VOICE in SL......Vital growth!!!

The way I see it, Voice will be like all the other new things added over time.

At one time people didnt want Flexi-Prims for it would bring their computers crashing down. We're still here.

At one time people didnt want Free Accounts for it would bring in the Kids. Didnt really stop 'em either way. and.... We're Still Here.

At one time the mentioning of cutting stipends to new Premium members & giving zero to new basic accounts was going to kill off SL. We're still here.

At one time I had some Forum-ites whining that SL COULDNT be run off of servers around the world, that it'd be impossible. And here we still are.

All these things have come to pass and the ruckus has settled down. I see Voice as the same. Just another feature. Use it, or not.

No disagreement here.

Voice is a gread addition. But yes not everyone will want to use it, use it all the time, or be allowed to use it in certain areas. While I think voice is a great addition, I DO NOT like the current "chatter box" system at all. Once that was implimented I stoped using the voice beta becuase I find it so irriatating. I certainly hope that this will not become the new standard. However many people have spoke their dislike of it, yet the lindens have not made any changes.

-DB

Im looking forward to voice coming to the main grid, Ive tested it on Beta and 1st look and it worked well.

It is going to save so much time when you have to explain 'how to do things' to someone who doesnt know.

Its going to be very helpful when you have to build with a team, atm we use skype but one of the team cant run skype and SL at the same time.

And when I dont want to use it, like any other tool, I'll turn it off.

Its not mandatory so I fail to see why people are so against it, if you dont like it, dont turn it on, but at least allow those who want it be allowed to use it.

I agree with you Caroline. I just wish that the chatterbox was optional. SL is all about the freedom to build and make the world what you want. Well many people don't want the chatterbox system. Voice yes, but this can be implimented with the old history, IM, friends, and group windows.

-DB

Well its still being tested on 1st look and there have been changes made already to the voice set up from when it was on Beta. They say in the blog its going to be a couple of months in 1st look before its brought to main grid, so there is a good chance that more things will be changed to make its use more manageable.

Look forward to chatting to you DB.....but I warn you, I sound like Pam Ayres, not the most enviable accent to be lumbered with

For everything in the universe their is a balance. Voice will have its good and bad points.

If you are greifed in voice chat, and you are the only one around, how do you AR that? Even if you have witnesses, assuming you are buddies, couldn't that be abused if you say didn't want someone in the chat, or nearby, so that you make up a story about that person being abusive? (-)

I'm a guy.. (stereo ears, mono brain) someone is voice chatting with me, others nearby don't have voice, so how am I supposed to deal with listening/speaking AND typing? Same goes for having IM's whilst voice chatting (I'll end up typing what I am hearing [Guy thing]). (-)

How come, I seem to be the ONLY person in the world that has both headphones AND a microphone? Back to voice chatting/typing again (Give a guy a break). (-)

When I used There.com, you could voice chat in groups, but would get 'sound spill' from surrounding groups.. having to endure listening to some juvenile using bad language in place of punctuation, used to drive me nuts, not to mention my brain doesn't come with a built in codex to seperate the numerous conversations [Guy thing]. (-)

Are we going to end up with pervs or PG dwellers not only peeking, but now listening in on ermm 'private' conversations? (-)

On a plus side, it will be much easier to do business (one verbal sentence = 1,000+ typed words), but instead of keeping IM and open chat as a recorded contract agreement, I now have to type up and send out confirmations of the 'spoken word'.. oh thats another negative... (-)

Back to plus sides, I already use Skype to do the movie directing, and training (+) but it drains my system, so ingame will be better dealt with by the client and I don't have to deal with numerous ppls 'ringing' me and having to close the SL client window to show me who. (+)

For those that I accept as being the gender they wish to portray ingame, I may have to listen to some robotic rendition of a simulated voice, which will probably give the game away anyway LOL. umm (+) & (-)

Caroline, true it is still a work in progress. However many people have voiced (no pun intended) their dislike of the chatterbox system and nothing has changed. Or at least I haven't noticed any changes.

As for chatting with you, I wouldn't worry about your accent. You will probably have the same thoughts as to my voice. And our different voices also make it more interesting, just as our different avatars do. But our voices are more "us". At least most people don't design their avatars similar to their real life selves.

-DB