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ngower

Member
Nov 20, 2017
4,006
When Rocket League added default voice chat back in recently, it reminded me so much of why this shit died. There'd be kids talking a mile a minute for the entire match just distracting, and the moment you made a single mistake they're on your ass and it just got infuriating because you can't focus on the game at all. Or there's non-English speakers throwing a few slurs in rotation at you for the entire game. Or people just calling me an f slur. It was so nightmarish and gross and bad and I hated it. I will leave a match if there's that nonsense now.
 
Jul 12, 2022
234
I did report them, and I had a decent amount of "we took action on your report" notifications while I was playing. But I remember doing that in Dota 2 as well but the community went to shit anyway. I wish Valorant luck, seemed an enjoyable game, too bad I'm terminally bad at FPS.
 

Marossi

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,997
I did report them, and I had a decent amount of "we took action on your report" notifications while I was playing. But I remember doing that in Dota 2 as well but the community went to shit anyway. I wish Valorant luck, seemed an enjoyable game, too bad I'm terminally bad at FPS.
Fair enough. I have hopes for the Valorant community down the line since I know so many people who works on it and they are very passionate about it :/
 

Xyber

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,293
There's very little to gain from talking to other gamers who you aren't already friends with. Most online game communities are full of people who are either obnoxious at best, at worst full on abusive and toxic bigots.

But without talking to some strangers back in Gears of War I never would've met a lot of the people that I still play with to this day. One of which I now live 3 minutes from and we work together :P. Like 50% of my friendlist on Xbox was random people I found in a public game and the other 50% was either people I knew IRL or friends of someone on my friendlist.

There's definitely assholes on voice chat, but in most cases you can just mute them very easily.

But gaming today means that you are mostly in a party chat/on discord with some buddies and never say a word in-game anymore. It really is great that you have that as an option, but it has also kind of killed off in-game communications for better or worse.
 
Feb 24, 2018
5,223
When I used to play online multiplayer games, I always switched it off (and wouldn't play games that didn't let me switch it off ahead of time through the menus and expected me to do individually during the game), I've heard too much abuse and screaming to never want to hear it again.

Same with text chat because it's nearly always awful.
 

Thorn

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
24,446
I don't even like voice chatting with strangers even if I'm in a friendly guild like FFXIV or Destiny.

I'd turn off text chat for some games if I could.

I'm playing Chivalry 2 and having fun but every other game has people talking about the stupidest shit in chat. Maybe I'm getting old but it just makes me want to leave.
 

Rogote

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,606
It never was a big thing here in EU servers. Problem was that you have like 20 different languages in the same server pool with varying levels of english speaking and people being self-conscious about theri english speaking capabilities.
 

Alek

Games User Researcher
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
8,467
People do use in-game voice chat, but because people who can successfully integrate with online communities and communicate with people politely, have usually found groups of likeminded players to play with.

Generally speaking, the people you find present in public voice coms, are people who are either new to the game (nothing wrong with that) or people who have struggled to find a community of people to play with. One of the most common reasons they struggle to find people to play with regularly, is because they're toxic themselves. As such I think that you find a disproportionate number of people in those voice coms who are really unpleasant. And with all of the larger friendship groups sticking to their own private chats, theirs rarely anyone to call out their abusive behaviours when they do start to pick on someone.

With all of that said, there's also a third type, the guy that just keeps his mic on to mouth breath into it or so that you can hear his kids screaming in the background. You ask in the open channel, 'hey, anyone got a mic?' and try to get some team work going, and they ignore you for the whole game.
 

Kenai

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,182
It's so strange.

What I don't get why ERA seemingly want to kill it?

I don't actively want to kill it but don't care if it dies.

Are you really surprised so many people aren't using it or don't care if it's gone when so many racial and sexist and homophobic slurs are so common in so many of these voice chats and go unpunished?
 

PAFenix

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Nov 21, 2019
14,610
I don't know if they're dead, but I do think you're in the minority for having an enjoyable experience with it, OP.

I don't have any good memories with randoms, granted last time I played an online game in the capacity you described was COD on PS3. I wasn't the best player online so rando team mates would shit talk me on top of my opponents. Only time I wanted to use a mic was with friends and I had little interest in retorting against the toxicity sent my way, even if my buddies defended me.

And heaven-for-fucking-bid if my mic picked up my wife's (then girlfriend) voice. It's why I only use Discord now to chat with friends in friend-only games.
 

