Choosing Your Voice For Online Gaming

jayintune writes "An article from an editor at 2old2play.com looks at the diverse 'voices' that people use online for the different genres of games, and how they differ from each other. It is a nice guide of etiquette for people moving from one genre to another. What you might say in WoW often differs from what you would hear in CS: Source." From the article: "Many online racing gamers take things very seriously. You may find your XBL reputation drops like a squirrel shot with a horse tranquilizer if you speak as though you're playing an FPS. Racing gamers do such things as apologize, notify a racer when they're coming up for a pass (and usually give a direction), complement you on your racing prowess when you pull off a slight win over them, and typically end a game with "nice game guys." "

Comments

depends on the server you play on

[abandonment]

it entirely depends on what server you play on - we started our own CS servers specifically for this reason and once you start enforcing a style of behavior, it will be contagious.

I found the same thing with battlefield 2 (which is my current addiction of choice) - if I find a server that has semi-polite players, I'll come back regularly and make it one of the few servers that I do play on.

Servers that are full of shit-talking idiots are usually also plagued by hackers and other issues, which destroys the game for everyone involved.

Just because it's CS, doesn't mean that everyone is a half-coherent idiot.

Re:depends on the server you play on

[Grey Ninja]

I used to play a lot of America's Army. When BF2 came out, I pretty much stopped cold. Something that drives me absolutely mad about both games is that some servers decide to put in language filters. I've been banned from a few AA servers because the admins wanted me to stop swearing. Something so simple as "I fucked up, sorry", or "FUCK!" when I die will trigger some asshole admin to tell me to watch my language. My normal response is to tell them to "fuck off", which usually results in an insta-ban.

It's probably an American thing. I honestly hope that there's no other country that features a mob of people who believe that it's perfectly acceptable to play a game where you shoot people, so long as you don't swear in the slightest.

I remember that there was one guy who was going to ban me. But we started talking about that kind of thing, and we actually started to get along, as he agreed with me. He eventually agreed that I was right, and he wouldn't ban me, as I was just playing the game, punctuated with some swearing. It eventually got to the point where I had a whole list of servers hosted by like-minded clans. That it's ridiculous to play a game where the whole point of the game is to kill people with different ideology... but sugar-coat it by saying that you can't swear.

Halo

[100lbHand]

Some of the most fun i have had is drunk Halo over xb-live. Nothing like coming home from the bar and taking out that drunk frustration on some punks up past their bed time. I've got to the point where i dont even hold the controler, i just sit back with the mike and a beer and do my best to teach the kids to curse like saliors.

Eh. Stoopid Reputation

[TubeSteak]

On XBL many gamers have been hit with a little "culture shock" playing Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3) because they've been talking to folks as if it's an FPS. Here is a good example of an FPS voice that doesn't work so well in PGR3:

Player 1 has just caused Player 2 to go into a tailspin and move from place car two to place car eight instantaneously.

Wrong response...

Player 1: "Wow, I pwned you like a n00b. How does 8th place feel?"
Player 2: ...silence...

Correct response...

Player 1: "Oh man, sorry about that. I thought I had the inside corner nailed, but I tipped a wall."
Player 2: "No problem man, it happens."

The only reason you'd have to kiss ass is so you don't get neg repped.

Otherwise, I don't see a reason why you shouldn't shout "ZOMG U Ar3 t3h Pwn3d!"

I guess it's a difference in what you're expecting from the game. Some people will ask if you're a "hack", because they'll play differently if they know you're gunning for them.

Anyways, TFA is hilarious. "Player 1: BOOM! Man if you had half the mad skills I have then I'd have used a bigger weapon. Pwned like a n00bzors bitch." That makes me laff.

Funny.

[Wilson_6500]

I've never actually used voice chat in an (Internet-play) video game. I mean, I've _heard_ it, but I don't talk. I also don't type. I'm not there to chat. Even in team games, I just type (if I bother with communication at all on the pubs). Practically this entire article was meaningless to me.

I've found that communication doesn't usually matter in public (read: non-clan) multiplayer games. You can be dead quiet in ET, CS, any deathmatch, SWBF2--any FPS, really, and things usually go fine. Talking leads to idiots replying; idiots replying leads to anger; anger leads to elevated blood pressure, which is something I don't need from a video game.

WastedEffort

[TiggertheMad]

i just sit back with the mike and a beer and do my best to teach the kids to curse like saliors.

I go news for you, you're wasting your time. Kids these days already know how to curse like sailors. Most of them have already moved on to cursing like marines..