Do We HAVE To Use Voice??

To echo another thread" You know you've been in SL too long when you don't use voice because it will disturb the rest of the household....and you live alone."

I use voice already, in a manner of speaking. I use speech-recognition to turn my voice into text during chat as well as control some aspects of the SL interface/client.

But I also multi-task, meaning I'm prone to switching to e-mail to check or reply to mail. I'm not sure if my dictated e-mail would be heard in SL if the window isn't active, but it may. I'll have to test it out... with a benign e-mail. ha ha. But the last thing I'm sure anyone near me in SL wants to hear is some long winded diatribe on the benefits of speech-recognition for the small practice lawyer or whatever.

I'll come back to SL and everyone will be asleep!

It's push to talk in theory so it won't. Just came back from beta.....the new chatterbox.....I think people will start using voice because it will give them less of a headache that trying to figure out the new "ChatterBox"

Sorry ... couldn't resist .... <guffaw>

Push to talk. Ahhh, so I still have to touch the keyboard?! Or just a button? Maybe I can voice activate that. Ohh, it'll be like closed captioned for the hearing impaired -- voice and text... LOL That might be fun... mess with people's minds.

Should I apologize for my bad puns? LOL

.....

Apology most certainly not needed or asked for Lucrezia

I'm intrigued by your speech recognition. I had IBM ViaVoice bundled with some deal a long while back when it was 'bleeding edge' and have often wondered how successful its decendants have been.

Presumably then, you could programme a macro/whatever to 'push to talk' with a vocal command?

Is this Morse?

Never! Proudly take ownership of them.

Well i guess i'm glad we won't have to use voice, because i can't. I am worried that it will cause a rift in the community though. Also not looking forward to even more unwanted proposals from weirdos And pretty annoyed that the blog message replies were capped at 100 yet again, because how are we ever going to get questions on this subject answered. Like: sudden talk of payment, what's that about? And do i understand correctly that i have to listen to others using voice even if i don't use it (this is of course presuming they will take the trouble to communicate with me at all)? And does this mean i have to wear headphones every minute i spend in the world? Soooooooooooo not looking forward to this!

Plantronics is the Cadillac of headsets, and the $80 one has DSP (digital signal processing), which adds to the cost. The site does offer some other choices; USB headsets in the $50 range, and some even less expensive ones that connect to your soundcard. Check local outlets as well to see if you can get a better deal. Logitech also makes some nice headsets that work well for Second Life. Remember that you want a STEREO headset for Second Life; the mono ones (the kind that only cover one ear) that some people use for Skype, etc. won't do, because you'll lose all the benefits of spacialized audio.

If you have a laptop or a desktop with integrated audio, I'd recommend one of the USB headsets; the microphone inputs on motherboards are usually rather noisy, and even the outputs are sometimes noisy at headphone playback levels, though they're usually OK through speakers. If you have a quality separate sound card, you should do just fine with a headset that connects to it.

Another option that some people might prefer is a headset plus a desktop microphone. Logitech makes a USB microphone that is worth a look if you take that route. Just remember that you can't use SPEAKERS plus a desk microphone; you'll get feedback and annoy everybody around you.

As it happens, I'm not a fan of voice in SL... just saying what you'll need if you DO want to use it.

I was teasing.

Speech-recognition has gotten much better. Generally I achieve about 99% accuracy, but if I'm tired or it's martini time, then my voice is affected, and thusly my accuracy is diminished. But anyone I spend time with in SL knows I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking and can usually suss out its errors (or ask if unclear). But I also use it to control my computer environment.

I was working on a command set for use with SL but they keep changing the menu so I'm still sussing out what to do about that -- do I release a new version of my voice commands every time LL changes the menu or do I just pare the voice commands back to the most commonly used ones?

Either way, I should finish it off, and the vocabulary, and unleash it on other people who use Dragon in SL with the caveat that "menu can and will change".

Yes, I'll likely be able to programme a "push to talk" voice command, except I dictate punctuation. And if Dragon completely mangles my output in an IM before I send it, I usually say "scratch that" and re-dictate. LOL

It'll be interesting.

Default is the middle mouse button but can be switched to just about anything.

not hardware problems for me, usually it was whereever teamspeak was hosted

ppl always sounded like they were on bad cell phones

hehe

80 bucks for a headset???? gold lined?
I got mine at about 15US.. and it works just fine for voice, DJing skype, anything I have tried it with...

Ah, c'mon now.

OP is asking if we all have to use "voice." He mentioned "some of us have distinctive voices'.
Destinctive how? Like a female av having a manly voice behind it? Or a male av having a female voice behind that one?

I guess many won't like being discovered and those won't use it. Now, if you don't have anything to hide then I imagine you will use it. Having an accent is nothing, long as you're understandable it will be fine.

I see so many excuses as why certain players won't use voice. But many people here including myself know the main reason is being discovered you're not really a female behind your female av and the same goes for females playing male av's.

I suspect the same thing

do not understand why ppl are so upset.

sure if it was something we could not choose even I would be upset and I am for voice...

then again I DJ so I have nothing to hide, a lot of ppl have heard my voice over the airways

What they said. Plus after so many years of working tech support (F-YOU DELL) I barely notice a headset on my head.


And if a lot of people are point out that they don't want to hear people be annoying with their voices and what not, did anybody think the maybe the userbase was becoming the problem and not the voice feature?

I hope you don't mind if I weigh in on headsets.

Plantronics are overpriced for their technology, actually. They're out of date by a bit, although some people like their headsets. BUT, if you get them cheap enough, it's all good. They're not the best for speech-recognition, but they are good for most gamers. Still overpriced. And please don't save money and buy the cheaper Plantronics headsets -- those are quite diminished in quality.

Sennheiser is a fantastic product, with crystal clear sound. No matter whether you buy their $300 or considerably lower priced models, they're all good.

Some Andrea headsets are fantastic, however... they ran into manufacturing glitches a few years ago and about half the headsets they produce don't meet our standards. But if you find a good one -- take care of it.

USB vs soundcard -- USB is definitely better (unless the USB or mic is of really poor quality), but a good soundcard and good analogue headset will suffice as well.

Hope that helps. Cheers.

Sooo, the lines are already being drawn..... "Anyone not using voice has something to hide"..... I tried voice on test grid and found it very annoying. I often have a movie on the TV next to my monitor and I couldnt hear it well. I tried using it on test and didnt enjoy the constant jabbering. Soooo, I guess I have something to hide, hehehe

The concept is okay, perhaps, but I simply dont want it or need it. SL is my world, my imagination.... I dont need approval from anyone for the choices I make in SL

Medusa 5.1 ProGamer Edition. Over at www.speed-link.com. I can only describe it as an eargasm.

but think of all the horndogs with voice and the whole new spectre of other peoples makin you listen to thier conversations......ummm boy im lookin forward to that....


and a show of hands please, How many use skype? or vonage or some other voice chat proggie? and i can assure anyone who feels that others have something to hide that its not the case. i can understand Jigs POV, and respect it without assuming the worst.

so use voice or not, its your choice. but don't get all Gestapoish on others if they chose not to. sometimes an orange is just a dang orange.

on and on the headsets? Radio Shack 14.99.

lol. True. But once again, that's not a problem with voice. That's a problem with SL's user base.

Ohhh, thank you! I'll check that out! I'm always looking for new quality mic products.