Voice Beta Live!
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 at 4:33 PM by: Jeska LindenWe are pleased to announce that the new voice feature inside Second Life is ready for open beta testing! Read Joe’s initial voice announcement here.
Please note that you will need a headset microphone (or headphones and a stand-alone microphone) to use this feature. Also, your Second Life account will need to have been created by 2/19/07 in order to access the Beta Grid.
DOWNLOAD PAGE
Visit the below link to download the viewer (be sure to read the information before installing!):
http://secondlife.com/community/bhear.php
KNOWN ISSUES
Due to the nature of the Beta Grid being a significantly smaller subset of the Main Grid, there are some differences is how the system responds to your viewer. Your L$ balance on this grid may be different than on the Main Grid, and any transactions you undertake will not affect your actual L$ balance nor will you be able to take objects made or acquired on the Beta Grid back to the main Grid when you next login there.
There are a few other caveats around this initial build of the Voice Beta client:
1. You may fail to connect to voice the first time you login. If you’ve configured your microphone correctly but don’t see the speaking indicator within 20-30 seconds of launching the new viewer, please try re-logging or disabling and re-enabling voice from the Voice Chat tab in the Preferences panel. This should correct the issue.
2. You may not hear voice through your headphones, and/or may only hear it through your computer/laptop speakers. This is because your headphones need to be plugged in and configured before you launch the viewer. If you cannot hear voice through your headphones and they are plugged in, please close and re-open the viewer, leaving your headphones plugged in. This should correct the issue.
If you’re having other technical issues, be sure to read the Voice Beta Testing Technical FAQ.
VOICE ENABLED LOCATIONS
There are currently only a handful of regions with voice enabled on the Beta Grid (listed below). If you join the group “Voice Beta Testers” the landmarks for the following locations can be found in the Notices tab. We will be adding more voice enabled locations as the beta test continues.
Voice is currently enabled in the regions of: Abbotts, Lusk, Pulveria, Spaceport Alpha, Morris, Da Boom, Tehama and Balance. Also, the Teen Grid region Card is voice enabled.
GIVING FEEDBACK
Once you are in-world on the Beta Grid, please join the group “Voice Beta Testers” so that you can receive new notices about future builds and join a group IM to chat about your experiences.
Please report any bugs, problems, or observations by using the “Voice Beta” component in the Second Life Viewer section of public JIRA. We’re very interested in your feedback. We also plan on holding in-world feedback meetings, watch the Second Life Blog or the Voice Beta group notices for more information.
Thanks again for your participation!
March 28th, 2007 at 4:39 PM
BLUCK! Who cares!
March 28th, 2007 at 4:41 PM
The recommended update messed up lots of ppl yesterday and still laggy and still big big problems - and voice is a priority? Why can’t we get stable first so we can just enjoy normal playing!
March 28th, 2007 at 4:47 PM
Yes! I’m in the Teen Grid, i’ll now check wether us teens can also test this! Woot!
March 28th, 2007 at 4:54 PM
This is great to hear.
“BLUCK! Who cares?”
Lots of people.
March 28th, 2007 at 4:55 PM
Woot! It works
March 28th, 2007 at 4:55 PM
That’s interesting, does this imply that Teens can access the Beta Grid and interact with adults, can Adults cross into Card and can teens cross into Abbotts, Lusk, Pulveria, Spaceport Alpha, Morris, Da Boom, Tehama and Balance.
Or am I getting totally confused and there are two beta grids.
I would hate to be talking to a RL teen, especially as Chadrick has gone to such lengths to stop people asserting they are!
March 28th, 2007 at 4:56 PM
I just hope they listened to the residents and make the default voice off, tagging people “”voice enabled” and not “voice disabled” when this goes onto the main grid. I have zero interest in listening to anyone in SL, much less myself, and would hate to have wear yet another tag over my head when I chose not to have this “feature” enabled.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:00 PM
Caveat #2 is familiar to anyone using Skype or Yahoo Voice.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:04 PM
i hear dead people
March 28th, 2007 at 5:04 PM
no database, idle-ing, logging off
March 28th, 2007 at 5:15 PM
Jayden, there are 2 seperate grids, but it’s AWESOME. Though we have only 1 region in the beta test teen grid >_> But it’s AWESOME. Quality is very good, very much like Skype, and not like Speex in There.com if you know about that virtual world
March 28th, 2007 at 5:16 PM
I would love to test the voice capability but I am too new. Why don’t you grab a new database snapshot. The one you have is a month and a half old and about a million people have joined up since then.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:25 PM
That’s nice, but what the six runtime crashes that I’ve had since I installed the latest update that was suspost to ‘improve stability and proformance’?
