Why is there no Voice chat already in game?

Mowgli IV·Jun 10, 2019·8 votes·2,702 views

Is there any good reason why Voice chat is not already in the game?

Negative sides:

Someone is screaming on voice? Add mute option, simple as that... Hate speech or any negative attitude? Add new option in Report tab "Negative attitude in Voice" Voice chat can distract players to play better? This is the stupidest reason of all! There is literally no way that Voice chat can distract anyone more than this chat which is already in game. How many times did everyone of us lose game because some r%%%%% started to argue, and that argument did never end.

About positive sides:

You should be more focused and oriented in teamfights. Players would encourage eachother to stay positive. Champions would be easier to balance between competative and soloQ, becuase of cordination which Voice chat can bring. Also, the one really good side of this is that people are more calm and friendly if they are on voice chat. Riot even told us: "We believe League as a team sport should reward coordination, and that voice chat is a valuable tool for getting teams (and strangers) aligned." 2 years ago, but still didn't do anything about improving soloQ at least, not in this aspect. I think that any other competative e-Sport game has voice chat, such as CS:GO, Overwatch, and even Dota 2 which is also MOBA and it's really similiar to LoL.

If you have any other positive or negative side, comment and let's discuss![sg-zephyr]

42 Comments

SukishooJun 10, 20195 votes

There is, but only for premade and that's all you get.

AleksaPR0GamerJun 10, 20194 votes

{quoted}

There is, but only for premade and that's all you get.

Any argument you can make for that or you are just throwing your opinion randomly?

SukishooJun 10, 20194 votes

Does there need to be one? No. People can say what they wish. Welcome to a online discussion forum.

Riot has also said they don't really have plans to make one outside of premades, so again, its all you get :)

Dominion ChiJun 10, 20194 votes

Good reasons, regardless how old/stupid you all may think it is.

Positives: 1 in every 500 or so games(maybe more) will have actual coordination, friendships could be born.

Negatives: Only 1 in every 500 games or so(maybe more) will have actual coordination. Most of the players will do one(or more) of these things almost all the time: Racial slurring that cant really be monitored, Music Blasting, arguing about why each other is more of a dogshit player than them, threats, etc.

You get the idea at this point.

Also, have a mute option doesn't give an Ok pass to allow any of those things.

Besides, they may add it later, it's just a bottom priority thing.

CrazyMonkeyCZJun 10, 20192 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dominion Chi,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=UE7xWpcy,comment-id=0006,timestamp=2019-06-10T15:54:24.124+0000)

Good reasons, regardless how old/stupid you all may think it is.

Positives: 1 in every 500 or so games(maybe more) will have actual coordination.

Negatives: Only 1 in every 500 games or so(maybe more) will have actual coordination. Most of the players will do one(or more) of these things almost all the time: Racial slurring that cant really be monitored, Music Blasting, arguing about why each other is more of a dogshit player than them, threats, etc.

You get the idea at this point.

Also, have a mute option doesn't give an Ok pass to allow any of those things.

Besides, they may add it later, it's just a bottom priority thing.

Oh yeah, nice numbers, straight from your head...

Dominion ChiJun 10, 20192 votes

{quoted}

Oh yeah, nice numbers, straight from your head...

You're right, the real numbers would prob be 1 in every 5000(maybe more). My bad, lol.

Do you have an actual discussion to bring as to why i'm wrong?

CrazyMonkeyCZJun 10, 20192 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dominion Chi,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=UE7xWpcy,comment-id=000600000000,timestamp=2019-06-10T16:01:34.304+0000)

You're right, the real numbers would prob be 1 in every 5000(maybe more). My bad, lol.

Do you have an actual discussion to bring as to why i'm wrong?

Nope, just saying that I could say that in 7/10 games it will be used for strategic purposes and there is no way you could disprove it.

Dominion ChiJun 10, 20191 votes

{quoted}

Nope, just saying that I could say that in 7/10 games it will be used for strategic purposes and there is no way you could disprove it.

I don't have to, if you want to be delusional and think 7/10 games would be for strategic uses between 5 random players, go ahead. I'm not going to try to stop your line of thought.

Mowgli IVJun 10, 20191 votes

I actually don't think that community is that bad. Like I said in post, people are more friendly when they have voice communication. For example, i played many online tournamets, and I did never find any player who was toxic at all, and I'm sure that i played with 500 different people, so yeah. Music blasting shouldn't be a problem if you add push to talk option like there is in Dota 2. I just personally think that if there is toxicity in the community in normal chat, it would be much much much less in voice chat, simply becuase of human's nature, and RIOT doing their job and banning toxic ones.

