Situational Voice Masking

[Zekeen]

As we all know, the game will have in game chat. So, what I am suggesting here is the option to add a bit of realism and fun to this voice chat.

Situational Voice Masking - Voice masking is basically adding a filter to change the voice, so by situational, what I mean is this. Adding in set game voice filters to allow a player to sound slightly muffled or such when wearing certain armors, a max suit, or while in a vehicle. And I'm not talking the voice commands, I'm talking actually player voice here.

Imagine if you will, the ability to sound like you're speaking through a vehicular com channel. Think of how much more fun it'd be when the galaxy pilot yells at the passengers to jump when under fire. Now, this might seem odd, but it'd add more for fun immersion, I'm not talking something crazy like roleplay or such, but what I mean is that point where you forget you're at a computer and all that matters is the game.

For some, it'd be a bit of fun, for others, it'd make you sound a bit more intimidating while in a MAX suit, but in the end, that makes you feel more empowered and have more fun. Imagine your voice having a filter like the Starcraft Firebat, doesn't that sound cool?

Now, before anyone discusses this, let me hit the problems with this before it starts. This should be a Disable/Enable option. Some people are hard enough to hear as is and this could hurt their ability to communicate when flying or driving or whatever. But this should not be hard to implement and would be a fun option for some of us who just want to sound like we've got a gasmask stuck to our snouts. Is it stupid? Maybe. Am I crazy? Definately! But if you ask me, this would be a fun bonus, especially for in vehicle voice chat.

So what do you guys think?

[NewSith]

Hell, why not? I support.

[Garem]

Hell, why not? I support.

Indeed. Interesting idea!

[Grognard]

Immersive... +1

[Warborn]

I'd be interested in the technical side of it, and whether it would be problematic to make it a toggleable function that players can set so as to avoid hearing people with filters if they don't want to. Filters making voices harder to understand or distinguish from one-another is something they'd want to avoid. But otherwise, sounds fine.

[Traak]

Situational Voice Masking - Voice masking is basically adding a filter to change the voice, so by situational, what I mean is this. Adding in set game voice filters to allow a player to sound slightly muffled or such when wearing certain armors, a max suit, or while in a vehicle. And I'm not talking the voice commands, I'm talking actually player voice here.

Imagine if you will, the ability to sound like you're speaking through a vehicular com channel. Think of how much more fun it'd be when the galaxy pilot yells at the passengers to jump when under fire. Now, this might seem odd, but it'd add more for fun immersion, I'm not talking something crazy like roleplay or such, but what I mean is that point where you forget you're at a computer and all that matters is the game.

For some, it'd be a bit of fun, for others, it'd make you sound a bit more intimidating while in a MAX suit, but in the end, that makes you feel more empowered and have more fun. Imagine your voice having a filter like the Starcraft Firebat, doesn't that sound cool?

Now, before anyone discusses this, let me hit the problems with this before it starts. This should be a Disable/Enable option. Some people are hard enough to hear as is and this could hurt their ability to communicate when flying or driving or whatever. But this should not be hard to implement and would be a fun option for some of us who just want to sound like we've got a gasmask stuck to our snouts. Is it stupid? Maybe. Am I crazy? Definately! But if you ask me, this would be a fun bonus, especially for in vehicle voice chat.

So what do you guys think?

WEEEE HAAAAVE A WINNNERRRRR!!!!!

Best idea I've seen yet on this forum. I was JUST thinking about voice comms this week, how the voiceovers in game cut scenes sound so macho and martial, due almost entirely to the fact that they SOUND like they are from a vehicle/plane/whatever comm system in combat, and the voices I hear coming across Teamspeak sound so squeaky and testosterone-deficient.

This would remedy that toute de suite!

To be able to hear, from the voice, whether the user is wearing a MAX suit, in a tank, a plane, etc, would be nice, too.