March 28th, 2007 at 5:26 PM
soo.. basicly forget about anyone actully talking to you unless you use this thing.Socail interaction has gone way down since the introduction of free acounts. Was a time way back when , everyone was freindly and nice now we all hide from each other on our islands. Now were only going to speak to each other thru this thing.
Not to mention if this is anything like THERE this is a whole new tool for griefers.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:28 PM
another addedon to bork the client. another option that cause more issues……beta or not for get it.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:28 PM
I predict that many of the escort services in SL may find themselves short on employees soon…
lol
March 28th, 2007 at 5:28 PM
Oh dear, you can be 512M away, detach your camera, camera into a private discussion and hear it!
Hmm, so much for the 20M limit.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:32 PM
I don’t know Kira, there seems to be plenty of people (myself included) who won’t be using it. I don’t think it will affect us that much (touch wood) and if it pleases others then fair enough. Sure there are plenty of things I’d rather they did first but if this is how its to be then so be it.
I agree with Stephe’s point though that default should be off, its better to signify someone as a part of something than label others as not. Inclusion not exclusion.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:36 PM
@14 you now this wil be like those “VEDIO ROOMS” here. there will be more vedio sex now then ever. Nowonder LLAbs is doing this because think of it. All the porn life cam sites will set up their wares here……..And you thought sex clubs as it is not are bad. WAIT it you have not seen anything yet!
March 28th, 2007 at 5:37 PM
Nope Jayden, not really lol. Tested
March 28th, 2007 at 5:38 PM
@15 & 13: Good thing the Teen Grid is “XXX-Proof”
March 28th, 2007 at 5:39 PM
@12: Nope, i just diagnosed it and tommorow i’ll have the complete results
March 28th, 2007 at 5:43 PM
Darn the Lusk sim went down, but I heard static from bad microphones, people singing very badly (erk), everyone trying to talk at once, people scared out of the discussion, minimal text interraction, and way too many funny accents.
Spoke to a Linden about the 512M eavesdropping “bug”, which by the way is great to listening to people having sex if you are into voyuerism, and he said it’s on the drawing board and might eventually be addressed.
Now to test if my sound goes with the camera, can I 512M away and grief people with audio.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:43 PM
Well I’ll never be on voice, because my computer is right next to the TV - there’s really no other place for it - and I wear headphones now. Imagine trying to hear me over the TV, and imagine everybody telling me to *Shut UP!*.
Let’s hope social interaction doesn’t degrade by not doing voice…
March 28th, 2007 at 5:46 PM
[...] (more…
[...]
March 28th, 2007 at 5:50 PM
I usually don’t have my sound on at all - either watching tv or listening to music or respecting other people’s space in the house. So this is just another thing not to here. I guess if some one is only going to speak to me with their voice I will never hear them.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:09 PM
wonderful yet another way LL has managed to downgrade thier product yet again. But is a cool new feature etc you say, to that i say bull****. Anything that detracks for the reason people joined SL in the 1st place is a downgrade. If i want to talk to other Sl’ers i’ll use skype or yahoo as i have done in the past.
My other main concern is that SL seems to be devoting more time to “gimmicks” than to actually fixing what is broken. And i can hear some of you already say ” but this was a whole diff team thay did not take away any others from bug fixes” to this i also say bull**** . every SINGLE person on this “other” team is one addtional person they could have had working on fixing what is wrong, Not creating gimmicks that well cause an already almost unsable interface even more grief. Now others may say well there is only so much room to work on bug fixes so this “gimmick” team couls not have helped. Well i will save you the reading of a 3rd bs but that what it is, i worked at one time in r&d on software and there is ALWAYS ROOM for one one more pair of eyes and ears and a brain (well sometimes brain is optional)
March 28th, 2007 at 6:15 PM
“VOICE ENABLED LOCATIONS
There are currently only a handful of regions with voice enabled on the Beta Grid (listed below). If you join the group “Voice Beta Testers” the landmarks for the following locations can be found in the Notices tab. We will be adding more voice enabled locations as the beta test continues.”
perhaps someone forgot to tell the person who set up the group… *sigh*
Have taken the first snaps.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sl-adventures/
not bad first steps.. except of course there was no linden to be seen. If they were hanging back to see how well people managed to set it up, I hope they remember that this is a self selecting group. Haven’t seen so many old timers in a welcome area in a verrrrry long time.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:17 PM
[...] As per the official Linden Lab post, a beta version of the SL viewer with voice capability is now avilable. You need to have a SL account created before 19th February this year and there’s some technical caveats, but the voice implementation is well on the way. [...]
