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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."

14 of 539 comments (clear)

  1. Pedophilia jokes in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... by Rhodey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Go! Seriously, though. "Kill The mood"? "Virtual world bliss"? "Confident, bold and streetsmart"? "Dwarf warriors"? This is too easy.

    1. Re:Pedophilia jokes in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Hi, I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC. Getting ready for a night of level grinding huh?"

    2. Re:Pedophilia jokes in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... by sohare · · Score: 5, Funny

      Blizzard, makers of World of Warcraft, a.k.a NAMBLA, have recently announced a voice chat client that you can customize to make everyone sound like 11-year old boys.

  2. Lucky you by ajenteks · · Score: 5, Funny

    I downloaded Ventrilo, logged in, dialed him up and ... realized he was an 11-year-old boy. Hey, at least it wasn't feds or NBC reporters right?
  3. identity by Hemogoblin · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...realized he was an 11-year-old boy. Thats silly. Everyone knows that anyone claiming to be between the ages of 10 and 14 is an FBI agent.
  4. Re:If you think thats bad... by FiloEleven · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think you a key word in that sentence...

  5. hotness by WetBeaverSRU · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am a 27 year old male that plays a female rogue bloodelf. I was first invited into a guild because they must've thought I was a chick only later to find out that I was a dood when I first spoke in vent during a Gruul run. It was soooo funny because I always just thought the gm was just being a nice guy all those times he told me he'd definately save me a spot!

  6. Yeah Like... by Greyfox · · Score: 5, Funny
    My, um... friend was like totally cybering this night elf chick when some other guys said "Dude! That chick is a dude!" Well I... I mean my friend didn't want to believe that so he asked her to get on vent and and what do you know, she was a dude! Total mood killer!

    Moral of this story: Watch out for the hostess, she may have a twinkie...

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  7. The upsides: Chocolate Milk! by Demon-Xanth · · Score: 5, Funny
    --
    If you think education is expensive, you should try ignorance -- Derek Bok, president of Harvard
  8. Re:I smell a new market by spun · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hehe, I'm imagining a content filter, l33tsp34k to faux-olde-english. "n00b, I totally pwned joo!" becomes "Forsooth! Mighty foe, thou art vanquished!"

    Seriously though, I've been thinking about a MMORPG collective for serious gamers. A few thousand true role players could easily afford to go in on an adequate server and you could give people memberships for content contribution. It could work, but it would be a lot of effort and there would be no profit in it, so I don't see it happening. I would join something like that. It's hard coming from a pencil and paper RPG world where everyone really gets into the role playing aspect, to an MMORPG world where paladins have names like hotchixxor69. Ugh.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  9. Re:Voice Changing Technology by Drachemorder · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unfortunately, there hasn't been a device yet invented that is capable of disguising my severe redneck accent.

  10. Re:Voices not what you expect by rkanodia · · Score: 5, Funny

    One of the guys in my guild sounds exactly like Homestar Runner and doesn't know it. We've been trying to trick him into saying 'fishsticks' for weeks now; we can only hope...

  11. Re:So? by digitalchinky · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm guessing the difference between 'then' and 'than' never took hold, looks like the whole 'not listening' part went both ways.

  12. Re:Kills the mood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sometimes, yes, you can.