ears to hear your environment. However, even with all of that physicality going on, there is no way any of that ties into my online persona. You can not tell who I am by the words I type or the way I look at the screen ... the way I listen to a piece of music. We're talking about two very different types of physicality here. One that is used to manipulate the world around you but still allowing you the freedom to be who you want to be. The other is used to also be a form of input and output, but it also immediately limits or frames the perception that other's have of you despite what they see of you on the screen. These two items are very diferent and really should not be compared.

Something else that has popped into my mind concerning the talk of auditory and occular systems as being likened to computer data ... It is a very intriguing theory to make. One could argue that while there are a portion (the "musicaly or mathmatically inclined as one stated) would be able to continue their total comprehension of SL with the voice "clogging up the pipe" the vast majority would not be able to. So, in essence, the demand that voice chat be absolutely included would signifigently harm many's enjoyment and emerssion into the world ... all so that some people wouldn't have to use a third party app. Interesting.

I also find it incredibly facinating that people are still using the argument of "Well I wouldn't use it all the time so it's ok." I would assume that it is a male who has made such an argument, and if i am wrong, please allow me a measure of your forgiveness, but I think it canonly be that way because you could not have expereinced being a female in a game that has voice chat. Besides the reluctance of anyone actually believing you when you tell them what gender you are, you have constant verbal harassment as well from people saying things like, "your voice sounds hot, would you like to fly cross country to go on a date?" or "Oh you really are a girl ... i didn't think there were any girls on the interweb!" Now true, that is not most people, but it is significant enough to be incredibly annoying to those of us with an IQ over say ... 50. Also true, there would probably be a mute feature to disable voice for a particualr individual. The only issue with that is that in order to know you have to mute them, they have to say something offensive first and then the damage is already done. I tend to frown on the fact that I only get to defend myself after being assaulted ... either physically or verbally.

Then there is the tried and true argument that you wouldn't hace to have it enabled. While very true, the ostracizing, judgementalism, and excommunication of all those that do not engage in voice has already been made very clear in my earlier post so I won't ruin everyone's day by repeating what I have already said. I say that I will not ruin everyone's day by repeating what I just said. Oh, that's supposed to be funny by the way, maybe if I had spoken it, it would have come across much better ... or perhaps it would have come across just the same because it wasn't that good of a joke to begin with ... regardless this thread is not about my sense of comedic timing any more than it is about how they manage to get the chocolate inside the candy shell of M&Ms. Let me just say this and be done with it. Will voice chat enable some people who would enjoy it to communicate more quickly and efficently? Yes. Will voice chat harm the emersion of the game for many people? Yes. Will voice chat cause some people to leave even if it is a small number? Yes. Will voice chat cause people who are roleplaying as another gender, age, ethnicity, or nationality to be unable to do that any longer and effectively kill their SL? Yes. Will voice chat cause those that refuse to use it to be relegated to second class citizens of SL? Yes. Is voice really needed in light of all of the effects it will have ... both positive and negative? That is up for you to judge.

Now I'm going to go read a book ... and get lost in the sights and sounds ... of words.

To some--probably most as SL currently stands--the platform is a game for fun and role playing. That is fine and nothing should change in the platform to ruin that experience for those who wish their real persona to remain hidden.

It is interesting to note that with the people and groups that I have gotten to "know" in SL, most of the conversations are about RL events, careers, and family. Now, whether some are making up alternate realities or not is something that is impossible to tell for the most part.

For others--a very small minority at this time I admit--the SL platform is a RL tool for conducting business and distance education. Like me, these people do not have an interest in role playing or creating alternate identities.

I am perfectly happy with my real life. I do not feel the need nor enjoy the possibilities of creating an alternate identity with which to fool people. I am interested in the SL platform for RW business applications. To me, voice capabilities are essential. In fact, I wish residents had an option to use their real name instead of a fictitious name. I cannot conduct real-world business through a virtual interface with someone who's name I truly do not know, with someone who's identity I cannot verify.

Currently, I do not have a vested interest in the SL platform. It does not make good business sense since there are other options coming down the pipeline. So, if the SL community--with LL's blessing--decides to move the platform in a direction that is not conducive to RW business applications, I will simply use a different platform.