March 28th, 2007 at 6:21 PM
If you’ve turned voice off you also can’t hear anything, or see any indication that people are using voice.
Right now I’m standing in a group of 20 people in balance and they are all just standing there seemingly doing nothing. Weird. No talk at all.
Same in Lusk, went there and people just standing around doing nothing.
So, it looks like I need to assume people just standing there are actually using voice and break in and type to ask them to only type as well. The replies so far have been, in a rude way… Turn your voice on then and you will hear us.
Haves and Have nots?
March 28th, 2007 at 6:22 PM
The anti for voice griefing. I’d like to hear it.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:29 PM
It’s in interesting experiment you know, go into these areas as a deaf person or a person who normally uses a translator and try to interact.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:31 PM
Oh gesh Voice thats all we need on this game now. before people can turn off voice their jerks causing problems will come in a scream insult and cause all sort of problems. good work llabs! nother way to kill off the product!
March 28th, 2007 at 6:32 PM
well i tried and there were no sims with voice, all sims kept crashing, and i encountered no rude people. Of course with no voice it was just normal sl chat.
maybe tomorrow the first day issues will be a bit less for another try.
btw, we need to be able to select our own key for mic toggle.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:34 PM
Not yet but you will! count on that!
March 28th, 2007 at 6:37 PM
voice will bring with it each griefer playing it’s own persoanl radio station with horrible music lol. instead of selective mute, we need to have all muted and opt in to hear who we want to hear and only the person we are talking to hear us. private voice chat.
oh yea, i have an expensive plantronics headset. it doesnt work. a total waste of a lot of money. if this doesnt work well with common sound cards like creative soundblaster audigy then its dead on arrival.
i know why they want only USB headsets. nice try. it has to work with soundcards period end of story. if it doesnt you wasted a lot of money and raised a lot of ire needlessly.
people with sexy voices we want to hear are already DJs and we can listen in sl already. duh
March 28th, 2007 at 6:38 PM
PLEASE PLEASE fix what we already have before adding more, PLEASE PLEASE….
Yes this is a great marketing idea…yes it will bring more people…..but that can backfire too.
PLEASE PLEASE fix what we already have before adding more, PLEASE PLEASE….
I’d rather be able to teleport silently, I run my mouth too much as it is…ooh that’s another reason! If I used voice chat, people would leave SL in droves!
PLEASE PLEASE fix what we already have before adding more, PLEASE PLEASE….
hehehe
March 28th, 2007 at 6:39 PM
(good point on the audio griefing….) since we can’t selectively mute (or until we can) it’s going to be a problem…too tempting…WAY too tempting…
March 28th, 2007 at 6:47 PM
You currently have a series of issues which plague the main grid. Now you want to incorporate voice chat into sl?.
Firstly if/when i choose to talk to people via a microphone i use tried and tested platforms such as skype, which run alongside second life and not inside it.
While this might be good for the “look what we can do now” crowd, you know full well that your just going to add more bandwidth problems. How much longer till you break the camels back?
Guys listen. There are people who live sl, and love every minute. Even if it lags we still love it. Please do your paying and otherwise devoted customers a favour. Give us what we really are crying for and that is an end to the constant stream of unhappy database issues.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:51 PM
[19:42] You: Can you all go to type so I can hear please?
[19:42] ????? ??????: LOL
Right now there is a group of three to the right mostly doing nothing but occasionally a LOL or >.>
There is a larger group to the left maybe 10 people mostly doing nothing again
I am standing alone, ignored (woe is me - lolz)
Such an instant change in dynamics (very much for the worse). Wow.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:51 PM
[...] The voice beta viewer and information about it can be gotten from here, and additional information is available here. [...]
March 28th, 2007 at 6:53 PM
I say fix the problems you got NOW and quit trying to make this thing more complicated then it has to be keep it user friendly!!!
My GOD I can’t stay in world for more then a few minutes, then poof without notice….FIX THE OTHER STUFF FIRST before breaking new things!!!
my two cents!
shocking
March 28th, 2007 at 6:57 PM
Logged in repeatedly and got only intermittent connectivity with the server: couldn’t move, couldn’t teleport, couldn’t see other people or half the buildings around, none of my attachments appeared, and eventually I lost the connection to the sim.
I don’t see a way in preferences to set the audio device to use as input, so it’s impossible to use voice-masking software (e.g., MorphVOX). That’s the main thing I wanted to test.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:58 PM
Tried for well over an hour to get it to work, and still can’t hear any voices.