Dominion ChiJun 10, 20192 votes

{quoted}

I actually don't think that community is that bad. Like I said in post, people are more friendly when they have voice communication. For example, i played many online tournamets, and I did never find any player who was toxic at all, and I'm sure that i played with 500 different people, so yeah. Music blasting shouldn't be a problem if you add push to talk option like there is in Dota 2. I just personally think that if there is toxicity in the community in normal chat, it would be much much much less in voice chat, simply becuase of human's nature, and RIOT doing their job and banning toxic ones.

The thing is, proof that this will most likely happen, is almost every other game that has voice chat(regardless of toxic or not toxic community), now just because you yourself have not dealt with all that many toxic players, or just don't remember them doesn't erase the fact that League has had one of the most toxic communities since it's creation, which is expected of a very popular team based pvp game.

Also, no. Voice chat would/does amplify toxic players because it is VERY hard to monitor voice chat effectively.

Another thing, "onling tournaments" is a VERY bad example to use here, regular soloq/normals/arams/3v3s aren't a tournament. Tournys have a few players formed on a team with an already pre-arranged areement on what needs to be done to thrive, and even then it's not always ironclad.

SupremeDjapeJun 10, 20193 votes

So true, i guess it's better to bounce between buffing and nerfing champions becuase they are strong/weak in competetive and weak/strong in SoloQ. Actually so sad that there is no voice chat in 10 year old game...

jordanlourens1Jun 10, 20193 votes

Maybe in next life...

Devilish grinJun 10, 20193 votes

Maybe in next life...

Or in another dimenison... LOL

sheldonbunnyJun 10, 20193 votes

Left out one obvious one that sadly still exists in online gaming. Sexism. Plenty of women enjoy their ability to be genderless without having to deal with the usual issues of being female. Is it the majority of men? Thankfully no, but there are still enough out there to make it not worth it to plenty of women.

That said, I think it's a useful communication tool, but feel like it'll be harder to keep track of toxicity issues. Recording 10 people a game so they can reference back sounds like a hell of a lot of resources and without that i'm unclear how they can make sure people don't simply use voice to get around Riot's ToS and policies.

Mowgli IVJun 10, 20192 votes

There is already "Hate speech (Sexism) option in report bar, don't see reason why wouldn't you just report them, yeah I can see the obvious reason you want to hide your gender, but still, not inplementing feature just because someone want to hide their gender, i don't know how to express myself, so I won't, but let's just say that there is no sexism problem in Dota 2 even though this MOBA game has voice chat for past 6years. If there would be problem about this, it would disapear with first big wave of bans. Also I forgot to mention that this feature should be added for Ranked games only.

SukishooJun 10, 20193 votes

That would mean they'd have to have a recording of all audio and Riot doesn't want to monitor that.

sheldonbunnyJun 10, 20191 votes

{quoted}

There is already "Hate speech (Sexism) option in report bar, don't see reason why wouldn't you just report them, yeah I can see the obvious reason you want to hide your gender, but still, not inplementing feature just because someone want to hide their gender, i don't know how to express myself, so I won't, but let's just say that there is no sexism problem in Dota 2 even though this MOBA game has voice chat for past 6years. If there would be problem about this, it would disapear with first big wave of bans. Also I forgot to mention that this feature should be added for Ranked games only.

Except in every multiplayer game there's sexism. That's humanity.

A report function does not stop a person from getting abused. And it hasn't disappeared in DOTA or anywhere else. Considering the majority is still male, most aren't exactly aware of this issue to begin with. They aren't the ones directly affected by it, and only know it at second hand information at best. Additionally there's the being hit on part, or the overly sensitive/over protective bit that also can happen. Any of those are not what females want. They want to play a game, not be belittled/catered to.

Your anecdotal evidence on other games is not the same because you'd have to be directly polling all female players in every game and extrapolating the data.

Simple answer, it saves women a big headache by simply not dealing with it to begin with. Typing and pings are perfectly fine communication tools. In all honesty, pings are enough and have been proven that time and again.

{quoted}

I will actually disagree on this one. It's in human nature to be more friendly to people if you are in voice communication. Yeah there would be some instances of people simply not controling their emotions, but personally I think that it happends really rarely. I forgot to mention that while I was playing online tournamets I played with 500 different persons and none of them was toxic AT ALL, so yeah, I just can't see the world in which you can understand someone more if they are typing to you instead of talking to you. Last thing, is that just becuase someone is tilted, even asking them if enemy used summoners or anything like that, people get mad and start arguement that never ends...

