VOICE SURVEY ON VOICE CHAT

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So voice chat is coming soon to Second Life, a move that promises to transform the world as we know it.  Questions abound:  What does this mean to those who roleplay, or who are unable to speak, or those who are better communicators in text?  Will it lead to a balkanized grid, whole areas divided according to language-- and by implication, by nationality?  Will established Residents, long used to text, by and large reject it, and in doing so, prevent it from becoming a standard communication channel?  And so on.

Rather than focus on those debates, however, I thought it better to take a positivist route, and get the wisdom of crowds working again.  Whether or not you personally believe it's a good addition, how broadly do you think it'll be adopted, same time next year?

Meditate, debate, and vote-- survey closes same time next week.

Comments

[Rick]

I am not sure that Second Life really has a point, particularly to business. Take a look at this http://luddites-or-laggards.blogspot.com/2007/03/is-there-point-to-second-life.html and let us know what you think

[Uccello Poultry]

Such depressing news, this voice component. Those of us who cannot speak in RL may or may not be at a disadvantage, assuming that text chat will still be supported, but I fear that my RL experience of being ostracized will repeat itself in a world where I felt comfortable before.

[Cyn Vandeverre]

Some of the issues with SL are echoing the development of the web; I remember people being concerned when buttons and image maps were becoming used much more often on the web, that people with various disabilities would find it much harder to use.

[Onder Skall]

While I'm comfortable speaking to strangers, many are not. I feel like imposing voice on others on my land would be... well... an imposition. It would be like asking everybody: "Ok before we start this game of Euchre, can I just confirm everybody's age/sex/location?"

I think the experience will be that voice is used very selectively. People who want to foster a warm and welcoming environment will turn voice off out of simple courtesy. Either that or they'll suffer a drop in visitors.

[Giulio Perhaps]

Depending on the specific situation, I will talk or speak as appropriate. Most people I know in SL and RL think voice will be a very useful option, e.g. for lectures and meetings. I will certainly NOT turn voice off on my sim, as most frequent visitors want to use voice.
I try to be as open minded and understanding as possible but I cannot help thinking that, in this case, "live and let live" is the only mature choice besides being the only viable one. The grid is big enough for all.
Reading the comments to the first announcement on the Linden blog, I have been very unpleasantly surprised by the arrogance demonstrated by those who think that, since they do not like something, nobody should have the option to use it. We have had enough of this attitude in RL I think.

[Robbie Dingo]

Me thinks this is a good thing, although I like that it will be optional and apreciate some people's concerns - it will be interesting to see what the take up will be.

Although I guess it is nothing that can't already be achieved by combining, say Skype and SL, I believe that converging these technologies whilst adding 3D localisation to the sound based upon directionality & distance marks an important and logical step forwards for SL.

Somewhere along the line, an added feature I would love to see however, would be controlled buffering and release of the audio, a bit like how NINJAM (www.ninjam.com) copes with lag to allow for musicians in SL to collaborate in real time - that would be cool...

[Robbie Dingo]

..oh, and for the record, this is how I sound...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdpyBQMjDRM

[Storm Thunders]

I think it'll change a lot of things. My main concern is what aspects of voice in our personal SL experiences we'll be able to control.

[Vaughan Holder]

While I'm personally very interested in a voice chat ability, I can see why some residents might be wary of it. It will change the social dynamics of SL.
Until now the only way you could communicate was through the keyboard and that shaped the "Social Conventions". Now there will be this little dance of do I talk to you or type? Can you hear me or not?
I would like to think that both methods would be equally present but I fear that voice will probably become dominate.
Since I've joined the population has gone from 1 million to 4 million. There is a real chance that alot of the niceties that make SL so enjoyable will get washed away in this flood of new people. The old guard is now seriously out numbered even after you thin the numbers to those who are really here to stay.
But I think we will survive, and there might be a new industry from this. Voice artist may become the next big thing. Think of "audio textures" for voice.

[Economic Mip]

Oh yes, I cannot wait to have people struggle to understand my Shona/Ndebele/Chichewa/Zimbabwean English as much as they do in real life. Can you hear me? Good, can you understand me? Not so much...

[Interfect Sonic]

I think that a lot of people, at least on my grid, probably won't bother to use voice. I know I don't really have a good stereo headset, and don't want to be bothered to go out and buy one, and I'm certainly not going to be able to convince my family to shut up and turn off the TV because I'm trying to talk in SL.
Text chat users certainly won't be frowned upon. For casual SLers, or SLers who move from place to place often, text chat will still be the easiest way to communicate and be understood over laggy, lossy connection and in noisy, uncontrolled environments.
One thing voice might cause is more greifing. I can run around shouting profanities, or threaten to blow things up, but there's no chat log to submit for Linden scrutiny.

[Mark]

I would hate for voice chat to become a dividing line in SL. Having to wear headphones would be real drag; they are uncomfortable and I want to be able to hear my kids if they wake up or come downstairs. Single-ear phones (like Xbox Live) are not going to give a spatial effect.

The loss of role-play anonymity is certainly going to chill a lot of people.

There are some possible upsides, such as making it easier to DJ or explain things without special streaming software, but voice is something I'm not going to use myself except in exceptional circumstances.

[Cago Hax]

Give people the choice...

That makes sense right ?,

Voice on or voice off, what's the deal ?
Lets make and inworld language processor!, tweakable as all the attachments, residents would cusimize it and suddently realize that voice wasnt the real issue , but actually that voice fits the resident's avatar and by the same time keep and enhance the regular use of the chat communication system.
Adding a voicing system as skype is anyways, an option to give to the residents, but as some posters here said, can it work and be reliable all the time ? if everyone would use fiber optics sure it would be...