When asking for help by typing, I was mostly ignored by those who were already using voice.
Found a Linden, asked for help, and was ignored again.. twice.
Starting to get a very bad feeling about the effect of voice on SL…
March 28th, 2007 at 7:08 PM
The recommended update messed up lots of ppl yesterday and still laggy and still big big problems - and voice is a priority? Why can’t we get stable first so we can just enjoy normal playing!
March 28th, 2007 at 7:18 PM
I’ll be one of the “mute” crowd myself, lacking a headset and the funds to get one. Quick question, why the hell are cell phone headsets $8-12, but “cheap” PC headsets start at $35 (mono speaker and no noise reduction on the microphone either)?
I would suggest that having an option to show or hide the talking indicators, regardless of whether you’re voice enabled or not, be put into the client. It would solve those “wow, there’s so many idlers here… o.o; ” moments. Or it would make interaction with other speakers more natural because you don’t see some pulsing dot over their head, they just gesture and move as a normal person would while talking.
March 28th, 2007 at 7:31 PM
YAY! I like this feature
@ Feynt #35… maybe not totally cheap but you might find this link helpful….even with shipping you should be able to find something under 20.
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=pc+microphone+headset&btnG=Search+Froogle
March 28th, 2007 at 7:32 PM
Ok.. Voice.. whoopie!
I’d really like less lag.. and group notices to work. We’ve been saying it for YEARS now LL. Fix the bugs before you add new buggy crap to SL! I really don’t wanna know that the hot guy I’ve been talking to is really a 60 yr old woman. And.. any idea how this will effect the numbers of hearing impaired people on SL?
Fix a bug, then release some voice chat.. then I’ll be impressed..
March 28th, 2007 at 7:34 PM
Woot! This is going to be like the 2 other virtual gaming I’ve been to and they have voice enabled! There and Virtual Laguna Beach!
March 28th, 2007 at 7:36 PM
oh boy! GRIEFTER heaven for many!!!!!!!!! PLEASE PLEASE FIX WHATS IS BROKEN FIRST! No matter how many teams you have working will make no diffence! FIX THE MAIN VIEWER THEN LETS TALK!
March 28th, 2007 at 7:38 PM
Right Not NOTHING WORKS…This will just screw it up more…
March 28th, 2007 at 7:43 PM
Sadly, all the prices and locations are in US, so I need to add 15.8% onto the prices (according to the latest exchange rates). Still cheaper than anything I’ve found around here at $23 (CAD), but that doesn’t include shipping, tariffs, and stupid customs “we need to make sure it’s not a bomb!” charges. -.-;
There’s other things I could spend my $35 on, like a copy of Puzzle Quest, which I would find more enjoyable. I’ve talked with eight people in all my time on the net, and 6 of them were part of the same 5 minute chat that I was coerced into (with my karaoke mike and speakers). I can live without a headset.
March 28th, 2007 at 7:43 PM
does not work … my connection dies as soon as it logs on … an i end up getting a crash logger … so no go for me …
March 28th, 2007 at 8:36 PM
The voice test didn’t screw up my computer or my SL experience. Residents are not ignoring me when I text, but I know they may be talking behind my back. Well, well!!! Imagine THAT!
Very few of the wizards, bunnies, dragons and marshmallows I have met in SL are ACTUALLY wizards, bunnies, dragons or marshmallows. Should it come as a surprise that their voice is not what we expected?
Maybe people that truly have something to hide will just have to find a new place to hide.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:06 PM
maybe i did something wrong but i crash every time i enter this grid no unable to open notices tab on the voice beta testers group to find a working region. I dont know sounds like a great idea hope it works.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:09 PM
this is a bad idea… you forget what SL is..
go to a busy club full of people, try and figure how voice will work there, a lot of people go to the clubs for the music.. what happens when voice goes mainstream?
1) turn down the music and hear the voice thus negating the point of the club.
2)turn off the voice to hear the music but miss the conversation.
atleast with typing EVERYONE can participate in a discussion.
what about griefers? have you any idea how bad this’ll get?
also typing, if you missed something you can use chat history..
voice chat is only good for use between friends..
this is going to shatter the reality which is SL.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:21 PM
Call me a crazy optimist, but I have a feeling it will be a widespread fad for awhile, like the gesture spam du jour, then will fall off to what it will be best for: classes and such, while the main method of communication on the grid will return to typing.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:45 PM
Crappy idea very
March 28th, 2007 at 10:47 PM
@43
LLab is not listening to you or anyone else who is attempting to spell out the faults with this system. When they first made this voice announcements there were all sort of blogs and forums that went hog wild discussing the subject. Atleast 95 percent of the posters were negative on this voice thing. This same Liden blog reached the max 500 posts with 95 percent of it being negative on voice as well. They didint listen then, they wont listen now. This is not about us, or our clubs, or “Your world, Your imagination.”