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,576
You DO need to nuke all voice to curb toxicity, and even that night not work. Voice chat is a plague I never want to touch unless I'm with friends, which basically means never.
 

medyej

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,422
Still alive on PC. There is the occasional asshole but mostly I run into normal people. The fact that you can be in both party chat and in-game chat and have separate PTT binds for both is what has kept it going on PC I think, while on console everyone has segmented into their own private party chats leaving in-game chat a ghost town.
 

wholahay

Member
Dec 18, 2017
707
As a rule I don't do comms with strangers when the opportunity is there (i.e. Overwatch). I'm gay, I sound gay and I refuse to be called a faggot by a 23-year-old because I didn't heal them fast enough. Sorry! If you enjoy it cool but it is an absolutely no-go for me.
 

turbobrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,063
Phoenix, AZ
Depends a lot on the game and what mode you're playing. If its a competitive multiplayer game and you're playing ranked, its pretty much required. Even if you don't want to say much you should still be in the voice channel, otherwise its borderline throwing.
 

ventuno

Member
Nov 11, 2019
1,958
Being able to Discord with your friends while playing beats dealing with creeps and bigots just because you want to talk to friends. A lot of assholes took advantage of the lack of repercussions and made it impossible for others to make good memories too.
 

MoogleMaestro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,109
As a PC player I've always hated public in-game voice chat. It sounds terrible and generally is chaotic. It's much better to have text-only chat, with additional programs providing actual voice chat for users who really need it.
 

Annihilo

Member
Sep 14, 2019
490
its alive on pc

id say the positive voice chats are like ~30% though these days and the rest is sweats complaining/micromanaging you like the game is their job
Thats not voice chats fault though.
 

Genesius

Member
Nov 2, 2018
15,478
God willing

I've already set up my PS5 to automute everything and I have no intention to undo it

I can't fathom the mindset in 2022 of just having a headset on in some random match
 
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OP
Tawpgun

Tawpgun

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,861
This is why folks went to parties/universal muting at the first opportunity.

Wasn't fond memories for everyone.

That's why it's gone lol

I don't want to hear randoms ever

I went to party chat for this exact reason and never looked back, so long as it wasn't for an actual game mechanic. I don't want to be subjected to that trash.
Surprised how many people here are so against even the little trash talk. I'm not talking about toxic stuff. Stuff like this.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW2LkQc1V7I

I thought these interactions were hilarious.


I do wish more games would make it an option at least. Plus make a reporting system more viable for actual toxicity
 

KushalaDaora

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,838
It's alive in Destiny 2 for sue. I used to run raids/dungeons/GM NFs weekly and there was peeps on comms 90% of the time.

Very rarely hear voice in anything else though, mostly because I use Xbox party with my friends while playing online in groups..

I joined LFG group for Riven cheese for 1K Voice, which I already did several times before. And the dudes (I assume white males based on the voice) made fun of me for speaking Engrish (I'm asian). Left the group immediately.

Since then I swear only doing no-mic content or if I really want to do mic-required content, only with fellow Era members.
 

Marossi

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,997
I can't fathom the mindset in 2022 of just having a headset on in some random match
I feel like it depends on the game. Some multiplayer games are structurally built differently compared to others, with meta compositions, strategies, balanced maps and strategic choke points (applies mostly for FPS) that having a working team willing to use voice chat will definitely have an advantage compared to a team who doesn't communicate. Games like Counter-Strike, Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege and a lot of Battle Royale games benefit a lot of voice chat, even if you're playing for funsies, I mean, winning is pretty fun no? Meanwhile games like Battlefield are incredibly chaotic in a normal random level, it's impossible to have actual strategy while dealing with other 31 teammates that you've never met before, so in this case I agree that it doesn't make much sense to use voice comm on normal random matches.

At the end of the day it all depends though if you're comfortable using voice comms.

Also, a big pet peeve that I have, why the heck is the DualSense controller mic unmuted by default for most games? People are not aware of it and it happens quite often of someone just destroying voice comms with background noises because he has no idea that his DualSense microphone is unmuted by default.
 

CQC

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,706
I do not miss randoms coughing from weed, yelling at their kids, arguing with their girl, eating, raging, etc. during mortal kombat X or killer instinct voice chats
 

Gestault

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,356
Surprised how many people here are so against even the little trash talk. I'm not talking about toxic stuff. Stuff like this.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW2LkQc1V7I

I thought these interactions were hilarious.

