[Editor's note: Tubatic talks about not talking in multiplayer games for his Playing With Others piece. -- CTZ]
I'm the guy that likes to play multiplayer without voice chat.
You know, its not that I don't like people. People are cool. I really do enjoy getting to know people in general. But for the most part, I don't want to participate in headset banter. In some circles, one might label me a jerk.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm not a complete tool. If I'm playing something that involves heavy strategy or tight verbal coordination, I'm throwing on the headset, no question. Call of Duty or Left 4 Dead would be a generally disastrous experience without voice chat. When strategy is necessary, I'm there with you. But, considering that necessity, I'll probably not be the guy you'll hear too often over the chat channel.
There are some games, however, that don't need voice chat, and I love them for it. Beat'em ups and fighters are two games genres that really don't need any sort of major verbal communication to remain competitive or fun. Firing up a multiplayer match of
Turtles Arcade or
Castle Crashers without my headset is a joy that I revel in when I get the chance. Smashin' is smashin', and nary a word need come betwixt me and my better-than-bots buddies.
Non-verbals in these games are down right classy to me. If I'm low on health, and a guy sidesteps a delicious mutton chop so i can grab it, it shows enough communication and respect for me to still enjoy the game, without belaboring the obvious point of "Food's right here, man!" All I really need is my game, and someone on the other end that doesn't require the burden of conversation to have a good time whacking goons upside their heads. On the versus fighting end, I don't require trash talking to get into the competition. In
Soulcalibur IV, desperate attempts at teabagging or overkill hits are enough for me to get your meaning.
Running silent also affords, in some cases, a chance to communicate through actions. This can be sometimes more genuine and endearing than any spoken or typed conversation.
World of Warcraft, for example, allows no meaningful language based communication between the two factions. They simply can't understand what the other is saying. However, there are some limited emotes that are understood in all cases. Its a great moment expressing support to another character through he actions of assisting their quest progress, or presenting them with a bow or salute in respect of their non-interference. Again, there's a level of civility and nobility in making your point here without speech.
Beyond ideas of stoicism, brevity, or focus, I just have a lot of fun playing on silent. For most of my gaming life, I've been a single player. However, some of my most memorable moments have been experienced in the multiplayer space. For me, playing multiplayer without voice is the best of both worlds. I'm losing myself in the action of a game, but still pitting myself with and against players that are far more intelligent and reasonably skillful than any coded AI based opponent.
Get it? So please, its nothing personal. Sometimes, its just more fun when you're quiet.
Contest:
12:00 PM on 01.10.2009
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"Stay gold Tubatic, stay gold
short of the occasional "look out" or behind you if i dont know you you wont here a word outa me.
id stop wearing the headset entirely but it feels so right.
Sometimes I think that the other Live players are talking and shouting because they feel that they HAVE to talk. And so there's a lot of gibberish being spouted and very little true information and content.
I remember the good old days when the only time I played videogames with strangers was at the arcade. Back then, people didn't have the internet to hide behind, so if you called someone a bloated anus sucking dick-fuck, you had to deal with the consequences. There was a quiet code of conduct back then, nothing more than "Good game" or "I think throws are cheap" was necessary to communicate what you were there for. Everyone was there for one reason; to play videogames. No one was there to be an asshole, and if they were, they were quickly ostracized.
God, I miss those days.
If it's this particualr community, say on FnF, I will definitely have it plugged in, and probably be willing to chat it up. With random players, though, sometimes I just listen and shake my head.
Well done!!
@Everybody
lol I'm kinda surprised I'm not so alone on this one :)
I actually agree quite a bit as well. I don't even really play competitive multiplayer gaming. My idea of a multiplayer experience is hopping on an MMO for some cooperative challenge with other real people. It doesn't involve a lot of communication; it's more the action of working with eachother towards a common goal is an experience not viable in a single player game.
I remember when I first played online in Quake 2 and I may have had the most fun playing online ever and I don't think I even knew you could talk to other people back then.
Thanks! :D :D :D
I forgot where i was going with that, oh yeah, I just feel it's a bit pointless if you hop into a random game with a bunch of other people that you will probably never meet again, so yeah. Totally aggree with you
It annoys me when people have no way of working with the rest of the team. It's worse than being down one player, because the guy without the microphone often gets himself killed more often because he's out on his own.
Also when I'm playing with a friend and he's on the phone or not using his headset I stop playing because it's not as fun. I might as well be playing with a bot if there's no communication going on.
The joys of Live are, I know a lot more random people I've met on Live, than those I know personally. Once a player behaves, and plays well, with or without a mic, I'll add them to my friend list.
Playing single player games, like when we had consoles that couldn't get online, does allow the player to be more focused. Its nice to be alone sometimes and enjoy the selfish experience.
Playing games with total strangers, is also a nice change, since they and you can chat about almost anything. Its nice to find out what another gamer is doing and what their tastes are about, if you put yourself out first.
I can tell what your going to do and apply more tactics, than most people could if they were telepathic with each other and sat in the same room.
I can tell within the first minute of playing co-op or competitive multiplayer what type of match its going to be. If its a good match with players working together towards the goal, yea I'll jump in and talk. If its a random profanity filled match, I turn the headset volume down and pump some tunes.
There's a poster of those two guys in the first graphic at my university library.
"Those two guys"? Good God, man! Laurel & Hardy! Are the youth of today so uneducated about our pop culture history? {*whimper*}
Can the audio from others be muted? The main reason why I don't participate in multiplayer on with PSN or XB Live is because of the arrogance of people with their F-bombs and unnecessary bigotry. But if there's a way to filter that out without having to mute all of the audio, I might start to join in.
I played quite a bit of CoD4 with a headset (before they had party chat, so I'd have to talk to my friends and anyone else on my team all at once) and it's not as if it was strategy-fest over the headset. Usually it was random blabbing, or complaining about something being "bullshit", etc. Given, I didn't get into Search and Destroy type games so maybe that's why I missed out on the strategizing aspect.
I was the kid who didn't like group projects in school. Similarly, I don't want to play a lot of games that require me to strategize with strangers, many of whom will think they can boss you around because they played the game for 100 hours or what have you.
The only thing I would disagree with is that COD needs a headset. Well, I should say when playing COD in a PUG scenario. Strategy is usually thrown out the window as 1 to 2 guys become feel the need to play the character of Rambo :P
Not quite sure where you're going with this one Moto. Why is bachelors(sic) in quotes?
It also depends on how talkative the group is- if I'm playing TF2 on a server with alltalk and an interesting conversation pops up over the mic, I'll probably join in, or if I manage to get a really well-coordinated team that makes sure to report back on enemy sentries or locations.
Noises Off! set FTW? I skimmed the comments and didn't see anyone mention it.
Yeah, I know, I'm a dork. Great article.