SL is now about the big money businesses and corporations. This voice thing is a like a runaway locomotive.
Nothing will stop it now.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:01 PM
[...] Alle Details kann man im Linden-Blog nachlesen (Direktlink zum Thread von heute). [...]
March 28th, 2007 at 11:06 PM
So, if I have this right, I need to use my USB headset & mic to access voice on SL, which effectively negates my using it as I do now for Skype ? (or at least while in SL, I will not be able to use skype). At the moment I can be in SL, stream sl through my speakers AND be on skype - which arrangement suited me just fine, especially as my SL partner can’t do voice on Linux at present.
If it’s a choice between speaking to strangers in Sl or my partner, guess which I’ll be choosing ?
I also agree it does seem odd for it to be a requirement to use a USB headset/mic to do ‘voice’ on Sl - again the haves & havenots I suppose.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:17 PM
Ok I tried it crashed 10 times………..!JUNK!
March 28th, 2007 at 11:40 PM
I agree, with the anti-voice people, role-play man/woman etc forget it.
Lot’s of the so called woman in SL are guys. Escort haha lot of workless people then, so pls forget it!
Or do at least a user-poll.
Regards
March 28th, 2007 at 11:47 PM
GeForce 7600 GS
2gig ram
win XP pro
dual Xeon 1.7 Ghz
Tried 6 times to log in. got past ‘precaching’ qyarter way into ‘downloading clothing’ crashes out, with pinging sound, like windows are opening in quick succession. am not really into the idea of voice on here,theres possibly SO many problems, just thought it best to try, before complaining. can’t get in tho! have tried disabling voice/streaming etc in prefs b4 logging too…
i gotta feeling ‘voice’ will sort itself out throught the needs of various groups, its relevance to situation and its usability. i wouldnt go down the route of ‘its all going to hell’ just yet. hey, it could be really useful, who knows?!
March 29th, 2007 at 12:01 AM
Woweee, this will be fun when it goes mainstream. Its a good job then that all my avis are non human, because i will be part of the silent underclass, just like in RL. Its no doubt a wonderful technical add-on, but its obvious that nobody has considered the social impact of this - or at least nobody at LL. But then thats not their job is it.
Since its inevitable that we are going to have massive social exclusion between the speaking and non speaking, can we go the whole way and have every 8th avatar born with permanent physical disability, drastic limit on attachments or linden balance, or no fly or TP options. A few with fuzzy vision would be nice too*.That way we will be more like the real world. oh and no furry should be allowed to use voice anyway.
* sorry we already have that
March 29th, 2007 at 12:10 AM
Ehh… I like it personally, I don’t get why people are spazzing out so much
I mean if you lied to some guy saying you where a girl, You may want to consider the moral issues here.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:12 AM
OK so why USB? Certain software requires a sound card to work. That software will not intercept the USB mic stream.
For a possible example, DJ’s using winamp will not be able to use voice chat via a USB headset and do their job at the same time.
I already tried to use a USB headset with winamp. winamp doesnt *know* about the USB headset because it sees only the sound card.
Which is why i have a soundcard instead of using the top of the line Plantronics Gamecom Pro that doesnt even work at all now. A total waste of money.
The 20 dollar cheapie stereo headset with mic works fine with winamp altho it has no mute.
However, the voice beta does not appear to recognize the fact my *SYSTEM* settings point to the mic on the Creative Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum card.
LL will roll out the voice for use by the VC companies’ teleconferencing sims. Thats what SL will become anyway. I’m sure we will see a new user category for corporate users and when IBM neeeds the grid for a global event they will kick all the premium account and below scum off the grid for the duration. Its a matter of following the money. Who is paying the bills? the meager few people that pay for premium and texture uploads? I think not.
Best bet is to get over it. If your participating in the beta and have issues to report with the system then be sure you state what sound configuration and headset you are using. That will be useful in determining what works for the extreme minority and what doesnt work for the entire majority.
I wish this expensive USB headset worked. I would sell it on ebay. tough luck. No plantronics doesnt support the products they sell. they told me it was the fault of windows that it doesnt work. Oddly, it used to. Plantronics was there and answered my questions at least. gruffly. They don’t care either. they already got my money.
“hah hah look at the noobs that has been in SL for 4 years and wants to use text to chat! us elite 30 day old’ers have voice and we can ignore them!”