No, it's human nature to avoid a more personal direct conflict. You're reading the situation all wrong. There's more personal conflict in hearing voices than toneless text. As was already mentioned you're going off off anecdotes on tournaments that have nothing to do with solo queue. Completely different situations. Tournaments are monitored far more strictly.

Pika FoxJun 10, 20193 votes

Because voice chat is harder to police than text chat, and would up the toxicity.

You cant just add a new report for "voice chat", the only way for text chat to get dealt with due to the sheer size of the playerbase is with automation. You cannot easily and effectively moderate voice chat with automation.

sheldonbunnyJun 10, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Pika Fox,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=UE7xWpcy,comment-id=0009,timestamp=2019-06-10T16:42:59.426+0000)

Because voice chat is harder to police than text chat, and would up the toxicity.

You cant just add a new report for "voice chat", the only way for text chat to get dealt with due to the sheer size of the playerbase is with automation. You cannot easily and effectively moderate voice chat with automation.

OP seems to not be replying to all these posts mentioning this so far. The amount of resources and man hours needed will take money from Riot, not give them more.

Biggest reason this won't happen? It's not profitable. They're a business. All their decisions are about their bottom line. New champs, modes, skins...all lead to increased profits. Show me the hard data on multiplayer games adding in voice chat and the exponential increase in profits.

Anything less than them getting recordings to keep the playerbase in check is irresponsible on their part, and as much as people complain over the automated text chat system, they would doubly so over an audio one. Which means more employees tasked to look over recordings.

Pika FoxJun 10, 20192 votes

{quoted}

OP seems to not be replying to all these posts mentioning this so far. The amount of resources and man hours needed will take money from Riot, not give them more.

Biggest reason this won't happen? It's not profitable. They're a business. All their decisions are about their bottom line. New champs, modes, skins...all lead to increased profits. Show me the hard data on multiplayer games adding in voice chat and the exponential increase in profits.

Anything less than them getting recordings to keep the playerbase in check is irresponsible on their part, and as much as people complain over the automated text chat system, they would doubly so over an audio one. Which means more employees tasked to look over recordings.

It wouldnt cost them much to implement, given vc is already in league. Its moreso the customer base doesnt actually want to talk to randoms. Ive played enough CoD to know i sure as shit dont wanna talk to any of yall unless i know you first.

sheldonbunnyJun 10, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Pika Fox,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=UE7xWpcy,comment-id=000900000000,timestamp=2019-06-10T16:53:49.497+0000)

It wouldnt cost them much to implement, given vc is already in league. Its moreso the customer base doesnt actually want to talk to randoms. Ive played enough CoD to know i sure as shit dont wanna talk to any of yall unless i know you first.

It would cost them because they have to record all games which costs money to store, then employees to systematically go through because an automated service will miss too much.

I'm guessing you didn't read through all the posts since it was mentioned several times.

Pika FoxJun 10, 20191 votes

{quoted}

It would cost them because they have to record all games which costs money to store, then employees to systematically go through because an automated service will miss too much.

I'm guessing you didn't read through all the posts since it was mentioned several times.

That wouldnt really cost them more, it would just expand the backlog exponentially.

sheldonbunnyJun 10, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Pika Fox,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=UE7xWpcy,comment-id=00090000000000000000,timestamp=2019-06-10T17:08:18.526+0000)

That wouldnt really cost them more, it would just expand the backlog exponentially.

Actually it would. They would need more employees to comb through the logs, plus as said storage space for said logs. And what is the profit from it? They gain no additional profits for adding universal voice chat. They are only in the negative. On top of the fact they will lose players due to the direct personal toxicity that comes from voice instead of the barrier of a more toneless text.

Things are a lot different when you have a more personal, direct access to one another. People get far more emotional hearing words than simply reading them.

Pika FoxJun 10, 20191 votes

{quoted}

Actually it would. They would need more employees to comb through the logs, plus as said storage space for said logs. And what is the profit from it? They gain no additional profits for adding universal voice chat. They are only in the negative. On top of the fact they will lose players due to the direct personal toxicity that comes from voice instead of the barrier of a more toneless text.

Things are a lot different when you have a more personal, direct access to one another. People get far more emotional hearing words than simply reading them.

