3D Voice coming to SL?

Here is one reason why voice will not become commonly used amongst the general population of SL (with the exception of education, business meetings, and some sex businesses, possibly one-on-one private talks).

SL is not technologically advanced enough yet to make voice usable. Here is what I mean... in RL, when you talk to people there are body language nuisances and mannerisms which affect the outcome of your spoken responses. These minor points cannot currently be simulated in SL. This would require a camera constantly scanning the RL person and applying the scanned subtle nuissances to their avatar in real time. Can't currently be done, therefore voice in SL won't work well, therefore people will not use it (except in the special cases I mentioned above). Have you ever used conference calling? Notice how awkward it is because you can't see anybody?

Using typing to communicate bring everybody to the lowest common denominator of communication. This works well with the capabilities of technology today.

So, lets all stop bashing voice and being scared of it. It's not a threat, it's just a nifty new add-on for areas of SL that can make proper use of it. The rest of us go on as usual.

More and more, it seems to me that LL posts on the blog are talking about and aimed at business clients... not us little guys. And they are not answering the questions and concerns of us little guys, so we end up frustrated, scared and angry.

while were talking about it, We probably all know about the existences of Trillian and GAIM for connecting to yahoo, AIM, ICQ, and MSN. Thats basically what I'm looking for for skype. Anyone know of one? My friends and i always have disconnects randomly in conferences and i want to see if it's client related. Plus i think skype is a resource hog. But seeing that my friends all use skype, i don't want to switch to a completely different service all together.

correct on all counts!

I dont agree with this. Millions of people affectively use TS and skype when playing other MMO games and the lack of body language is not a hinderence. Basically what you seem to be saying is the equivelent to saying that telephones do not work effectively enough for people to bother using them and I think the billions of people worldwide who use phones on a daily basis would disagree.

These are my sentiments exactly.

As I said in my post, one-on-one is fine. Phones obviously work for that. Group discussions, like what you see mostly happening in SL, will not work well. As my point about conference calls. Voice is great for business purposes and quick things that people say in first person shooter games. Not great for general chit chat in group settings, which is what the majority of communications in SL is.

But we can only wait and see how it catches on in SL.

well put AHHAHAHA

???

It sounds like a neat feature -- that I will never use. For three big reasons.

1. It dun fit my character, so dat's out.

2. Like others here, I'm shy. Dis place helps with dat -- but one of the things dat helps it is dat I dun hafta talk. I do use a phone IRL when I hafta, but I avoid 'em as much as I can. I am jes very self-conscious with 'em

3. My computer has enough troubles with features like audio and video, let alone simple goodies like local lighting and ripple water. Adding 3D chat to my mix would lag me in spite of LLs claims it would not -- it's one of those "it's not you, it's me" kinda tings.

I know a lotta folks'll love this, an I ain't sayin it's bad for all - but it will be bad for mes. I really, *really* wish this was on a "opt in" system, instead of an "opt out," but I suspect dat was probably part of whatever partnership deal LL an company worked out.

Mari

You are right. They should raise their Tier to $295/month, then give them the free voice. That would be such a better deal.

I put this in the blog actually, but it's stuck in a moderation queue since I haven't posted there before. Since I have lost faith in LL, I am posting it here as well.....

I have tried really hard to believe the best about LL. I’ve only been here a few months and I was buying into the your world, your imagination stuff. It all seemed pretty cool to me.

But this drives home the point that LL - at least at the top level- doesn’t need the creative early adopters anymore. In fact, they are lifting not one finger to make the online experience work better for their existing customer base, while announcing things like this that just serve to draw media attention to themselves.

They’re chasing corporate bucks and the masses that follow like sheep: “ooh…it was on a TV commercial - let’s go see! Cool, we can all drive Nissans and talk to our friends at the bar just like in RL!” Now I’m waiting for Walmart to move in and shove all the little content creators out of business.

There will be a two-tiered society. The people who want their SL to be separate from RL, and don’t use voice, and the people for whom SL is a mere extension of their RL, who do use voice. I can see voice/no voice zones developing. People advertising their parcels as noise free and such. But guess what? The ones who draw in the most money for LL will win in the long run.

I don’t like to rant, and I’m usually a defender of LL. But this is hard to stomach.