Yes SL will be a different world. One set of sims with voice, most without voice enabled.
Oh yes, and btw, voice print identification.
There is no means of voice privacy in the SL vision of voice chat. Voice print ID software is available. It will be easy to figure out who is who that you have contact with outside of SL via voice over your PC. Uh Oh! There goes the entire concept of personal privacy! Since it is a TOS violation to reveal such information does that mean LL will be in violation of the TOS?
I like the phones in Japan that have retinal scanners for privacy protection. I think we need that technology here. The people that work at the optometrist offices will do a booming business in selling retinal prints underground. Sorry for slightly off topic but I am a victim of identity theft so i studied up on it. Giving any US company ID info is suicide. The cost to protect the info greatly exceeds the cost of losing it. So they dont care nor will they really do anything except weather the storms when a breach is made public. No problem when the breaches are covered up.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:14 AM
Ｉ ｄｏｎｔ ｎｏｗ ａｂｏｕｔ ｙｏｕ！ Ｂｕｔ ｉｔｓ ｊｕｓｔ ｊｕｓｔ ａｂｏｕｔ ｍｅｎ ｐｌａｙｉｎｇ ｗｏｍｅｎ ｈｕｎ．．.．．．Ｈａｓ ａｌｏｔ ｔｏ ｄｏ ｗｉｔｈ ｂｒｅａｋｉｎｇ ｔｈｅ ｃｌｉｅｎｔ ｅｖｅｎ ｆａｔｈｅｒ！ ＬＯＬ Ａｓ ｉ ｓａｉｄ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ ｉｔｓ ｎｏｔ ａ ｇｏｏｄ ｉｄｅａ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｔｈｅ ｃｌｉｅｎｔ ｈａｓ ｓｏ ｍａｎｙ ｉｓｓｕｅｓ ａｓ ｉｓ！ Ｖｏｉｃｅ ｊｕｓｔ ｗｉｌｌ ｃａｕｓｅ ｅｖｅｎ ｍｏｒｅ ｉｓｓｕｅｓ！ ＬＯＬ Ｉ ｃｒａｓｈｅｄ １０ ｔｉｍｅｓ ｈｕｎ！ Ｉｔｓ ｊｕｓｔ ｎｏｔ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｉｓ ｔｉｍｅ ｅｆｆｅｃｔ ｏｒ ｅｖｅｎ ｃｐｕ ｐｏｗｅｒ ｆｏｒ ｔｈｉｓ ｐｉｅｃｅ ｏｆ ｊｕｎｋ！
March 29th, 2007 at 12:15 AM
I say again exactly what I said the first time I heard about this.
NO.
Look at the feature votes. Less than TWO HUNDRED people have voted for “voice in SL” out of over five million users. That there is sufficient proof that it’s just a Linden toy that completely disregards its users.
This really is a huge change in the way that SL operates. It will make an “us and them” divide even more than there already is amongst the different language groups. Now, using Babelfish or freetranslation.com I can communicate in a rudimentary way with people who speak little to no English. There is no way I can do that using Voice chat, so many people who I have been able to help in some fashion will no longer be able to get the help if there’s no way to let them know to use chat instead of voice.
This is a done deal, we are getting voice even though most of it either don’t want it or couldn’t care less, because Linden Lab have wasted money that could and should have been invested in something more useful to the majority. However, we can still make a stand, and not use it.
Make it a feature only available to premium customers, and that solves the biggest problem - griefers. Give the landowners - everywhere - the power to disable voice chat on thier land just like we can with push and create objects - and see how many people use it.
Not many, I’d guess.
If anyone has ever tried using a CB radio, and tried to have a conversation with idiots jamming 19 with music, or barging into other people’s chats, or just holding the mic key to block the channel… you ain’t heard nothing yet.
Broccoli
March 29th, 2007 at 12:17 AM
Ｉ ｄｏｎ‘ｔ ｅｖｅｎ ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄ ｗｈａｔ ｙｏｕｒ ｔａｌｋｉｎｇ ａｂｏｕｔ？ ｉｓ ｔｈｅｒｅ ａ ｐｏｉｎｔ ｔｏ ｔｈａｔ ｗｈｏｌｅ ｎｏｖｅｌ ｏｆ ｔｅｘｔ？
March 29th, 2007 at 12:18 AM
Woweee, this will be fun when it goes mainstream. Its a good job then that all my avis are non human, because i will be part of the silent underclass, just like in RL. Its no doubt a wonderful technical add-on, but its obvious that nobody has considered the social impact of this - or at least nobody at LL. But then thats not their job is it.
