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Topic: Online chat in NWN (Read 227 times) |
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Starfox
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Would it be possible to use one of the in-game talk engines with NWN - so we could talk to each other real time, instead of typing? Would it be a good idea if it could be done?
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| « Last Edit: on: Feb 9, 2004, 8:09AM » |
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Lazybones
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I've heard that people have used Roger Wilco and Teamspeak with NWN, without difficulty (well, with the learning curve that such programs require, that's it). I haven't used them. I'd recommend a search at the Bioware forums.
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| « Last Edit: on: Feb 8, 2004, 8:11PM » |
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NeoXro
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I think it would be a good idea for DM-to-DM communication... but as far as Players go... using such a device might reduce realism of the character being played... It's not easy to make yourself talk like a dwarf or an elf or the like... or some accent of some sort.
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Kmarak1
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I have used Sidewinder Game Voice (hard to set up and get working especially if you have a firewall) and Yahoo messenger (really easy and works well) for DM to DM chat. Found it very usefull as you can type to the players while coordinating with the other DM(s). OK as long as you use a headset. I use a MS Sidewinder which has a mute button which is very useful.
Think this is part of the natural evolutionfor DM teams.
K.
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Brother Amos
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I use Teamspeak for most all my online game playing.
However, I would think it would be more disruptive than not letting players use it with NWN.
On the other hand, I would highly consider it for instant DM to DM communication!
- BA
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hahnsoo
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You know, a thought occurred to me recently... I wonder how it would be like to use a voice modulator or some sort of sound filter to distort/modify your voice over these Voice over IP solutions, perhaps simulating a different race or even gender. It is a simple thing to deepen or raise the pitch of the voice, and perhaps add some gutteral or harmonic tones to the inflections (at least, from my personal experimentation with a SB Live! soundcard). Just a thought, maybe we'll see these 5 years from now for online RPing.
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NeoXro
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hahnsoo... that would make me so paranoid when i meet people online... is he really a chick or some 60 year old dude? *shudders*
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Eliandi
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We use ventrillo for our DMing..works well, small footprint, and has push-to-talk so you don't transit unecessary garbage..like chewing or drinking noises.
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Starfox
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Hm... Interesting replies. Seems this CAN be done, but not sure it SHOULD be done (in play).
I wonder how long it will take for speech synthesizers to become good enough for games? I mean, when they do, we'd be rid of text-only blurbs in CRPGs.
I think someone might make a lot of money off this sooner than we think.
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R00kie
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I don't see a problem with using your real voice in a Roleplaying setting - it never caused any problems for PnP roleplay.
I think a far greater problem will be the issue of identifying the speaker. In PnP you can see who the speaker is, at the moment in NWN we have the benefit of the speakers name next to their text, but wait till you try voice chat with 6 players and 2 GMs ! you'll have pandemonium.
In addition to make it work you'll need as surprisingly disciplined group - not to talk over each other all the time.
Finally its going to make the universally haerd speach problem worse. At least now if the groups seperate the DM can insist on the use of talk instead of party or shout, but wait till you are using voice chat - unless we give the DM a voice chat wand.
I'm with the not for players camp, but for very different reasons.
Cheers,
R00kie
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Menelaus
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My little group use it all the time, but:
1. We have been playing the major NWN campaigns;
2. We are one Canadian male, an American woman and a British amn, so its damned easy to work out who is who;
3. We all play human or half-human types.
The TeamSpeak server is fast, easy to set up, push to talk, and it allows you to move much faster through a game. Shouting "Oho, beware that foul orc behind the rocks" rather than typing it is liberating. But it does work better in more hacl/slash scenarios, I admit.
But, until you try some form of it, its hard to know what to expect.
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SweeneyTodd
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TeamSpeak's been a standard replacement for /dm for us for, wow, over a year now.  I'm a fast typist, but as the other Fleet Streeters will ruefully agree, I'm unfortunately an even faster talker.
When we (rarely) take off the DM hat and play through a module together, we use both. Typed chat is strictly in character, while voice is for OOC comments. It gives a bit of the pen&paper flavor, because we can easily bounce back and forth between in character discussion and "Oh $#!%, two wizards, three o'clock!"
Or like when we played through Elegia Eternum, to leave it totally silent except for "Damn. That was creepy."
I wouldn't want to try voice chat with people I didn't already know, though, because it is so informal. With an established group that had a clear social contract on things like ic/ooc discussion, it could potentially add a lot.
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Comrade Fidel
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I've been using voice chat with my regular games for some time now and it works well. We've mostly been using Skype, which is just an instant messenger with voice, but it works well.
The only real drawback to IM type software is the need to alt-tab out of the game to accept new connections to the call conference (say, if someone drops out or arrives late).
Recently I've been experimenting with running our own chat server (I have a Linux server I use to host the game so I'd use that) where people can log in (optionally with the need for a password) without me needing to go out of the game let them in. I originally experimented with Ventrilo but we found the quality and performance pretty ordinary compared to Skype.
I've just downloaded Teamspeak RC2 which I've started experimenting with and straight away it seems a lot better. It has a web based administration interface, is extreemly configurable, and you can run miltiple servers, each with multiple channels, with permissions you can easily configure. Plus you can have a combination of anonymous users (with or without a server password to log in) as well as registered users with privilges (eg, you can make your friends channel ops, etc...).
The client (at least of Windows) is also excellent and very intuitive, plus easy to configure the voice component. You can choose between voice or push-button activation to talk (we use voice so it's really just like being on a conference call).
Some people have also mentioned that introducing voice chat reduces the opportunities for role play, however I'd have to say that's an individual thing. I used to play PnP games where we all sat around on the living room floor on a winter's day pretending to be whatever types of characters we were and had tremendous fun and plenty of laughs as doing so. After all, the whole idea (at least for me) is to use your imagination, not let a game do it all for you.
Voice chat makes the same kind of interactivity possible, and so a game of NWN becomes a much more social event than just playing a game. There's banter and conversation going on. It's also a lot easier to communicate and co-ordinate in game. I used to get very frustrated when I first played NWN that I'd start typing a message, only to find half way through everyone's moved off, or ran into that trap I was going to warn them about.
It probably also depends on who you play with. I play regularly with people I knew in RL before we started playing NWN together, so that probably makes a difference.
Cheers,
Mark
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karvon
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I'd mainly echo points made by others earlier...
I used TeamSpeak with some old college buddies to play MP thru a string of modules for about a year or so. For social banter and coordinating in game it beats typing hands down, we rarely typed anything. They weren't much into RP, though, mostly just playing thru the mod's.
Personally, I'd never want to play in a DM'd scenario using it as I think it would get confusing if you didn't know the voices/accents of the others and the problems with voice acting. Also, it would be a lot tougher for second language speakers to interact and keep up with voice as opposed to text messaging. I think some would feel more inhibited using voice and the RP quality would decrease.
While I've not used it in this way, I think this is an excellent tool for multi-DM teams as it allows for faster coordination of events and information sharing.
I've only used TeamSpeak so can't offer a comparison to how it stands up vs Skype or other sw. It is easy to set up, the sound quality is excellent and there are literally hundreds of public servers online, so you should be able find a place to link up pretty easily. Sometime, folks have problems finding a particular server though and you may want to have a fall back secondary one selected if everyone can't find and connect to the primary one.
Karvon
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