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To Talk Or Not To Talk, What's The Go With Multiplayer?

Dark Arcanine | January 10, 2009 | Blog | PC Playstation 2

Tubatic of destructoid.com discusses the pros and cons of voice chat when it comes to playing games in multiplayer. Sometimes it can be a necessity but during others it's just plain annoying.

So are you a chatter or do you prefer silence?

You know, its not that I don't like people. People are cool. I really do enjoy getting to know people in general. But for the most part, I don't want to participate in headset banter. In some circles, one might label me a jerk.

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not a complete tool. If I'm playing something that involves heavy strategy or tight verbal coordination, I'm throwing on the headset, no question. Call of Duty or Left 4 Dead would be a generally disastrous experience without voice chat. When strategy is necessary, I'm there with you. But, considering that necessity, I'll probably not be the guy you'll hear too often over the chat channel.

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Call of Duty: World at War [PS2, DS, PC, Wii, XBOX360, PS3]
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Left 4 Dead [XBOX360, PC]
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Comments

0 thumbs!
DragoniteBallZ | January 11, 2009

I hate playing any team games with people don't talk. I'd rather be playing with AI bots if people aren't going to talk in multiplayer. If there's someone who's being a dipshit on the voice chat, it's so easy to just mute him. If you're going to play multiplayer, get a mic and communicate. That's part of the point of playing multiplayer whether it's online/lan/local, is the sense of interacting with others!
1 thumbs!
Koloth | January 11, 2009

That would be fine if people actually used the mics for strategy or something. But I find that's rarely the case. Most just use it to bitch at you for taking "their" gun. And many just want to talk about nothing important. Most of it isn't game related at all. Which is why I usually don't even bother to turn my mic on. If no one is going to talk about the actual game why should I even bother to be anything more than a body on the feild?
- 0 thumbs!
  Gamesta100 | January 11, 2009
  
  Not to mention when someone does talk and someone else tells them to shut the f up.Some French guy (I think he was French anyway) was talking and a rude American told him to shut up.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Fatal Error | January 12, 2009
    
    It is absolutely guaranteed this guy was American, by the way. You could tell because he was rude.
    
    Eh, I'm on and off with talking during games online. If I'm playing solo (i.e. no friends on either team) I'll generally keep silent unless the rest of my team feels like talking strategy. When I'm playing with friends, I play "field general" most of the time.
0 thumbs!
tallteen86 | January 11, 2009

It is all academic to me, since no matter if it is useful in situations or not, I can't really make use of it, on account of my poor hearing...

Even if someone is trying to help, it generally just sounds like some annoying person bugging me....I assume so anyhow, since as I said, I can't tell if they're trying to help me XD

But yeah, if I could hear properly, I always thought, particularly for team shooter games, the team could co-ordinate strikes on the enemy, warn about enemy tactics, etc.
- 0 thumbs!
  Gamesta100 | January 11, 2009
  
  Yeah I have that problem too.Unless they are rather loud, I don't hear half of what they're saying.
0 thumbs!
Dark Arcanine | January 11, 2009

Even trying to coordinate isn't overly affective, as you're bound to get at least one tool on your team every time without fail... usually quite a lot more. I know when I play Source online it's just little 12 year olds with their whiny girl voices trying to be heaps cool and other kids playing their awful music through it. You end up just muting voices, as it's better just to do your own thing more often than not.

As for playing with friends, they just say dumb things like one who shouts the male body part every two minutes.
0 thumbs!
DragoniteBallZ | January 11, 2009

Still it's important to talk you'll never know if you'll be with good teammates unless you try to talk. And if they are assholes or have a really annoying voice, it's easy to just mute them if you don't want to put up with them. Easy. Regardless how the communication is used even if it's mindless chit chat, that's part of what makes multiplayer fun is interaction. And it's not just a party full of people practically playing with themselves. The biggest game I have that no one talks is Warhawk. 90% of the time - 29 other people, 0 mics. Didn't this game come with a mic? It's a kick ass game but, It's like I'm playing a single player game. Only like 3 times did I ever actually have some games where people were talking. Why the hell are people so afraid to talk? I know most of these people have mics too.
- 2 thumbs!
  Koloth | January 11, 2009
  
  I'm not the least bit interested in chatting with people i don't know. If they aren't going to talk about the game it isn't worth the time or effort to engage in conversation with them. It is just a useless distraction. If I get on a team that actually wants to coordinate and talk strategy then i will turn on my mic. Otherwise screw it talk to your own damn self. I have plenty of people around me to chat with.
0 thumbs!
ShadowJ | January 11, 2009

My reasons for not talking over the mic are quite simple...a) my mum would think I have lost it b) I am not used to it and prefer speaking face to face than at a screen...same with telephone, hate speaking on the phone especially to a stranger I never met.

Now if it's with the guys on Steam, I am all for it, especially on team games like CS:S and L4D since I know it is crucial but when I am in a game with no one I know then I just shut the mic off
0 thumbs!
ChozenMaster | January 11, 2009

I use to not talk on mic because I swear when I play games, like alot and one night, my mom asked me who was I talking to when I was online one time. But now, I just keep the swearing to a minimum if I can, but I have to have my mic on.
0 thumbs!
DystopiaSticker | January 11, 2009

I used to talk all the time, but then I recorded a message and played it back before I sent it. I sounded like I had coke bottle thick glasses and was only playing my 360 to take a break from playing Dungeons and Dragons and jerking it to furries. It was insanely nasally and nerdy. I swear I don't sound like that in real life. With that revelation I became a lot quieter. It's probably just worse with recordings though, cause when I played some multiplayer games and heard my own voice because of someone else's mic being too close to the TV, I didn't sound as awful.