Since its inevitable that we are going to have massive social exclusion between the speaking and non speaking, can we go the whole way and have every 8th avatar born with permanent physical disability, drastic limit on attachments or linden balance, or no fly or TP options. A few with fuzzy or no vision would be nice too*.That way we will be more like the real world.
On the positive side what happened to the idea of being able to map your real world face (and/or body) onto your avi? If this can be combined with voice then we will all be much happier knowing that what we see is truely the person we are talking to. If thats the point of it all of course.
* sorry we already have that
March 29th, 2007 at 12:19 AM
I’m sorry but I can’t read your spaced out text Usagi. Is something wrong with the browser you are using?
March 29th, 2007 at 12:21 AM
i can’t do anything, cause it seems the beta is off.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:22 AM
ｏｏｐｐｐｓ ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ／ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ ｋｅｙｂｏａｒｄ ｓｗｉｔｃｈｅｄ ａｇａｉｎ！．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．ｏｈ ｗｅｌｌ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｍｉｎｄ
March 29th, 2007 at 12:34 AM
As someone with a hearing impediment and who therefore can’t use headphones I guess this will finally cure my addiction to SL. It will be bye, SL. I really did love you, but you’ve changed since we started living together. I guess you’ve really found another lover.
Bye too to all those lovely people I’ve met. Go well. I love you too. Time to log back in to RL, so calm and predictable, but totally unbelievable.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:42 AM
“but its obvious that nobody has considered the social impact of this - or at least nobody at LL.”
i could not have put it more perfectly myself.
i’m probablg going to have this comment deleted but it has to be said..
this is one sh*t idea they shouldnt bother with and they f**king well know it.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:44 AM
Yay! I got a nice Sennheiser headset in anticipation of the voice beta opening last week and I’m now dying to try it out. However I get “unable to connect to a simulator” when trying to connect to the beta grid.
Is the beta grid currently down? Or am I doing something wrong?
March 29th, 2007 at 12:44 AM
LINUX ?
March 29th, 2007 at 12:47 AM
i would just like to add a heart felt testimonial here.. i know LL reads these..
what about those of us who have speach impediments?
or waht about those people who play SL because they have hearing problems/deafness?
i know several people like this… and i’m sure theres many more people like this who play SL…
what are they meant to do?
March 29th, 2007 at 12:54 AM
Don’t use it.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:57 AM
@1: You do, obviously. You wouldn’t be posting here in this thread otherwise. :p
/me notes that you are, in fact, the #1 poster in this thread. This obviously matters to you quite a bit.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:04 AM
I’m usualy defend LL, now I won’t. This is a crap. Client freezing on the login screen so even can’t log in nor setup anything.
And here is the new right after start the client:
Error 10048 opening ipcstream for
Bug report sent in the first case but I’m realy tired of sending them.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:09 AM
@43: Yes, at a club would be one circumstance where using voice chat would be a bad idea. Talking to a friend would be one circumstance where it would be a good idea. If you think about it, I’m sure you can see there are other circumstances where it would be a good idea, and others where it would be bad.
Why does the fact that it’s bad in some situations mean it shouldn’t be allowed in any situation?
You’re coming up with wonderful reasons why it shouldn’t always be used. You’re not coming up with any good reason why it shouldn’t be offered at all.
There are lots of times and places where this will be nifty. It’s a good feature, even if it’s not useful 100% of the time.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:13 AM
I find it odd that the outcry is that so many won’t be able to use this voice software…
If thats the case… then, doesn’t that mean, that there are going to be more than enough people about to just chat with via text? And if your friends won’t talk to you via text in the event you don’t use chat, what kinda friends are they?
March 29th, 2007 at 1:20 AM
ps. Argh I forgot to put a reference for my brief post.. it was meant to be a response to:
@Mikeey Garfield
“..what are they meant to do?”
Don’t use it.
Meaning, for all the people who aren’t able to (or don’t want to) make use of this feature, the answer is simply “don’t use it”. The keyboard will still work just fine.
My hit prediction is that it’ll really be that simple. The ‘world’ will be a little different at first but the sun will still rise and set every 4 hours, things will crash every now and then, but it will be just as much fun as ever.
Peace
March 29th, 2007 at 1:25 AM
ok I just spent a very happy hour on the voice Beta grid. I met some people, we sat around, had a chat using voice. It was new to us all…
Some of us had to tweak a bit, setting volume, getting used to it, but we helped each other out, and we spoke to the people who spoke in text, and I guess in the end we all got it working. Its the most people I have communicated with on beta at any time. And one thing stood out, we laughed a lot more than we did using text.. we all commented on that.
