3D Voice coming to SL?

The M2 has posted on thier main page (http://www.metaversemessenger.com) that LL has announced that 3D Voice is coming to SL, although at this time I can't find a mention of it on the blog or in the beta release notes...am I missing it?

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6162410.html?tag=st.num

Apparently is ok to announce something like this to ZDNet before bothering to tell the residents...

Thanks to Kitty Barnett for the link

To avoid splintering the conversation, there is a good thread going here:

/13/75/168136/1.html

Voice for everyone BUT $195/month sims? What a CROCK OF SHIT!

I got it from the "Integrated voice is coming next month?" (/13/ee/168516/1.html) thread by wudangtiger Arrow on Feature Suggestions .

Hey Dnel

I read about this in the news as well. My take is that it might be better to stick with Skype or TeamSpeak in the short term, for a couple reasons. First, Skype and TS work regardless of your location, whereas it seems SL Voice will work the same way streaming media works, only if you're within the region/parcel. Second, Skype and TS allow access limits and control of who can join the conversation. Third, Skype and TS continue to operate when SL crashes on you, so you don't lose a chunk of conversation.

The jury is still out on what controls LL will build into the voice system. But, imagine you're talking to a friend via SL Voice and think ya'll are alone in the region, only another avatar has crept into the corner, unnoticed by you... that person could eavesdrop on your conversation until caught. If LL builds audible cues when people come and go, that would help in more private sims, but would be very annoying in busy areas.

As I think about this, I wonder about a possibility... since this only applies to folks with full-server tier... what if LL could create applications that run outside of SL, but run on the server you lease from LL? In this case, a chunk of your server-space could be dedicated to a 3rd-party voice application such as TeamSpeak conferencing. You could set it to route voice only for folks on the parcel, or you could set it to route voice only for friends on your list with a 'voice option' enabled - and voice chat would work globally between those friends. I guess I'm thinking outloud and drifting off-topic... but it'd be just as neat if your estate server could run a miniscule database with limited scripting in and out.

They announced this as a Possible Future feature some Months ago, It's not news. Back when i Played in TSO, there were people who Voiced with other players as they played, the Problem was, they began Ignoring the text. It was particularly bad when they were Hosting an event, and three or four of them were in Voice, and as far as they were concerned that was thier whole Party, thier Guests went Neglected. Popularity of thier hose decreased, because they were so busy Voicing, no one else in the game could get thier attention.
It was Rude.

IRL I'm Naturally (Intensely) Shy. One of my Little quirks, apart from avoiding crowds, is an Intense Dislike of Talking on Phones, or other Electronic means (I almost paralyse when i have to talk to an answering machine. Lol.).

Voice is NOT a Feature i will be using. what's the point of Having me on voice when all other people will hear is almost Inaudible inarticulate whispers? Lol.

Angel.

When will Skype etc. be adding 3DVEs to their products?

This seems like a fun idea. I will use it if I can, but not 24/7. There is now an official blog post about this.

http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/02/27/bringing-voice-to-second-life/

I can see alot more crashing and bugs if this happens! OMG we are in deep poop! If you thought 1.6 and 1.7 was bad? This will nothing to what voice well bring to the game.........]I have a better Idea...........Lets fix what broken and THEN forward.....

It's going to be on 3rd party system, so it shouldn't really affect lag.... or so they say.

Anyway, I'm sure most of the residents will be turning off the "Enable voices" feature in their config. I know I will.

Cool Mainland values are going up go to an Island if you wanna talk

Angel, this new feature will be an obstacle not only for shy people. English is not my mother tongue, and typing gives me some time to build sentences, remembering words, doing corrections, and so on. Having to talk in realtime makes me shudder. Because of my job I am used to talking about technical stuff, no problem, but conversations on parties, with several people simultaneously, will turn the game into stress. I have already made that experience when I spent 3 months in the U.S. some years ago - the first party was the last one that I visited. The voice feature will discriminate all people who are not ready witted and perfect in daily English conversations.
Horst

Well then, that's 99% of native speakers discriminated against

It already does my head in reading the word "woot" after every sentance. I can think of nothing worse than actually having to listen to hyper annoying Americans squawking this in my ear all day. (no offense meant to non hyper annoying Americans).