Still.

I do kinda wish people would talk more. Would make a lot of games easier, but whatever. There's the occasional guy that loves to talk every now and then and I usually just respond to whatever random shit he's saying. That's kinda fun. I just don't like to break the ice myself.
- 0 thumbs!
  ShadowJ | January 11, 2009
  
  yeah I'm pretty much like that, the last bit not the first bit
  
  Although it is even more amusing when there is only one person talking and he reports every move you make
  
  For example I was playing Hidden:Source, where basically the "hidden" is invisible and armed with a knife while against the rest of the players in the server. I was the hidden against 6 others and 1 just continued to report my actions, pretty much not knowing what the hell was going on.
  
  It more or less went. "Ok guys he just off the sonic alarm, he's near the ladd...oh wait, he just took out whoever that was on the roof...jeez he's a fast mover." 5 seconds later "OMG LOL how did he do that, he was pinned down...oh crap watch...watch behind you..errr...too late" 1 minute later "Oh ok I see his plan now...he sets off the alarm, runs, circles around and hits us from behind"
  
  Basically he was helping me take them out 1 by 1, unfortunately I got caught out as I didn't expect two on the roof, I only saw one
  
  But yeah sometimes not talking helps greatly, especially if you change the controls and forget to change the key for voice...sometimes I have to sit at the back or hope the enemy hasn't seen me
0 thumbs!
Play ISDF | January 11, 2009

I think for FPS/TPS and with most console games, having a headset is extremely necessary for any form of decent communication. Computer games, especially RTS games on the other hand are a completely different story. You've got a keyboard to type messages (and time to do it) and if your a decent typer then that's all you need, voice chat just becomes more of a luxury then anything.

One exception I recall though is Shadowrun. You could still communicate in that game decently without the need for a mic, it was a rather good system actually. All one need do is press a direction on the D-pad for various things such as "(Number) of enemies at (Location)" or "Need res at (Location)". More FPS games could use something like that.
0 thumbs!
Shiny Mew | January 11, 2009

It depends really, if it's Halo 3 all you hear is the Texans saying "Yeeeeehaaaaa we RAPED them!" in that case, I don't use the mic. If it's MGO then I would because it helps alot with team games.
- 0 thumbs!
  Koloth | January 11, 2009
  
  Those are hicks not Texans. Don't make me come through this sceen and beat you with the Telecom Corridor.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Shiny Mew | January 11, 2009
    
    Sorry I'm from the UK, wouldn't know tbh. Mnm, I hear your baby sometimes and that's it lol. =/
0 thumbs!
Mnmfan | January 11, 2009

I don't have a mic perse but I do use the PSEye. However there are a few reasons why I rarely speak.
Firstly, I play my PS3 at night when I get home from work. Both my daughter and fiance are in bed so I don't want to be talking because I might wake them. Especially the fact that with the PSEye you have to be a bit louder then if you used a mic.

Secondly, I'm simply not used to talking to the tv. It just feels odd.

Thirdly, my Irish accent usually leaves people saying 'what??' everytime I speak anyway and I really hate repeating myself time and time again.

Lastly, I'm just not the talkative type.
0 thumbs!
ShinobiDyne | January 11, 2009

I hate when people dont communicate. The party system on Live has ruined alot of the communications between teammates. That said I do hate whiney little kids.
0 thumbs!
DragonMaster Dyne | January 11, 2009

I've been on both ends and people who have played with me know this to no end.

I used to be the BIGGEST TRASH talker you'll ever meet online, haha. Not only that, but I'd always be in constant communication with my teammates on what to do, where to go, etc. Chatting was really important.

Lately though, I've gotten into the option where you can mute everyone not on your friends list. I don't know, I'm at a stage where I dont really want to have to deal with other idiots talking all the time and annoying me. Plus it allows me to private chat with my friend I'm usually playing with.
0 thumbs!
BANDITO ATTACK | January 12, 2009

i only really like team-based online games, so voice chat is important to me. i wont hesitate to mute any annoying high-pitched voice i hear tho @_@
0 thumbs!
Absolute | January 12, 2009

I talk a lot when I'm playing CoD---especially Nazi Zombies, if a person doesn't talk in a Nazi Zombies game, I boot them. It's 100% necessary if you want to do well.

However, in Halo, Gears (not counting Horde), L4D, etc. I still talk, but it's not as important to gameplay as CoD is to me.
0 thumbs!
Sonic Wave | January 12, 2009

I prefer using mics, but not everyone has a mic on PS3, but I have one. I still cannot figure out if I accidently muted it, the volume is up all the way.
0 thumbs!
anacreon | January 12, 2009

For Pc games i would much rather type simply because i can play and type at the same time really well.
0 thumbs!
Gamer_boy | January 12, 2009

It is easier to use a mic but hardly anyone has one when I play on online games.
0 thumbs!
pooOBKp | January 12, 2009

I use a mic when I play games with friends or when my house is empty. Playing sports games and using a mic is pretty funny though since you can just talk mad crap.
0 thumbs!
Dance Floor Killah | January 12, 2009

If I wasn't so shy, I'd talk more in public multiplayer. Most of the people I game with are friends from forums or from real life. I'm not very fond of trash talkers, so I try to avoid public games.
- 0 thumbs!
  ShadowJ | January 13, 2009
  
  That's why I'm waiting for the Neo Steam Group to host a TF2 or CS:S night since I haven't played them and I can't be arsed to jump into a game with strangers that will not stop just because I am trying to figure out what is what (which I respect and hence why I don't jump in) not only that but since most people with mics are americans...speaking with an englishman...well we both spend more time chatting about each others accents than playing the game XD
  
  But aye with friends I don't mind chatting