Toong, on 04 March 2014 - 11:43 PM, said:
The topic hasn't been hit on in a while, far as I can tell, but last I heard, PGI was favoring a radial command menu over VoIP. There are a couple of reasons for this decision, if I remember:
For one, VoIP is typically underutilized when present in games. Not everyone has a microphone, not everyone has a microphone that works well, and of the people that do have microphones, many of them still use third party programs anyway.
For another, people can be real Skumlordes over VoIP. Think back to your own experiences, if you've had many, and ask yourself this: Whenever playing Call of Duty, or Team Fortress 2, or Counter Strike, or Halo, or Battlefield, or whatever you play, how many times were people constructive? And how many times would others get upset and start screaming at each other for being idiots? It's possible that my experiences have been atypical, but people tend to be insulting as often as they are helpful. I'd rather not be shouted down for doing something someone else didn't like.
Third, VOIP is expensive. It requires more effort to build or integrate, but more importantly, transmitting someone's voice is much, much more bandwidth intensive than transmitting a signal that tells the other clients which prerecorded command to play. You can argue that the bandwidth costs are worth it, if you wish, but I personally would prefer that bandwidth is spent on things I'm more interested in, like more content and customization.
Using a command system, by contrast, removes hardware concerns and, being a client feature, is instantly usable by everyone. In addition, it gives players a much faster way to communicate vital information to each other without also giving them a much faster way to insult each other. But best of all, it performs the same function while using a fraction of the resources. Not only that, but using a command system allows commands to be integrated seamlessly into the HUD and the battlegrid.
I used to agree strongly that this game needed VoIP, because this game is so very, very dependent on proper team coordination. But once PGI started talking about using a radial command menu instead, and listing the reasons why they're opting for that over VoIP, I was swayed. Using a command system in lieu of VoIP is, in my opinion, a very reasonable decision.
Or you could dismiss my post and call me a white knight.
Too bad you had to add that last sentence, because you made a very good post that promotes discussion instead of forum rage. All I had as argument against VOIP before was that some old guys didn't want to hear 15 years old in their headphones.
As for your examples, having played close to 100 hours on CS:GO and more than the double on CS: Sources, CS 1.6 and CS beta, I can tell you that people has been constructive there more than 75% of the time. Same goes for Planetside 2 and DOTA 2. Only games where I can tell VOIP promotes jackasses to act like jackasses are CoD and perhaps TF 2?
As for the resource part, I don't know if VOIP is so demanding. Bandwith-wise, it's practically nothing and I highly doubt it's so hard and costly to implement. Just look at Payday 2, the game is borderline low budget (but very well made) and they've had VOIP from the start.
Lastly, I'm fine with adding a command system, BUT FREAKING ADD IT ALREADY. It'll be better than nothing, but really, VOIP would be even better. Typing in chat is already hard in a fight, giving "commands" won't be really easier if you're getting shot at.