I agree with this statement. Voice should not be enabled across the platform. It should be a feature that the owner of a piece of land (or maybe just a sim) can either enable or disable. That way, as you stated earlier, the SL world would still be a "user defined world."

Furthermore, it should be made possible to limit the range of voice chat to a certain distance--something similar to Spin Martin's Multiverse Records building where the audio stream is limited to a 16 sqm or so plot for each recording artist. Leave that spot, and you can no longer hear the stream.



Although it is true that via voice it is easier to quickly grief or offend someone, either on purpose or by honest mistake, there is plenty of offensive conduct that occurs in-world using text-based chat or visual animations. In fact, the radius at which an avatar starts picking up text-based chat is set to about the same distance as most people would pick up voice chat.

But I agree that there are many immature residents in SL and I know that I would find their worthless banter just as useless and offensive as you do.

I wonder if using SL and only SL with no other assistance is the best venue for opperating a RL buisness venture. Don't get me wrong, I see a tremendous ammount of people opening stores, selling land, or offering services to people across the grid. I admire those people that do so very well and respect those that are actually able to make a real life income from such transactions. However, even with the option of voice, you will still be reliant solely on what they tell you about themselves for identity. They could just as easily tell you a lie about something as they could type it out. I wonder if you could look at some venture like SL Botique. It is a web based retail site that sells SL items. People can purchase them from the site, a place where you register information about yourself and your preferred method of payment, either credit card, pay pal, or lindens if I am not mistaken, and then the object is delivered to you in SL. This way you get the best of both worlds: A way to either confirm or deny that the person you are doing buisness with is actually that individual and a way to create a stable infrastructure that is not reliant on SL or any changes that they make now or down the pipeline. You could even have your store in game with something you could click on that would open up a browser window directly to the spot that item could be purchased. Maybe even a place they could use to download skype and call you with any questions or to arrange further buisness. Skype just recently announced that for the remainder of the year all calls using it from within the US to real phones inside the US as well will be free of charge. You could have them call your cell that you would always have with you. It could be a truly mobile interent based enterprise. I honestly don't know if that is a viable option for you, but it is a possibility I thought that I would mention.

**edit**
I actually do not think that SL Botique allows you to pay in anything other than Lindens now that I think more about it. I think this is the best, because using other methods of payment coudl disrupt the economy of SL tremmendously in a similar way to the gold farmers in games like WoW. You could still use the buisness model, though. Have the SL store as your "brick and mortor" location, with all of the transactions of Lindens taking place via orders submitted and fullfilled via the site.
**end edit**

One of the reasons I love SL so much is that it can be different things for different people. For someone like you, it can be a place to investigate buisness possibilities. For others it can be a place to roleplay as a different persona and have fun doing it. For others it is a way to express who they truly are but the real world has refused to let them be. There are just so many ways that SL can be used and I find it incredible. I honestly hope that you do not think that I am attacking you or your ideas personally. I really admire what you are trying to do with the buisness aspect of SL and I wish you all the luck in the world doing so. In fact, I am in the midst of trying to get something settled in SL myself. Not neccessarily as a real life venture, but still a way to develop the working aspect of SL as well as the life aspect of SL.

I guess I'm just coming out of a very real fear that if and when voice is brought in to SL, it will be done poorly and without thought to all of the things I mentioned early. I really do dread the time that a "talk button" is available anywhere and everywhere and I believe from what you have said previously that you do as well. I appreciate your candor as I hope you appreciate mine. If there are ways that SL could integrate voice to be used on it's own seperate bandwith pipe and only for retail establishments that woule benefit from the use of it instead of making it a world wide option that is available, then I think that would be acceptable. Unfortunately I still have to kep my vote as a "no" because of the slippery slope that could orrur one something like it is introduced. I can only seeing it roll downhill, picking up more on the journey down. I wish you the best for your venture and hope that everything you do in SL is a success.

Morrigan:

I do not think you are attacking me at all. I appreciate your point of view and candor. You make very valid points, points that need to be carefully discussed and addressed to the satisfaction of those who are concerned about the possibility of voice chat in SL.

I run a media company in RL. We have RL products and services. My interest in the SL platform is to extend functionality to our clients via the virtual world. As I said somewhere else--I'm not sure where--currently in SL, we are experimenting with one, small store to learn the inner workings of the SL economy. But our plans for the 3D Internet, are much bigger than virtual stores selling virtual goods. We believe that virtual environments can offer RW benefits to RW people.

