Voice Chat Trial

SilverDrake·Aug 9, 2014·6 votes·798 views

I believe that Riot should try Voice chat for a week end like they did for alll the test game modes. And before Roit responds and says that voice chat has too many negative consequences that out way the benefit of being able to quickly coordinate with your team i just want to say how would they know until they try. The game already includes a bunch of ways to deal with negative behavior like muting , reporting and blocking if someone is that bad and everyone on the team blocks him/her then that's 4 less people that that person can bother. League if legends is big game and its one of the first games that has a really diverse mix of people and skill levels that needs a way to equalize these differences .

Siv HD's Thought on Voice Chat

I hope a Rioter replies to this because I want to hear why they refused to even try.

8 Comments

GranspearZXAug 9, 20143 votes

I don't think it'll increase toxicity but it's extremely impractical:

It can't be regulated the way that chat can. Let's take Lyte's initiative on chat bans, for instance--two weeks for racial and homophobic slurs. What happens to people who spew that in voice chat? Reporting? Well, now you've got people reporting for something that there is no physical evidence for (unless audio logs are involved, which is all kinds of unreasonable). And on top of that, there would be plenty of false reports of things being said in voice chat that actually weren't. It creates more problems than it actually solves.
People who advocate for it will be upset at people who opt out because of "not communicating". Everyone advocating for voice chat pretends that the game, in its current state, is outright unplayable without voice chat. It's rather silly, really. It's akin to being forced to add 4 strangers to your friends list. And people have plenty of valid reasons not to opt into voice chat beyond not wanting to hear people whining about a jungler who won't gank for them. Some people prefer not specifically to so they don't have to deal with online harassment. Some people just don't have microphones. Some people have enough ambient background noise that they'll utterly ruin a game for other people. People who champion in-game voice chat and ignore this generally don't want better communication--they want to be heard. That's all.

SilverDrakeAug 9, 20141 votes

I understand what you are saying but i feel like Riot has at least have to try. Curse Voice received a decent amount of positive feedback and I never seen anyone get flamed for not using curse voice when everyone else is using it. For a game that relies so much on team work its strange that voice chat is has not been attempted.

KhodexusAug 9, 20141 votes

I advocate voice chat, not because the current game is unplayable by any stretch, but because voice chat increases coordination in a good team. I've played numerous other games that have this as an option. I used to be against voice chat on principle, but mainly because I'm a very fast typist (got fast playing online games like Diablo 2), but then I got into it playing Halo 3 and Left 4 Dead, and realized just how useful it really is. Now I can't imagine most of my online games without it, but it's annoying to have to try to use third party programs like Skype or Curse just to get chat functionality.

Most the time I don't bother if the game doesn't have built in chat. But I think LoL as a competitive team-focused game could really benefit from this. Make it optional. If it's an option you have to turn on, alot of people won't bother, but for those people who do, it'll enhance the game experience. And for those without mics, even just being able to hear your allies in voice chat is still a significant boon to team coordination.

The only real downside, is of course the potential for abuse. But in my experience that is worth the potential benefits, particularly when you can just mute people who are too toxic. They're only hurting themselves by shutting down communication anyways.

watbeshAug 9, 20142 votes

I don't think the voice chat will increase the toxicity really much - but I worry about other problems.

It might be difficult to understand allies' talking when two or more are speaking at the same time.
While it won't greatly increase toxicity itself, it would be more difficult to judge people in the Tribunal when toxicity actually occurs.
Players without microphones will have a small disadvantage. Microphones shouldn't be really expensive though.
It will buff the Language Barrier (sorry I couldn't find a proper expression). Some players (or is it only me?) play on NA server just because there is no server supporting their first language and English is the only LoL-supported language which they can understand. I can understand written English, but I can't really well if it is just spoken. Also I can't pronounce very clearly.

AchillesofWarAug 9, 20141 votes

I think voice chat will deter toxicity in game. its much easier to go off on something by typing rather than actually hearing them talk. in my experience with call of duty, people that start off as toxic usually quiet down or change their tone once they hear me speak. at the end of the day, most people just want a reasonable response and a quick response..if you type someones name and they dont listen to you because maybe they are busy fighting or just dont see the chat, then it can cause people to get upset easier. voice chat needs to be implemented if and if only in ranked at least.

Tada KittyAug 9, 20141 votes

I support Voice Chat for one reason, I play in the same room as a friend of mine and we talk to each other regularly during the games we play, so we always know what the other is thinking, and we recently went through Provisionals and came out bronze 1, mostly because our teams either wouldn't or were not able to communicate the way we were so we would find ourselves diving into a 2v5 after pinging our intention and our team wouldn't follow or wouldn't be ready to follow. Riot can also put limits on voice chat, for instance having all players accept it before the game starts, if one doesn't than none get to voice chat, there are also ways to get around multiple talking at the same time i.e.: most league players I know have a mouse with multiple buttons and you can program these buttons to be whatever you want them to be so Riot can put a button in the game, like the end key for instance, that players will have to press to talk, I know that makes it harder for some players but most will have a button on their mouse that they can spare to act as their End key. As for the toxicity, I don't think it will increase nor decrease because there will always be ragers in league and any game so whether they are using their voice or the chat box it's all going to be the same.

WorgslargAug 9, 20141 votes

I rarely use any kind of voice chat, even with players that I have had on my friends list for many months.

The possibility of being flamed or reported for not following something that the rest of the team decided to do without my knowledge, is enough for me to vote against this.

Let alone the impossibility to moderate voice chat, and the inevitable rampant amount of trolls, and you get a disastrous fiasco.

cravinghoboAug 10, 20141 votes

I also agree that having voice chat in league of legends is a needed asset in the game.

Also, the voice chat and the typing chat is are basically the same thing, with the biggest difference being ease of access. And like the chat, players can mute can toxic people in the voice chat, or choose not to use it at all by disabling it.

Also, when I play league with friends we always talk on Skype, and I've found this to be much more productive than when I message them in-game.

Some advantages of the voice chat:

can say things without having to halt to type
increased productiveness
more information can be passed from player to player faster
better teamwork

It makes it easier for pre-made teams to talk (no more Skype calls), solo players to talk more efficiently with their team, and partly made teams to discuss strategy.

Altogether, voice chat is a needed system in league, and I hope rito will one day understand this