Voice Chat Can Really Kill the Mood

Raver32 writes with Wired article about the strange juxtaposition of real life identities intruding on virtual world bliss. Voice chat is becoming a very common component of online games, from MMOGs to FPS titles. Many even bundle a voice chat service into the game client now. That's useful, tactically, but socially it can be downright frustrating, confusing, or awkward. "Recently I logged into World of Warcraft and I wound up questing alongside a mage and two dwarf warriors. I was the lowest-level newbie in the group, and the mage was the de-facto leader. He coached me on the details of each new quest, took the point position in dangerous fights and suggested tactics. He seemed like your classic virtual-world group leader: Confident, bold and streetsmart. But after a few hours he said he was getting tired of using text chat — and asked me to switch over to Ventrilo, an app that lets gamers chat using microphones and voice. I downloaded Ventrilo, logged in, dialed him up and ... realized he was an 11-year-old boy."

Comments

Are You Comfortable Using the Queen's English?

[morari]

MMO's aren't for roleplaying or atmosphere. They're for wasting money and time with the only pay-off being carpal tunnel syndrome. Maybe I'm just chained to the past though when we actually acted out characters in our tabletop sessions and even going so far as to indulge in a LARP more often than not. Even back then, I couldn't stand all of those level-grinding kiddies that played D&D or Rifts while sacrificing story and mood.