They wouldnt need more employees for it, it would just create a backlog. Hiring more employees would be a trap, given youd just be unable to keep up.

sheldonbunnyJun 10, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Pika Fox,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=UE7xWpcy,comment-id=0009000000000000000000000000,timestamp=2019-06-10T17:27:30.443+0000)

They wouldnt need more employees for it, it would just create a backlog. Hiring more employees would be a trap, given youd just be unable to keep up.

And with the size of the community the backlog would only increase. Plus you'd be pulling away from the employees tasked with the text chat which still would need monitoring. That isn't exactly sound business practice.

Pika FoxJun 10, 20191 votes

{quoted}

And with the size of the community the backlog would only increase. Plus you'd be pulling away from the employees tasked with the text chat which still would need monitoring. That isn't exactly sound business practice.

Yes, but again, thats not really a money issue. Though i guess they /could/ have talks with google for their voice monitoring systems they use for youtube...

sheldonbunnyJun 10, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Pika Fox,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=UE7xWpcy,comment-id=000900000000000000000000000000000000,timestamp=2019-06-10T17:42:12.690+0000)

Yes, but again, thats not really a money issue. Though i guess they /could/ have talks with google for their voice monitoring systems they use for youtube...

That is a money issue. Either you spread an already tight team thin by having two sources they have to look over, which means quality and turn over goes down, or you hire more employees. Enough people have left the game over support, it would increase that. That's still a negative in their profits either way.

As for google/youtube...people have been giving crap over YouTube for years now. Not exactly the best example. On top of the fact that requires them spending more money to use it. Companies don't give things to others for free.

And where is the profit at the end of the day? This feature has to make money to be worth the effort. The game has existed this long without it and remained equally as competitive as all the games mentioned with voice chat.

Pika FoxJun 10, 20191 votes

{quoted}

That is a money issue. Either you spread an already tight team thin by having two sources they have to look over, which means quality and turn over goes down, or you hire more employees. Enough people have left the game over support, it would increase that. That's still a negative in their profits either way.

As for google/youtube...people have been giving crap over YouTube for years now. Not exactly the best example. On top of the fact that requires them spending more money to use it. Companies don't give things to others for free.

And where is the profit at the end of the day? This feature has to make money to be worth the effort. The game has existed this long without it and remained equally as competitive as all the games mentioned with voice chat.

It would only cost them more money if they hired more people to handle the load. Allocating current resources to it does not increase cost, given they were already performing that task.

Yes, obtaining the system from google would cost money, that was a separate aside. And, real talk, people only complain about youtube because they dont understand the backend legal issues youtube has to deal with. If it werent for the automated system, there wouldnt even be a youtube. Their systems work extremely well, and are more accurate than a cop is with their weapon.

sheldonbunnyJun 10, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=Pika Fox,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=UE7xWpcy,comment-id=00090000000000000000000000000000000000000000,timestamp=2019-06-10T18:21:29.197+0000)

It would only cost them more money if they hired more people to handle the load. Allocating current resources to it does not increase cost, given they were already performing that task.

Yes, obtaining the system from google would cost money, that was a separate aside. And, real talk, people only complain about youtube because they dont understand the backend legal issues youtube has to deal with. If it werent for the automated system, there wouldnt even be a youtube. Their systems work extremely well, and are more accurate than a cop is with their weapon.

And you expect the turnover rate to not suffer in the process? People complain as is over all the support departments so you suggest stretching the team thin even more?

I feel like you're missing some basic points here. There is finite time and energy in a day to be used. You are expecting people to take on either two jobs instead of one, or halfing the department. Either way quality, as well as morale goes down. Unless you simply don't care about QoL for employees as long as the customer is "happy."

And no, people are complaining at the nanny state youtube is in at this point, as well as copyright owners themselves having their videos demonetized because their system is outright flawed.

Pika FoxJun 10, 20191 votes

{quoted}

And you expect the turnover rate to not suffer in the process? People complain as is over all the support departments so you suggest stretching the team thin even more?

I feel like you're missing some basic points here. There is finite time and energy in a day to be used. You are expecting people to take on either two jobs instead of one, or halfing the department. Either way quality, as well as morale goes down. Unless you simply don't care about QoL for employees as long as the customer is "happy."

And no, people are complaining at the nanny state youtube is in at this point, as well as copyright owners themselves having their videos demonetized because their system is outright flawed.