Maybe you'll be able to use the voice feature to improve your english?

Seems a bit of a shame to dismiss things because you're not very good at them. People would never learn anything if they kept avoiding everything that made them feel inefficient.

Isn't there a lot of people that can't type and feel discriminated against when in amongst a crowd of nerds that can type?.

Most people I know in the real world can't type at all. So Second Life isn't really an option for them when it comes to socializing and chatting.

Angel, I'm not at all shy in RL but I too just HATE using the phone. I once tried a headset and mike on a PC and it was even worse. I just can't bring myself to chat to a screen! And imagine the cacophany of voices in a club! Yeah, dozen's of adolescents all shouting "Woot" and pretending to laugh as loud as they can.

Still, the 20% of escorts who are actually female might make big money.

As for me, if/when voice comes, I leave. So sad.

Love Suzi

You know its been talked about for over 2 years nothing is new here as you say... Yes you are correct. Gesh Lets fix other broken parts before they add new ones for LLabs to break.

Pardon me? I know you can turn it off, but thats my point its useless. I said this before they talked about voice since 1.8 client. Do I care well stand point for the future growth yes. But for the over all condition of the client NO!

Just read this post by Joe Linden:-
Blog - Voice Chat in SL interesting reading... but..... why add more features when the core of the system isn't functioning properly anyway... just candy to keep the kids quiet?

Yes, there are allot of problems to be fixed right now, some that have been o/s for months/years, and I am sure there is a dedicated team working on resolving these, but this shouldn't stop LL from developing new features, they can do this at the same time as addressing older issues. They just need to get the balance right. In my opinion they will never iron out all of the bugs, but this is just a fact of life and is reflected accross 75% of the gaming/software industry. It's naive of people to expect LL to stop all new development in order to fix every existing problem. This is not the way the world works and as a species, we would never have got anywhere if we didnt keep trying to develop and implement new ideas. At the end of the day SL works. Most days I can log in, build, chat, explore, and make lots of money, everything else is just a bonus and I wish people would just focus on all the good things that SL has to offer rather than just wallowing in their own negativity.

Can't wait for all the newbies shouting "c***" at the top of their lungs. This is another reason why I won't be enabling voice chat anytime soon.

I will not use it, I will not pay for it, and I will disable it on any parcel I control.

See my post in the poll on this topic for a list of my reasons.

When this feature comes, if you try to use it to talk to any of my characters, you'll be ignored completely. Simply because I won't hear it, and I won't give a damn if I see some visual cue that you're trying to talk audibly to me.

Maybe they should add a floating "ear" icon over those willing to use this feature, so you won't waste time talking audibly to someone who "prefers to be deaf and mute".

That and all those penis and otehr remarks.NO THANKS thats al i need is my boss to hear this coming from my computer

I won,t use it, for reasons mentioned above but also because when I meet acharacter, I create inmy mind an idea of what their voice would sound like based on thir appearance. The giuy in the English Pub, with the spikyhair and rugby shirt on should sound like that, not some guy from Minnesota.

Voice in SL is never going to be as good as a dedicated 3rd party app like skype or teamspeak, and its not like LL have a reputation for providing rock solid services.

Ive used skype with SL and have found it mixed, works well when you want to talk to someone but do separate things in SL. Bad when your with people who dont have voice as you tend to talk about them and not type as much (if at all).

I do not like being around people I know are using skype when I am not included in the chat.

what happens when you walk over a parcel border and youre talking to yourself, will this force people to stand in groups as you cant explore or shop and talk?

SL crashes ALL THE TIME.

SL lags ALL THE TIME - and no matter what LL say, I have yet to see anything that doesnt make you lag in someway.

This smacks of a nice headline feature to grab attention, and maybe justify bumping tier rates up.

LL - if you want more income - charge more of your users, not charge exiting paying users more.