1. I won't be using it because there are usually other people around when I am on my PC so it would not be comfortable using the voice feature in Second Life.

Posted at 1:35AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Fumiko

2. Maybe. Seems a little redundant to me. People are already using skype on the side.

Posted at 1:40AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Vincent Doctorow

3. No.

Posted at 2:21AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Coyote Momiji

4. Well, that depends on who asks, and how nicely. Normally I have no problem barking in people's ears, but I won't do it uninvited. Another thing to consider: if this enjoys widespread usage, will it herald the end of LOL?

Posted at 2:22AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Akela Talamasca

5. I will be using it if the "living room" allows it. Me me, not typing that fast (and to safe my upper body), I find the addition of voice quite helpful.

However, what is with the payment for voice? Will there be an additional indicator in someone nameplate showing "voice enabled"?

Posted at 2:29AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Marcel

6. There's a fair observation. If you are using it in a business environment, you may not have any audio on your system.

In your living-room, your use of audio is largely contingent on negotiated agreements with your household.

Posted at 2:47AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Tateru Nino

7. Voice is a must and I would be very happy to be part of the Beta.

In short, with voice comes tone and the ability to refine and improve communication. I rely on my voice for my interpersonal communication and miss it in SL.

And finally: bring on the body language recognition technology!

Mark
http://brownblog.info/

Posted at 2:54AM on Feb 28th 2007 by mbrownsky

8. If i can avoid it - no.
For me as a german it's quite helpful to read the chat and have the ability to look up an word i don't know in a timely fashion. Voice is more difficult to understand. Especialy if the poeple speak in der own idiom. In chat it is easy for me to follow an english conversation, in voice it will be much more difficult.

Posted at 3:03AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Sinje

9. No; I'm not interested in any more than the technical sense, and in an objective sociological sense.

Posted at 3:29AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Ordinal Malaprop

10. Danielle and I will probably switch to it when it's added to the client. She's looking to get in on the beta, and I may look into that as well. We already use Skype with each other and with various friends, so this might be more convenient. (I always use a headset with SL anyway...)

Posted at 3:53AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Erbo Evans

11. I'll likelly just use in moe special ocasions,a nd just with close friends (unless I have to pay for it, then I won't use it at all)

Posted at 4:22AM on Feb 28th 2007 by TigroSpottystripes Katsu

12. Probably not. I completely agree with the criticisms made in these two SLI posts:

http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/02/23/voicing-displeasure-in-sl/
http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2006/12/09/who-will-hear-you-who-will-hear-me/

I admit that voice could be useful for certain purposes, such as education or business, or for close friends, but why not just use Skype?

Posted at 6:43AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Timothy Daniels

13. no, at least most of the time I won't. I'm not against using my voice but in a stream or by skype, but for everyday communication, thanks but no thanks.

and all the voices will be killed down for that matter. just the same as audio streams usually are. first of all, the bandwidth and performances reason. to make voices available, we should have stable system with no lag, no missing textures, no ghostly avatars who are to be located only by their attachments floating in the air.

second, I cannot imagine the amount of audio spam that we are about to fight. like all the nonsense chat and doors talking who is there, vendors advertising themselves, copybot protectors and whatnot are not enough spam in the bottom part or client window, now we're gonna have it over our music.

third, a disappointing number of residents are such a lousy role-players even now. some people can act with their voices but most of us can't. some can do many things with live voice using audio processing tools, even transgender it with good pitch shifter. but that is action that requires fair amount of knowledge, software and processing power of one's box. for most of players, live voice will be another way of ruining the game.

fourth, chat logging is out! for the moment I thought that live voice is useful for business and educational purposes, live conferences, meetings and such stuff. but, on the second thought, those occasions usually find having your event recorded in one single text file as very handy option.

Posted at 6:57AM on Feb 28th 2007 by dandellion Kimban

14. I can only see using it for special events: live entertainment, business meetings, church services. I'm incredibly concerned about aural spam (obnoxious sound effects are bad enough), and I wonder how LL plans to accommodate the needs of deaf residents.

Posted at 7:54AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Otenth Paderborn

15. No, for the same reason I already have sound (except audio streams) turned off in SL. Rarely do the sounds add to the experience. Aside from the wind, about the only sounds are in weapons/vehicles and in gestures - a fair number of which are explicit, and I don't feel like having them yelled across my house.

Until people in SL exhibit similar politeness and restraint as they do around me in real life, then I don't want voice, aside from pre-arranged contacts with friends. And for that I'll use skype or the phone.

For reference, see:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19
And any references to people using XBox live headsets.

Posted at 8:18AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Laser Pascal

16. According to Joe Linden on the blog, "The codec used in our implementation carries frequencies from 50Hz to 14,000Hz and is ideally suited for music and ambient sound as well as voice."

Many residents have wished they could create a "personal music player", whereby they could stream music from their computer into SL as a localised sound (ie. only nearby residents could hear it), as opposed to a single music stream for an entire area of land. It sounds like the new voice capability may provide a good solution to this problem.

Posted at 9:17AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Timothy Daniels

17. Sigh, I don't know. I'm hardly a Luddite, and recognize the advantages of voice. But there are also some huge disadvantages, as others have already stated. I have some voice issues that make text messaging considerably easier for me. I fear that, if voice becomes the accepted means of communication, those who use text will essentially be ignored.

I don't expect to try the beta, and will likely remain text-based until I'm forced into using voice.

Posted at 11:49AM on Feb 28th 2007 by Tho Millgrove

18. nope, it'll suk

Posted at 1:10PM on Feb 28th 2007 by Loki Eliot

19. No, I actually "hear" the chat , and it's important to be able to check back over the history. If it becomes a voice thing I'll probably abandon SL.

Posted at 1:55PM on Feb 28th 2007 by Lucy Tornado

20. I am very disapointed in the decision to add voice chat throughout SL. I have really enjoyed this game up until now, but I will not be interested any longer if VC becomes the required or cultural norm.

While there are high numbers of people who visit the world for short periods of time. Most of the residents I socialize with are in it for the role play. When they purchase land and clothing or any other object that ultimatly contributes to in world economy and Linden real world bottom line, they do so for this purpose, not to attend classes or attend rl corporate events.

Once VC is wide spread, I think for most this game ceases to be a safe place for fun and exploration.
I think annonimity is key, SL most likely will no longer be interesting to the majority of regular users and they, like me, will move on.

Posted at 2:16PM on Feb 28th 2007 by Marenisme