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ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,334
Edit up front: This isn't some whinging about surveillance state/Facebook watching me/Kinect videoing me rant. It's about not hearing other people's mics when they don't know they're on by default.

Opinion piece here, but I don't think it'll be that controversial.

The DualSense has a mic built in and it's really good. It's surprisingly clear and does a really decent job at filtering out button taps etc. No complaints - it's a great addition to a great controller.

What's not great is that, by default, it's turned on all of the time and user's have to manually mute it. There is an option in your settings to have it muted and require a tap of the mic button to turn it on and I think that should be the default.

There's been a lot of talk about the game chat issues in Destruction Allstars since the game came out and it sounds like the devs are patching in a mute button that doesn't require the activity cards (or something? I think they've said something's in the works) and a lot of shit is being flung that game's way about the chat that I, personally, think is unfairly attributed to them and not the core functionality of the mic on the DualSense. Basically, game chat is on by default while playing (which isn't unusual for a multiplayer game, obviously) but the issue, for me, isn't with the game or with what the devs have done, it's with the fact that everyone's controller - by default - is picking up all of the sounds in their room. And I think that a lot of players don't know and don't know they can mute it if they don't want that. Parent's screaming at their kids. People coughing into their mic (yuck), people just having conversations with someone else in the room. It's there for all of us to here and it means that I'm basically muting game chat in every match even though I'm the kind of person who likes to chat in online games. I like game chat when it's people talking about the game and strategising or shit talking (within reason obviously). I don't like it when it's someone in the background screaming.

Obviously this is always a problem with game chat to an extent, but the issue is usually reduced by the fact that players need to have specifically plugged a mic in/chosen to talk to the world rather than having it just be active on their controller without them knowing.

My larger point is that I don't think it'd hurt to have the mic muted by default and activated by a tap of the mic button rather than the opposite that's in effect now. This is how I've got my controller set-up via the PS5 settings (muted but I can turn it on whenever by pressing the button) and it's totally usable. I feel like I can use it to chat just fine. I don't need it to be on all of the time listening to every burp and every time my cat decides to randomly scream at me.

Feels like an easy change that wouldn't upset anyone? Would be a positive.
 
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skillzilla81

Self-requested temporary ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,043
I agree. I also think the light should be on if the mic is on, not if the mic is muted.
 

gifyku

Member
Aug 17, 2020
2,737
This seems like the kind of 'growth hacking' strategy a product manager dreamed of to juice their engagement numbers. I agree with you OP. If this was facebook, there would be an uproar on this forum

[EDIT] I turned if off on my DS from the options but at the very least, Sony should push a notification to users with a tutorial on how to do it from settings
 

Cactuar

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
5,878
I can't disagree with this. Honestly I haven't thought too much about it as I adjusted this in settings day one, but being "off" by default seems like the most sensible option really.
 

Xion_Stellar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,259
I can't disagree with this. Honestly I haven't thought too much about it as I adjusted this in settings day one, but being "off" by default seems like the most sensible option really.
Yeah I was thinking to myself what is he talking about isn't it off by default? Than I remember that on Day 1 I had set it to off by default so I have never had this voice chat issue.
 

symphonask

Member
Oct 28, 2017
279
Yeah should be Off by default and then green or red light when you push the button to turn it on.
 
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ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,334
I can't disagree with this. Honestly I haven't thought too much about it as I adjusted this in settings day one, but being "off" by default seems like the most sensible option really.

Me too, but messing with your personal mic setting doesn't help you when the other 15 people in your game all have theirs on without knowing, unfortunately. As I say, it just results in me muting the entire game chat which I'd rather not do. I wanna hear my team talking, not listening to a fifth of the party's Spotify playlist coming through a tinny speaker because they don't know their mic is live.

Basically, I'm not concerned about my mic picking me up - I've fixed that. I'm bothered by everyone elses mics and I feel like the issue of people not knowing/caring that their mic is live will only get worse as the PS5 gets into more hands and more casual players who don't dig through the settings are playing online.
 

grmlin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,270
Germany
It's just as stupid as changing the behavior of the PS button. Some decisions they made during development leave me pretty confused.
 

SunBroDave

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,125
Agreed. It's a small change, but I think real life use has shown that Sony made the totally wrong decision with this
 

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,068
Isn't this because you should be able to at any point have access to the last moments before hitting record? I also think that this should be turned off by default, but as a feature, i understand why they have it on by default, since having it start as muted/turned off would essentially disable that feature by default as well.
 

Patitoloco

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
23,595
I agree. But anyways, it's something I personally forgot by changing the default on the settings, but obviously not everyone knows it.
 
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ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,334
Isn't this because you should be able to at any point have access to the last moments before hitting record? I also think that this should be turned off by default, but as a feature, i understand why they have it on by default, since having it start as muted/turned off would essentially disable that feature by default as well.

While that feature is cool, I'd rather that be a bonus feature that is only turned on if you switch on 'my mic's always on' rather than us all having our online games ruined by the sounds of someone eating chips during every game honestly.

Doesn't feel important enough to struggle through having mics be hot all of the time in evert online match to me.
 

Lube Man

Alt-Account
Banned
Jan 18, 2021
1,247
While we are at it, I do not appreciate the mute button on Pulse 3D headset being a separate toggle from the mute button on the controller. The headset has way too many buttons on it, and it's always me searching for the mute button near my face, when its right in my finger tips on the controller.

Bad design.
 

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,572
I don't have a PS5 yet but I definitely agree that things like that should be off by default or at least another way to let you know that you are unmuted.
 

mullah88

Member
Oct 28, 2017
951
Eh they can easily add a mute mic by default in the systems menu, which means you'll have to manually unmute via the controller whenever you want to voice chat
 
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ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,334
I don't have a PS5 yet but I definitely agree that things like that should be off by default or at least another way to let you know that you are unmuted.