I do wish more games would make it an option at least. Plus make a reporting system more viable for actual toxicity


I do think this is a good encapsulation of the situation: You enjoy good-natured back-and-forth gibes (edit) you want some vile shit in your games, but even with several people telling you directly how they don't enjoy it, you're arguing why you think they should like it.

Honestly, think about that re: this topic. The issue boils down to people not thinking their own trash talk is "actually" toxic/unpleasant, when recipients manifestly do.

Smack-talk with friends is one thing; You know those people's tone, limits, and personality. Trash talk with random people isn't the same thing for most, and given the option, they tend to avoid it. Keep in mind: One bad experience sours a LOT of gaming, so people tend to avoid exposure they can't control without already having experienced some of it before that can close that spigot.

Edit: Holy shit, OP can fuck off. I assumed the video they linked would be reasonable, so I didn't even watch it before the original version of my reply. Get the fuck out of here with that.
 
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ElNino

Member
Nov 6, 2017
3,705
Surprised how many people here are so against even the little trash talk. I'm not talking about toxic stuff. Stuff like this.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW2LkQc1V7I

I thought these interactions were hilarious.


I do wish more games would make it an option at least. Plus make a reporting system more viable for actual toxicity

This is your example of hilarious non-toxic banter? It's juvenile at best and something which would cause me to instantly mute everyone in the match.

I do miss voice chat from the very early of days of Xbox Live when I was playing (mostly) with adults and voice chat was a relatively new thing. I had some fantastic interactions and met some great people, but it's not the same today and I'm very selective over how my kids interact online.
 

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,128
huh, i wasn't aware this was a thing fading away

then again i don't play many MP games, last ones i did were Division 2 and Fallout 76
 
Oct 27, 2017
34
I was playing Evil Dead the game and my teammates was getting attacked, we didn't know because he didn't call it out. He did get on the mic after we lost to say we were "shit at this game."

He wasn't willing to ask for help but he was a-okay with coming on the mic to trash us. It's crazy out there.
 

ShadowAUS

Member
Feb 20, 2019
2,106
Australia
In a lot of ways I do miss the 360 era, it definitely felt more... openly social? The amount of friends I made through random interactions in games like Vegas 1 and 2, CoD 4 and WaW, Halo 3, Forza 2 and 3, Borderlands etc. was ridiculous. Especially for me A Kingdom For Keflings and Too Human - two relatively unappreciated games where I met some of my closest online friends in a way that I don't really think would happen these days.

I used to be able to jump into a random F2P MMORPG in that era, like say Grand Fantasia, and within a week I would have a solid friend group and guild that I could easily play with for the next several months or years. It's not impossible for that to happen these days, but it does seem a lot harder as I've found, online at least, people and groups tend to be a lot more insular than they used to be when I was young. FFXIV might be the one exception, I've had many wonderful interactions on that game, and whilst I don't play anymore I've met people on there that I will remember for life, and it never felt like too much of a struggle to find those kinds of interactions. Could just be luck though.

In saying all that...

I don't miss this kind of thing. In the 360 era my friends list was disproportionally made up of women (not something that was intentional, and I'm still not sure how it ended up like that considering what that era of gaming was like) which gave me a lot of perspective at the time about how online attitudes and socialisation, intentional or not, effected them - and shit like that definitely put them off being social online in a massive way. I was never a fan of it even before having that perspective as to me it just comes off as massively obnoxious, but I especially wasn't afterwards. It's not that I (or the aforementioned people I play/ed with) can't enjoy banter or trash talk, but there's an art to doing it in a way that doesn't come off rude or bad natured, and there needs to be firm boundaries placed on the content of it, as well as the ways and contexts that it happens in. And spewing juvenile shit in lobby chat falls firmly in the "turn off" column.
 
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astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
56,887
There's just too much toxicity, I turn them off by default unless it's a particularly interesting feature like proximity chat that's used well.

If I want tonchat with people, I'll group up with my friends or people from Era. Plenty of people playing games here who make chatting an actually decent experience.
 
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Tawpgun

Tawpgun

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,861
Well shit, guess I am in the minority. I find that video hilarious lol. Its clear the two people talking are taking the piss.


I'd be ok with an opt in then. I just want to hear people in MP again.
 

