do we even want voice?

Your not joking! infact that start back in 2006. And if Lindens had issues with you in their past SL avies. They sure did use their power to make life hard for you. And caused the same harm to those they has issues with?

Did you know there is a rule that Mentors can`t have ANY banning marks on their names? But holaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa there they are known cheaters and ex griefters in the ranks of mentor ( AFTER THE THE RULE CHANGE BLUE LINDEN NOT BEFORE) Now I wonder how many made Linden?

This is where we disagree, and that's okay I feel that the ability to mute a resident solves ALL harassment problems (At least, the ones caused by someone saying something in voice or text chat that offends someone else). I feel that there is only a "problem" with harassment via text or voice chat if someone is either ignorant of how to use the mute function, or they have missed their daily dose of internet drama and are getting their fill. The wonderful thing about second life is that your experience is generally what you are looking for: if you like music and dancing you'll probably be in the clubs, and if you like internet drama and feeling offended and speaking with customer service on a daily basis to inform them that someone hurt your feelings, you'll find a way to have fun doing that

I'm not talking about harassment cases like scripted attacks, or cases where a player is attempeting to prevent another player from being able to use second life. Those are denial of service type attacks, and those are what the lindens should be dealing with. The fact that they even have to ever waste more then 1 second dealing with "Soand so called me a *insert colorful word*" or "I was using voice chat and soandso said *insert colorful word*" -- please. The grid is boinked, asset server been barely working for 2 days now, there's so much bug fixing to be done, there's real stuff going on out there that actually needs to be dealt with.

Alright they want a voice program.. but i can still use Skype or ventrilo that dosent cause trouble and dont make anyone else lag

beside thats more personal and you can invite whoever you want..

I so feel bad about the RP that will go soon on the streets,,, u know.. someone that write thats not too bad.. but when people come to talk? omg.. omg that will be so ugly have you thinked about it?

i will want to throw my speaker each time.

they should make chanel voice out the game with in game link to join that specifique channel. thats my opinion... and yes all the people can use vent or skype that do the same thing.. and no one complain

As in this discussion, you are too fast to assume that my use of the term "free speech" was being used in the usual ignorant way. I'm referring to the current system of rules in Second Life only. As it stands:

* I can say anything that I want to in a PG sim, as long as I don't use what some consider "foul" or "offensive" language or remarks of a sexual nature. If I violate these rules, then I may be warned / suspended /deleted

* I can say anything that I want to in a Mature sim, as long as I don't harass others who ask me not to harass them, make racist remarks, or violate the other rules Liden Labs has in place in regards to my speech. If I violate this rule, I may be suspended/banned.

* As a land owner, I can ban anyone who says anything I don't like from my area, and I don't have to have a reason. I can ban them becuase I don't like the way they look, or becuase I don't like their surname. As long as I don't harass them, it's okay.

* As a player, other land owners can ban me for any reason.

I think that's pretty free speech, actually! It has some restrictions, of course, but I'm 100% comfortable with all of them and am able to express myself fully in second life and have not been in trouble for a violation of any rule, ever! I fail to see how the addition of voice chat warrents any changes to the current policy, nor do I think any changes to the policy are needed to prevent people from feeling "harassed."

Much like real life, changes to the world of Second Life mean that you either adapt to the changes and find a way to live happilly, or you don't and you choose to be unhappy with the world around you.

Time to adapt to the changes in the world around you and find a way to deal with them, becuase new features and changes to this world are common and are part of the experience.

It's in human nature to resist and fear change. But change is what makes us come out better for the experience. If you are into RP and you fear the effects that voice chat is going to have on it, maybe you should get involved into finding a way to use voice chat to **enhance** the RP community. Use the changes in the world around you to better your expreience, not make it worse.

Quite how will that work? Your friend, who's a 7ft fierce looking wolf (furry) suddenly turns out to have a soft squeaky effeminate voice; the Gorean Master turns out to be similarly softly spoken; the cute little neko has a voice like Barry White.

Let's not even get into the amount of female escorts and 'girlfriends' that are male too.

Broccoli

no i just cant... sometime it just kill it,,, it make it become too close to reality
people might not understand that for me a RPers i do all my stuff in Chat
if it come to voice alot of stuff wont be writen down witch mean we will miss thing out.
and also for comunication it is way more easy for me to read than talk in english since its not my first language.

LOL... I heard once in Everquest a fae monk talking on Vent... with an Texas accent. Sorry, that ruins RP....

Morwen.

Off the top of my head? I bet you could corner the RP market right this second by getting some people together and figuring out a way to get around the problem you speak of. Software to digitally alter a voice is common and not the most advanced thing in the world, I bet you could figure out a way to incorporate something like that into your world and use it to make the experience better.