I don`t think any large RL company is going to push content creators out of business, I know a ton of people haven`t any bit of interest to buy from RL companies, we are interested here in what SL residents create, buy from RL in RL. I have no desire for RL brand on me in SL






Anyway, the only real downfall i see of all this is the sad fact that people who don`t want to voice are going to become "liars" automatically. I see this as "if you dont voice, i dont believe youre who you say you are- you must be hiding something" and I think thats something that shouldn`t be pressed on those who decline to voice for whatever their reason.

You're absolutely right - many of us currently here have no interest in Pottery Barn furniture and such. But the masses who are drawn in by slick advertising who want to use SL as a glorified voice chat room? I'm guessing they'll want the big box brand furniture, and the big companies will spend lots more L$ in advertising that any of us ever could. Our avatars will have to go to work for the big companies to survive. Just like RL. But hey, it'll make LL plenty of money.

Whoo now I'm veering off topic. Sorry. The saddest thing to me though is that I will be seen as disingenious because I don't want to chat in voice or hear other people. I want to keep my RL and SL separate and the idea of someone recognizing my RL self from my voice is horrifying.

Plus I want to support those for whom using voice would actually be harmful - did anyone see the post in the blog from the closet transsexual for whom SL is his only outlet to be himself? People believe he's a woman in SL. If he won't use voice, they will always have that seed of doubt. Hell, people probably won't believe I'm actually a woman!

I agree with those 2 posts above and also enjoy the irony of being called liar by someone who in most cases will be sporting an avatar that is not an accurate portrait of themselves to begin with. You won't see voice being used by me, I will not break the wall between RL and SL. Welcome to the Liars Club.

You mean all the men in Second Life arent 7 feet tall with a linebackers' shoulders and a gymnast's waist?

OMG! say it isnt so.

I have to agree with your sentiment, I think that -

- All Women Av's who refuse to use voice will be assumed to either be men or married and sneaking around on their husbands.

-All Men AV's who refuse voice will be assumed to be .. Not wanting to use voice.

This is just an extrapolation of whats done now. It will be Linden Sanctioned assumption of guilt.

There is a saying from possibly Mark Twain, or Jerry Lewis: For those who know me, no explanation is necessary, for those who don't know me, no explanation will suffice."

I think it is a great idea. More immersion, easier communication. We haven;t reached the uncanny valley yet.

Real voice will increase immersion? For me it will utterly destroy it.

I dont see it as too big a deal, If it does take over i assume its gonna be awhile.

i dont plan on speaking with anyone i come across, if I use this feature, and i probably will, it will ONLY be with friends- that`s it.


Strangers get to meet my text chat.


And if others want to do text chat only, we need to respect that.






The comment about females being called men- lol. and men being just seen as simply not wanting to chat- this is interesting. I`m a male in both RL and my Avatar, a few months back i was pressured to voice chat with 2 people and i said id rather not, one of them began telling people i was married because i wouldnt voice chat with them right then.

Kind of odd- I never understood that, IF you are married and you voice so what? your spouse doesnt let you talk on the phone? Whats there to be suspicious about.

If you are married and snooping around then use common sense and only talk when its no conversation for one to raise their eyebrow to. Duh

Horst;
English is not my first Language either, though i have been speaking it for so long, I've actually lost most of my Mother tongue, what i Do have left is a Very thick accent i have never lost. It makes me hard to Understand some times.

I hadn't even considered the griefers and Newbs abuse aspect, Unless LL is going to be recording all of these Voice interactions it will add a New "Bullet Proof" Harassment tool for the griefers as well.

I think, If it's Possible I will disable it on my properties as well.

Angel.

To improve my English - I'd really love to do that. However, my experience in real life and SL is that the majority of people that you meet are simply not patient enough. They want to have fun, quick and funny conversations. Even when typing, it sometimes happens that I screw up a sentence, or can't remember a word. And it happened more than once that the conversation found a sudden end in those cases. When you make mistakes, most people at first think that you are kind of a fool, having never seen the interior of a class room. When it turns out that you are no English native speaker, the reactions change - some even admire you. But the conversation ends anyway, after a few sentences. I don't complain - SL is no English teaching program. But I fear that the voice feature, if the majority will use it, will make things worse and reduce SL to a purely American and English/British world.
Horst

Nope it doesn't, not crashing now, it it works for me on the otherside of the planet just fine 90% of the time, it's got to be your system or ISP to keep crashing repeatively like that.

Struth mate did ya colonists learn nuthin.

Best Regards old chap Aaron

Another blog led me to this article. Thought I'd pass it on, with an excerpt below.



Not Yet, you Fools!