Brannon

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,579
The "good old days" of voice chat are same as the "good old days" of 1960s US; rampant racism, sexism, and homophobia. It is absolutely a privileged take. Especially for women; it would be easier to rebuild the Library of Alexandria than it would be to salvage the absolute desolation suffered by women in the chatspace. Gaming lost something vital before it could even bear fruit.
 

ultraluna

Member
Jun 3, 2020
1,880
I have social anxiety so the last thing I wanna hear when I'm playing a videogame is someone talking to me, even if it's a friend. I just turn it all off and don't usually play games that need a ton of coordination.
 

knightmawk

Member
Dec 12, 2018
7,482
I feel like most of the games I play still have it I just turn it off immediately because A) I'm using discord and B) no one is going to say anything I need to hear. At least in games where it makes sense, Heroes of the Storm, Halo, Phasmophobia. Not having it in like, Fall Guys totally makes sense, because what use would that be to anyone.

If it is being removed from games, or put in fewer games like Fall Guys where there's not as much strategizing, its because people are dick heads.
 

krazen

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,119
Gentrified Brooklyn
Only when it's a team MP game and even then I gotta weigh my enjoyment of the game vs getting called a slur. Apex was the last game I felt compelled to keep it around. and suffered through the toxicity (in it's defense, it was leagues better than some of the other MP I was playing at the time Hi Warzone)

Now I play an occasional Halo where it's easy to not rely on it and rock and roll
 

BigDes

Knows Too Much
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,791
Does depend on the game still but I think it has stopped being super popular in general.

Like DayZ operates on the no mic no life rule where if you come across another play who isn't talking the assumption is they're hostile and you open up on them.

But for games like bf or cod yeah I don't want to be screamed at by a racist 14 year old or have to listen to your shitty piped in music or listen to you talk about how high you are.
 

Barrow Roll

Member
Oct 25, 2017
524
Surprised how many people here are so against even the little trash talk. I'm not talking about toxic stuff. Stuff like this.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW2LkQc1V7I

I thought these interactions were hilarious.

Oh hey, it's me from 10 years ago. :/

So first of all, that guy speedrunning "shuddupbitch" at the last second before the fade to black and the match starts is perfect comedic timing, and is hilarious. Anyone that disagrees is just wrong.

Also, he started it.

But also, it is childish and embarrassing behavior, and the kind of stuff that myself, 10 years older and wiser, does not want to hear on comms. Sorry Tawp, but the kinda shit we got up to back in the HaloGAF days probably contributed to a lot of people feeling the same way.
 

Mastermind

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
490
User Banned (permanent): Dismissing racism, account in junior phase
I have fond memories of listening to the trash talk between players. It made some of those games so much more enjoyable. I still remember playing Resistance: Fall of Man and I distinctly remember some dude calling another dude an "African Jungle Bunny." To this day, one of the funniest and most random insults I've heard.
 

chocobalt

Member
Apr 2, 2018
66
I have fond memories of listening to the trash talk between players. It made some of those games so much more enjoyable. I still remember playing Resistance: Fall of Man and I distinctly remember some dude calling another dude an "African Jungle Bunny." To this day, one of the funniest and most random insults I've heard.
Yikes dude, might have wanted to plug that one into Google before sharing this "hilarious" story.
 
OP
OP
Tawpgun

Tawpgun

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,861
Oh hey, it's me from 10 years ago. :/

So first of all, that guy speedrunning "shuddupbitch" at the last second before the fade to black and the match starts is perfect comedic timing, and is hilarious. Anyone that disagrees is just wrong.

Also, he started it.

But also, it is childish and embarrassing behavior, and the kind of stuff that myself, 10 years older and wiser, does not want to hear on comms. Sorry Tawp, but the kinda shit we got up to back in the HaloGAF days probably contributed to a lot of people feeling the same way.
first of all

shuddup bitch

Thats fine and understandable, I just wish the OPTION to opt into the voice coms was there and not hidden behind 10 menus or impossible.
 

Mastermind

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
490
Yikes dude, might have wanted to plug that one into Google before sharing this "hilarious" story.
Happened around 2007 between ignorant teenagers. It was funny to me then despite the obvious racial nature of it especially because I "should" be offended of it because of my own ethnicity. It wasn't lost on me then as a teenager and it's not lost on me now as an adult. It was funny to me. Doesn't make it right but it was how I felt.