To be fair, it does throw up a little notification in the corner that you're in game chat when you enter the lobby but I feel like it's easily dismissed as a 'you're playing online!' notification rather than the 'JUST SO YOU KNOW, YOUR MIC IS ON AND EVERYONE CAN HEAR YOU' notification that it's intended to be.
 

Huntersknoll

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,660
I agree 100% with you. It is cool that the controller has a mic but it needs to be off or muted by default.
 

jorgejjvr

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
8,423
You can go to settings and have it automatically be off by default

I personally love quickly mute and unmute myself there
 

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,068
While that feature is cool, I'd rather that be a bonus feature that is only turned on if you switch on 'my mic's always on' rather than us all having our online games ruined by the sounds of someone eating chips during every game honestly.

Doesn't feel important enough to struggle through having mics be hot all of the time in evert online match to me.

Well yeah but tell that to a project manager who asked for the feature. That's what expect happened because this is definitely something that would come up during development and noted by QA.
 

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,460
I can't believe they made it the default tbh, seems so obviously wrong.
 

jorgejjvr

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
8,423
Settings > sound > microphone > microphone status when login > put to Mute by default

Then it will always be muted by default, unless you press it to unmute or course
 

Transistor

The Walnut King
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
37,106
Washington, D.C.

jorgejjvr

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
8,423
I 100% agree with this. Also I agree that muted should be the default state.



Most people don't dig into the settings. Changing that to the default state would be much better.
It was literally the first thing i did, i went to ps5 settings to change things according to how i like them, not a big deal tbh
 

Transistor

The Walnut King
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
37,106
Washington, D.C.
It was literally the first thing i did, i went to ps5 settings to change things according to how i like them, not a big deal tbh
That's the thing, you're more than likely an enthusiast (as you post on this enthusiast forum). I can guarantee you that the average casual gamer does the initial setup and then never digs into the settings again unless something goes wrong with their system. Hell, many probably don't even realize the mic is on by default, so when they jump into a game, they many not realize they're broadcasting their voice.
 
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ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,334
Settings > sound > microphone > microphone status when login > put to Mute by default

Then it will always be muted by default, unless you press it to unmute or course

I mention this at least twice in OP. I'm aware and I have this set.

You changing your default mic settings does nothing to help you when the other 15 people in your game have theirs on by default. I'm not complaining about my mic being on by default. It's not. I changed it. I'm complaining about having to hear Joe slurping a milkshake and hearing Sharon's husband screaming at their kids in the background and hearing Sally's music pumping and hearing Kenny having an unrelated chat with his mate because none of them know their controller has a live mic in it. This is what the thread is about.

It just means I auto-mute every online game I play straight away, which isn't a great solution for someone who likes to chat online.
 

AndyD

Mambo Number PS5
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,602
Nashville
I agree. I also think the light should be on if the mic is on, not if the mic is muted.
I don't know if it's possible, but maybe blink green a few times every few minutes to remind you it's on? And continuous red if muted? I certainly don't want it on all the time if I know and want to have it on. More of an initial alert is what I think would be good.
 

Stoof

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,746
It's just as stupid as changing the behavior of the PS button. Some decisions they made during development leave me pretty confused.
God I hate the PS button on the PS5, still not used to it after 2.5 months.

On topic, yeah the mute being off by default is also really dumb. Really baffling UI decisions from them this gen.
 

OrangeNova

Member
Oct 30, 2017
12,611
Canada
I agree 100%

The yellow light being on is silly. they should flip that. I wonder if you could do it with a hardware mod
 

grmlin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,270
Germany
☝🏿☝🏿☝🏿☝🏿☝🏿
God I hate the PS button on the PS5, still not used to it after 2.5 months.

On topic, yeah the mute being off by default is also really dumb. Really baffling UI decisions from them this gen.
Yeah, I still instinctively try to hold the button to bring up the quick menu. Many of the changes they made were done, it seems, for the sake of change rather than functionality.

So glad I'm not the only one lol. It frustrates me so much, because I always long press the stupid button and end up jumping to the homescreen.

I miss the PS4 UI :/
 

Floex

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,751
It was literally the first thing i did, i went to ps5 settings to change things according to how i like them, not a big deal tbh

You've got to question why you did this. How is the mainstream going to know that the default option is have the open mic on? You're an enthusiast.
 

Kinthey

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
22,249
Yep, it's just a bad idea. When I play destruction all stars it's not even that I hear people use the voice chat, it's usually just someone who has ther TV running or music playing without realizing their mic is on
 
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ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,334
qnxeth-O1cekncDc.jpg
 

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,572
To be fair, it does throw up a little notification in the corner that you're in game chat when you enter the lobby but I feel like it's easily dismissed as a 'you're playing online!' notification rather than the 'JUST SO YOU KNOW, YOUR MIC IS ON AND EVERYONE CAN HEAR YOU' notification that it's intended to be.

Oh ok, the notification seems fine, but I still think there should be some sort of indicator on the controller that you got a hot mic lol

Or at the very least throw up a splash screen the first time you enter a chat to notify you that your mic is set ON by default, to change this yadda yadda....
 

Tobor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,370
Richmond, VA
Yeah I will co sign this. In Fallout 76, everyone joins public groups because you get special buffs then go do their own thing and no one has their mics on.

I caught myself broadcasting whatever I'm watching on iPad into the group chat several times before I wised up and fixed the settings.
 

Parthenios

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
13,588
Back in the PS360 era, my favorite thing about playing games online on PS3 versus 360 was that most people on PS3 didn't have mics.

I can't think of a single online gaming experience since Dreamcast that was made better by the inclusion of voice chat.