I also appreciate your wishes of good luck.

No one is forcing voice, but it should be available as an option. If 90% of the world starts to use it exclusivley, they are exercising their option. The second thing I'd like to see, is a live webcam face on an avatar head. Logitech has a camera that can also put your facial expressions on a furry etc. rendered avatar head.

This lets us use gestures and facial expressions. Remember, the Black Sun doesn't make the Metaverse, it's Juanita's facially expressive avatars.

Oh yeah, and I need a handshake animation. I think you can enable more commerce with voice, webcam face and handshake.

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Logitech Webcam Demo: http://reuben.typepad.com/ (April 29th blog entry)
So I'd like to see the option of putting this live feed on as the head of an avatar. At first, maybe it'd be "flat faced" but it's a start.

There was an OpenCroquet demo that had a 2-d multimedia pane (?) of live webcam video that travelled above the head of the avatar (forget whether it was Alice or the rabbit).

There have been a few calls for handshake and other typical social gestures. Handshakes apparently are hard due to differences in handshaking avatars.

So actually these aren't my ideas at all, but I'd still like to see them all in SL.

Pelanor:

Interesting ideas!

You seem to have things backwards. I was referring to voice->text transcription. That is, you would talk and that would be transcribed to text. You would be able to talk just as fast as you wanted, and people would be able to read just as fast as they could keep up. It's a win-win solution.
This has nothing to do with being anonymous. I use email in preference to voice mail, chat in preference to conference calls, voice communications is so full of redundancies and awkwardness and misunderstandings, and is such an intrusion, that I'm not going to use it in SL nor remain in SL were it to become a commonplace thing.

And this attitude is VERY common among programmers. Let's see how SL survives with a bunch of its most productive people leaving...

Ah, my mistake. Yes, that would be an acceptable alternative.



Interesting...

My desire for voice chat is to conduct business in an efficient manner when needed. Trying to conduct business via email or text-chat is cumbersome at times. If fact, in my industry, I find that email is often used inappropriately. Sometimes picking up the phone and having a 5-10 minute conversation is a more efficient and effective way to communicate than reading through a bunch of emails over the course of a day. I can get more done in a 5 minute phone call than in an hours worth of emails.

But, I appreciate your position and would hope that voice chat would not be enabled in a manner that would drive you or others away. Your contributions to SL are indeed important and help make the world more intriguing.

Why don't you just call them on the phne while you're in SL?

I find that picking up a phone and having a ten minute conversation turns into scheduling a phone conference for 2:30 tomorrow, by which time if the other people are capable of responding to email in a timely manner the conference can be avoided because it's fixed in email.
A 5 minute phone call when I'm working on a problem can mean another 20 minutes getting back to where I was, so spending 10 minutes in 30 second intervals over the day when I've got a moment to spend is way more effective.

Chat versus voice isn't so straighforward, but the ability to immediately put your thoughts into words leads to way more interruptions, and voice is harder to review, and you can't skip over someone repeating something obvious in voice... you HAVE to listen.

Some people are more effective that way, but others find it frustrating, and others just think they're effective... there's people I dread phone calls from who are really on top of things in email.

I have done that when it is just a few people. But one of our objectives is to have large conventions and conferences via virtual realms. It saves a lot of travel expense and time. The ability to have real, voice conversations would make this idea practical. Having paying clients sit around typing and reading is not an option.



Yeah, your points are valid. Of course, I'm in the position of being everyone's boss so it is efficient for me to pick up the phone and I bet frustrating for everyone else.

I do use email extensively but will pick up the phone and get everyone together via a conference call when an issue that has taken 20 emails to discuss can be realistically settled within 5 minutes. I look at the collective time that all participants have put into reading and writing emails on a given topic. If it is approaching the combined time that it would take everyone to have a phone conversation, I switch to voice and settle the issue if possible.

The only reason anyone wants voice chat is to find out whether the person they're talking to has breasts or a penis. Or because you want to let people know the same.

Period.

Ergh.

And you want to use *SL* for this?

There's enough problems with lag making *text* come up out of order. Getting voice to work for more than a few agents per sim seems optimistic to say the least!