Wouldnt stretch the team thinner or anything. Again, all that would change is a much larger backlog. The workload wouldnt change, and the support team would just be continuing to do the job they were already doing. Its unfeasible because of the exponential backlog growth, not because of cost.

Only morons are complaining about youtube. Their system is stupidly good and accurate, even accounting for the errors. The problem is they need this system by law. If you dont like the content ID system, youtube is not the person to bring it up to.

Total ViolationJun 10, 20193 votes

Voice chat has been avalible for a long time, but it can only be used in premade comps.

Why is voice chat not avalible for eveyone? Because i don't need to hear a 12 year old Yasuo main's voice screeching at me for not following up to his 1v5 suicide mission.

CrazyMonkeyCZJun 10, 20192 votes

They can't control voice chat, that's big problem for them apparently.

Also majority of boards and reddit are against it bcs "tOxIcItY", I would love it, but I doubt it.

HelioSykesJun 10, 20193 votes

Toxicity would maybe be a problem in first few months, but after some bans, community would be much more friendly and calmer. Also this option can be added just for Ranked.

usul1202Jun 10, 20192 votes

What would you ban for, report numbers? There's no efficient way to keep recordings of the voice chat, it's too much data, and even top of the line voice recognition has difficulty with accents, so it would be super easy to ban evade that.

Mowgli IVJun 10, 20191 votes

Can you explain me then, why is there no toxicity in Dota 2, at least not that much. And don't even try to say it's about community, becuase it's not.

usul1202Jun 10, 20192 votes

I've never played it, so I wouldn't know. I do know that overwatchs's voice chat made me want to not join, despite the fact that it would greatly increase my win chance since I had no concept of meta or tactics.

LaceUpXXJun 10, 20192 votes

Because people haven't figured out the mute feature yet and are afraid of "toxicity".

Devilish grinJun 10, 20192 votes

True, I really can't beleive that toxicity can be reason to add such a good feature in the game. If you think about it, if they added voice chat in begining there would no be toxicity, or at least not this much... The more they wait the bigger toxicity is. Also I think that toxicity wouldn't be that big problem, because people are more friendly when they are in voice contact, that's fact.

ZtokaJun 10, 20192 votes

But there is chat in the game if you are in a pre-made. TBH I always mute it. Could they add it for random groups? Sure they could. I have a feeling most would mute/disable it though. There always seems to be a person or two in voice chat that are just too chatty, have too much going on in the background, like to play their music too loudly so it picks up on their mic.. Been there, done that for many years. I also would fear there would be bullying around it, like x doesn't want to be on voice chat, report them after the game for not being a team player etc..

sheldonbunnyJun 10, 20191 votes

More food for thought, I feel that the barrier between typing and speaking in some ways protects players. If someone gets stressed or upset, we often are quick to say something out loud. With typing, it takes added effort, thought, and intent.

Let's admit it, we're all a bit more salty out loud than we are in chat. It's a safe place to vent without hurting teammates or morale. Emotions are a natural thing, and creating no ability to let off steam during game sounds like a recipe for disaster.

By no means am I saying anyone should be toxic to the other. I've always maintained people use self control. I simply understand the nature of the beast, as it were, and know that the instinct to say things aloud is built into us at an early age.

Mowgli IVJun 10, 20191 votes

I will actually disagree on this one. It's in human nature to be more friendly to people if you are in voice communication. Yeah there would be some instances of people simply not controling their emotions, but personally I think that it happends really rarely. I forgot to mention that while I was playing online tournamets I played with 500 different persons and none of them was toxic AT ALL, so yeah, I just can't see the world in which you can understand someone more if they are typing to you instead of talking to you. Last thing, is that just becuase someone is tilted, even asking them if enemy used summoners or anything like that, people get mad and start arguement that never ends...

chipndip1Jun 10, 20191 votes

Arguments against voice: Policing players will be harder.

Arguments for voice: Actually being able to improve balancing in this game for pro play oriented champs. Humanizing teammates. Improving coordination among players for champs that require this without having to duo all the time (largely tanks and supports). Literally any other Esports game of merit that requires team play has it already.

Personally I would vouch for the implementation of comms for at least the ranked ladder. If you want to avoid it in normal games, whatever, but ranked feels like it's stat sticks vs. stat sticks and the strategic elements of the game get totally undermined because we can't actively coordinate anything beyond ramming carries into each other in most cases. Also, duos in ranked have a massive advantage over solo players once they figure out how to abuse solo players. Solo queue has always been a bastardization of what League's supposed to be, and lack of communication is one of the reasons this holds true.