I have to ask: Why use voice at all in your RP situation if you feel that it will not work? If text chat is what holds your RP together and makes it work, then you should probably stick with it.

As far as the female escorts and girlfriends that are male also: i've never had the desire or understood the concept to begin with, and I frankly could care less about the situation of guys that pretend to be girls. I use second life for totally different reasons, and I have no desire to get involved in any of the escort cybersecks foolishness. In fact, I find the concept of paying L$ to see digital nudity / sexual acts a little silly in the first place I don't have any problem with it being there, and if other people enjoy it and it causes more L$ to change hands on a daily basis, then I don't see any problems.

If the introduction of voice into second life means that a bunch of dudes that pretend to be chicks in order to earn their L$ find themselves out of a job, I'm not gonna loose too much sleep worrying about that one, and I'm willing to bet neither will most people except the guy that can't find work anymore pretending to be a girl.

I had enough trouble when my house in sl was bugged by a jealous "boyfriend" and I faced the music for rather "naughty" behaviour - I have NO wish to have my voice recorded or used by anyone else in SL or RL. Voice is a naive idea with insanely dangerous proportions.
And I think we all have to get over the male/famale identity issue. Voice alteration technique will soon catch up to SL so once more severely threatened males will be in doubt again.
Speaking as a female (and not expecting a reply) I have NEVER bothered with finding out whether the male I am having a relationship with IS really a man; all I care about is if their are exciting and interested in me.
And let's not "diss" on people who do want relationships - sexual or otherwise - in SL. Thre are always misanthropic and standoffish people in every society. Sex is good whatever way you do it.

Please. It's only a naive idea with insanely dangerous proportions for those of you that put yourselves into dramatic weird situations like that in the first place.

To suggest that a feature should not be included becuase you choose to engage in "naughty" internet drama is silly.

True that -- but the very concept of RP in everquest was pretty silly to begin with

I'm not actually what you'd call a "role player", my thoughts were just general.

But the point is... after spending money on an overpriced microphone, then spending money buying voice changer software... on top of an already over-priced game if you own land ... not everyone can afford that, you know. I just found one for $30, which although not expensive, if I needed to buy it for my SL, that's the only thing I'd want it for, and honestly couldn't justify the expense.

Broccoli

You're "silly" too - so dont patronise me with "please this" and "please that" LOL. See my revised note above and retain sense of humour
Hello Morwen - seems we enter "battle" once again!

Then you should maybe visit the RP servers and join the a good RP orientated guild there. There many good ones around... from friendly RP to hard core. And the lore of Everquest is awesome.

Morwen.

Try wal-mart, I got a great mic for $6.99

I was just sugessting that some voice chaging software + the voice client that is part of SL could = some pretty cool RP possiblities. I'm totally not into the RP thing at all myself, but there's gotta be someway to use the new features to enhance the RP -- someone will come up with something, that's just how these things always go

I want voice sometimes, but hate how they have destroyed text chat by not allowing seperate windows for IM and local chat.
If people aren't ignoring you by using voice, they're ignoring you because they're in IM, way to kill all social networking guys.........................

Oh, I have a *great* sense of humor, trust me.

I find the concept of any and all the drama that comes from the cybersecks lovers in SL very funny. Come on, admit it, a jelous boyfriend bugging some girls house in SL to find acts of cyber sex? That's not just funny, that's worth building some seating and charging $10 L admission tickets so we can watch the show as it happens versus having to only read about it on the boards.

I'm not trying to be rude, please believe me. I simply find your sugesstion that Linden Labs not include voice chat becuase of your personal tastes for cybersex and internet drama both highly amusing and worth commenting on. I have no problem with sex, online or offline. Mine just comes drama free.

I think IMs are essential - as used in transactions and other social interchange. Art galleries can become ludricous places when everyone is chatting. I can model and IM at the same time. My hands are not always tap-tapping. In-world artists are as frustrated as Real world artists when the model fidgets. I know that I would find the sound of a human voice VERY disconcerting when I am listening to music (which is often the classical repertoire) and I am on-line.

Guess I just never got into it -- but I agree that the lore of Everquest is awesome and quite cool

Oh dear.
Sex without drama is like buffalo without the wings.

Care to elaborate?

I just did (see above) but we better stop since other readers will start to get irritated with our "banter" Bye for now. I go SL world - come up and see me sometime BIG boy ...

<lmao> I like your update I just personally have never found a need for the drama, but that's just me

Take care.

Okay - by the way the Grid is back on.