A+++++++++++

[Atheosim]

This is a fucking FANTASTIC idea. SO INTO IT!@!#$!@#!@!@!!!!!!!!%!%!11135516

[Zekeen]

I'd be interested in the technical side of it, and whether it would be problematic to make it a toggleable function that players can set so as to avoid hearing people with filters if they don't want to. Filters making voices harder to understand or distinguish from one-another is something they'd want to avoid. But otherwise, sounds fine.

Well, the biggest thing on that, is anyone can change how their voice is with the right equipment, and they have a right to. If I don't want to be fully understandable for my own reasons, or little jimmy wants everyone to think he's past puberty, let them. You might not be able to understand them, but that's how it is. Anyone can mask their voice without technology anyways, and you can't stop that. The option is making your voice maskable or not and other people will probably tell you to change it, if you do it to grief, well... you're entering a limited market.

But like you said, someone probably won't want to hear someone like that, might annoy them. So I do suppose a toggleable listening option would be a good idea if it wasn't much harder.

But let's face it, I've NEVER heard of someone being irritated by a DEEPER sounding voice. This might just silence the shrill of the too young players!

EDIT: Also, if you've played Star Wars: The Old Republic - They have it so your character's voice changes when you wear certain helmets and they have several helmets with different filters. So my guess is this would be a VERY easy to add feature.

[foam]

The same idea re-worded:

You are flying a galaxy. You use voice chat and there is a low droning of the galaxy engines and systems in the background while your voice is keyed. Perhaps slightly muffled like "walkie talkied".

You get the gist.

[RedKnights]

I love this idea, and it would be easy to do with their in game voice software for the "To Passengers/Gunner" Channel.

I love it so much, immersion to the max.

[Atuday]

Good idea. I support this.

[Talek Krell]

I approve. More info on the difficulty of implementation would be good, but it gets five stars from me. Hope it attracts dev attention.

[Zekeen]

Voice masking is very very very old and simple technology. It just changes the tone and/or pitch as it goes through. It can easily be done with 3rd party software. It's what people do for the vader voice, mysterious voice, baby voice, or that creepy stalker over the phone type voice. You can find all sorts of small masking programs online to use with programs like teamspeak.

Since PS3 is using more of established programs to make sure that the in game speaking will work best, such as TS3 integration, then it should be INCREDIBLE to just add in a voice masking program as well to alter the voice as it's transmitted.

Now, they may have an overly complex code being a MMO and it could be hard, but typically, it'd be an easy thing to add.

[Purple]

this would add another element of fun to the game. great idea!

[Eighm]

I like the idea of the voice modification, but I think background sounds would be a bit too much.

[Zekeen]

That's why it's an optional toggle. If suddenly it got too hard to understand, have the person stop using it, or have some option to toggle off hearing it.

Also, voice in game could work like some other games, where it quiets the background when a person is speaking. All in all, not much can go wrong.

[Purple]

That's why it's an optional toggle. If suddenly it got too hard to understand, have the person stop using it, or have some option to toggle off hearing it.

Also, voice in game could work like some other games, where it quiets the background when a person is speaking. All in all, not much can go wrong.

if all else fails they can take it out of the game. but ill like to see it at least tried in beta.

[Brusi]

I like this idea, but it would have to be really subtle...

And simply add a tiny bit of walky talky static over anyone not right next to you and a *sschick* noise at the end of their transmission.

Something i loved about APB was the district chat VOIP! I even loved the idea that enemies could hear your voice comms if you were close enough, however i don't ever use it... lol, partly because of this. I would still love to see something like this implemented, even if it was just empire VOIP that could be heard in a 30m radius.

The other thing is, as with most shooters... a large portion of players instantly mute everyone as soon as they get a chance and use their own comms, simply to avoid listening to retarded 14year old mouth-breathers.

[FastAndFree]

I like this idea a lot!

About ingame VOIP in general, having the default setting be push to talk would help with the noise pollution.