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SL Voice beta: Drop by and say “Hi!”
By Celebrity Trollop | March 29, 2007
Linden Lab widened the voice beta yesterday, making it official with this post on the Second Life blog. I downloaded the beta voice enabled viewer last night and after some really annoying problems getting my various hardware components to work correctly — especially the microphone — I finally got all of the issues worked out and could to listen to and speak with my fellow Second Lifers. I found that “push-to-talk” actually worked the best for our little group last night — especially for people with a lot of background noise or heavy breathers (ohmy! Adjust that mic, you perv!). As of right now, it seems that only “parcel enabled public chat” works. But LL will be adding the ability to “IM voice chat” and “group conference voice chat” in the near future.
There’s only a handful of voice enabled sims on the preview grid (and actually, the stability of these sims seems to be a bit dodgy.) Preview grid Lusk, for example, died while a group of about 10 of us were talking (well, I was listening because my microphone didn’t work!) I’m now hiding out on Pulveria which seems to be a bit more stable. Other voice enabled sims on the preview grid are: Abbotts, Spaceport Alpha, Morris, Da Boom, Tehama and Balance.
I know some residents might feel a bit ambivalent or opposed to voice chat, but my sense is once you start using voice chat, you won’t want to be without it. Several of my fellow residents made comments to the effect that they were just going to stay in the preview grid until voice was unleashed on the main grid. Plus? L$50,000 free shopping money — ok, you can’t bring your purchases back to the main grid, but it’s fun to spend someone else’s money anyway!
I definitely recommend downloading the voice beta viewer — it’s synced with the 1.14.0 release — and checking it out. If you see me on the voice preview grid, make sure to come say “Hi!”
Topics: Linden Lab, Odds 'n' Ends |
Yes-another-annoying-feature-I-wont-use XD
1. I don’t want to hear what people sounds like, it kinda breaks the fantasy.
2. If i wanted to yap all night I’d just call a girlfriend.
3. If i wanted to yap all night to many people, I’d play another cool game called RealLife. It’s a fairly old game but it involves going out and meeting with people XD.
4. It will be another thing to add to my profile: don’t ask for voice or feel my wrath. ;)
5. I already have enough with chat and IM, its confusing enough as it is. I think I will simply turn off all voice features, to the risk of loosing some of the conversations. I already fear how freakingly confusing it will be. I have many european, british, american, australian friends. I’m not even talking about the other nationalities. This will indeed sound lovely.
I may buy a voice changer in case someone still ask me to, I’ll adopt the Barry White settings. ;)
Posted by: CodeBastard Redgrave on March 29th, 2007 at 9:57 amActually I would *LOVE* to hear you be Barry White. Then I could hump your leg while you talked.
Posted by: Celebrity Trollop on March 29th, 2007 at 10:01 am*Codie ROTFL and can’t catch her breath*
OMG lol. okay we must meet soon… *lol*
Codie
Posted by: CodeBastard Redgrave on March 29th, 2007 at 10:25 amSo no one will type anymore - or those that only type will automatically assumed to be men? ;) Seriously though, I think we lose something with voice….I might feel differently if I try it.
Posted by: Gillian Waldman on March 29th, 2007 at 12:10 pmIt probably will be the case. I play SL mainly because I’m somebody else than my avie. How many people over 50 plays 18yold avatars? How many girls plays boys and vice versa? How many people that are shy in RL (like me) turns out to be extraverted in SL? If i wanted voice i’d get Teamspeak. So okay its cool, but I will simply not use it. Don’t care what people think, it will keep superficial people out of my way XD
Codie
Posted by: CodeBastard Redgrave on March 29th, 2007 at 12:43 pmOh Celeb, I’m so glad you got it to work! I love love love voice and can’t wait for it to be on the main grid. I think I’m going to be spend a lot of time in beta as well! See you there!!
Posted by: HeatherDawn on March 29th, 2007 at 1:06 pmWell, there’s a mistake in your posting - you get “only” 5.000 L$ to spent every time you login; not 50.000 L$.
Posted by: Bartholomew Gallacher on March 29th, 2007 at 2:21 pm1. I use voice chat for mmos and there is a definate *ism against people who don’t use it.
2. In order not to annoy my husband, I’d have to constantly wear headphones.
3. There will be different classes of SLers, those who voice and those who don’t. While those who don’t may choose not to for different reasons, it will be automatically assumed that they are hiding something.
4. In order to chat on my sim, I’d have to pay to upgrade my grandfathered sim. Those on the mainland pay normal tier fees, but I’d have to pay 100USD extra.
It’s good for people who want it, but bad for those who don’t. Saddly, it seems that once again LL saying it wont produce lag is another big fat lie.
Posted by: luth on March 29th, 2007 at 2:31 pmI am not opposed to voice features but probably won’t use them myself, because my voice won’t go very well with my avatar as I freely admit in the profile. I might use it with people I trust and am friendly with, but not likely.
Also when I am in SL I rarely have the sound turned on at all. I like things quiet, that way it doesn’t bother anyone else, and I can still hear what I need to hear around me.
Posted by: CronoCloud Creeggan on March 29th, 2007 at 2:59 pmIm excited! I think this is a step in the right direction but im sure it will cause constroversy especially though emersing in their Second Lives in the opposite gender. However, its easy to juggle communications with several people through IMs I feel if I using Voice I have to really offer my full attention. Its also easier to tell someone youre busy and working through IM rather than having to cut through some social etttiquete to excuse yourself. One thing though is I think it will let me express and welcome people better on a busienss perspective and any way a content creator can feel closer to customers, clients and friends is always a nice advancement.
Im new to all this hehe, my Skype cherry has recently been popped… :P And im loving it. Im not a Skype-aholic but Its a nice thought.
Posted by: Lucas Lameth on March 29th, 2007 at 6:20 pmI’m very excited about th epossibilities !! Imagine going to a learning class without having to read the chat history! wOOT!
Posted by: Pompo Bombacci on March 31st, 2007 at 8:07 pm