There was one guy who wasnt using voice, out of choice, and yes, he must have missed out on a lot of what was going on. But he came to the Beta *voice* grid, having no intention of using voice… his choice.
I have my reservations, sure. but it was a lot of fun til the grid went down, and i think there are upsides, as Gaius at #65 says.
If we cant adapt and change, then we are not human.. Humans are very good at adapting and changing. There will be conflict, but there is no change without conflict, and no progress without change.
Lets give it a little more than 24 hours before we condemn it out of hand.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:26 AM
So far, most of the Voice Regions were down (5:17 AM EST) or not able to TP to.
Other than that I look forward to voice as an option. Seems no one cares if you have a disability other than being deaf? What about people who have trouble using their hands to type (amputees, RSI, Carpal Tunnel, arthritis)? Nice to see Residents will discriminate against some handicaps & not others. To a lesser extent, Voice is a useful option for those with horrible typing/spelling.
Years ago in High School, I had a classmate who was deaf. It wasnt obvious at first. So during a conversation he asked if I could look at him while talking so he could read my lips (I was digging thru a backpack). So I suppose it wouldnt hurt for someone Hearing Impaired to ask me to type instead of talk, would it? Or is that just too much to ask??
I’m all for Voice as long as its an Option & works (we’ll see on that). I’m all for anything that makes it easier for someone with any disability easier to use!
March 29th, 2007 at 1:26 AM
wow this is amazing walking around talking like in rl. Ok one odd thing did happen that might cause a few problems. I was talking to a friend and after she logged off we were still able to talk to each other for almost 10 min. Other than that nice clear sound and I cannot wait until it hits the main grid.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:28 AM
Client freezing on the login screen so even can’t log in nor setup anything.
And here is the new right after start the client:
vvgw_open() failed, error 10060
March 29th, 2007 at 1:37 AM
#65 Gaius, #67 Imogen, #68 Tod69
All very good points, said (typed?) well.
Cheers
March 29th, 2007 at 2:01 AM
You don’t *need* a USB headset. I use a mic plugged directly into my soundcard mic port and it works fine.
March 29th, 2007 at 2:23 AM
Linux Voice client?
March 29th, 2007 at 2:23 AM
Second Life - your world…your imagination…
LL are killing imagination.
So: Second Life - your business…
RL and SL will be chaotically mixed. No room for fantasy and dreams. A big shout: “Show me who you really are!”.
Surely more than half of the population doesnt want voice. But money rules and our opinions are - as always . shit.
Who disables voice will be neglected. This is the end of SECOND life.
March 29th, 2007 at 2:31 AM
Is Beta down? I can’t login ……
Login failed.
Unable to connect to a simulator
CPU: AMD (1670 Mhz)
Memory: 1024 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce FX 5200/AGP/SSE/3DNOW!
OpenGL Version: 2.0.3
LLMozLib Version: 1.1.0 (Mozilla GRE:1.8.0.10_0000000000)
March 29th, 2007 at 2:32 AM
Woohoo! We don’t even NEED working TP’s, sensible arbitrary limits and a full inventory anymore now that we have voicechat!
March 29th, 2007 at 2:32 AM
[...] within the voice beta grids. Source: Voice moves from closed beta to open beta Read More: Official Secondlife Blog Subscribe, Share, Bookmark This Story: Add to Technorati Favorites! • Seed This Related Posts [...]
March 29th, 2007 at 2:33 AM
I’m on the “voice grid”, we’re like 5 ppl… we have some dozen of ppl whining here but… did they tried the voice before whining ? ‘cuz we don’t see them on the voice grid right now… so it look like they didn’t even tried …
that’s silly !
March 29th, 2007 at 2:36 AM
When voice goes mainstream I think I’ll use my ‘Adjustable Title’ to say something like “text chat, not voice”, or something more witty if I think of it.
Well obviously I’m not a supporter of voice, even though I’m a male playing a male in SL and I never disguise the fact I’m 48, but one reason being my accent is quite strong and people in RL have problems understanding me sometimes LOL.
However, what I would like to know, is why Linden Labs have taken this route? I don’t think this has ever been explained, I would be very happy to hear from a Linden what is the motivation behind this development, there had to be an agenda when the decision was taken, so what is it? Thank you.
March 29th, 2007 at 3:06 AM
Dekka - “Voice ain’t my choice”, or “Don’t believe the hype..type”
Alternatively for the ladies - “I only accept come-ons on text” may have the desired effect!!
March 29th, 2007 at 3:16 AM
With voice-chat SL will soon be an American Only thing, or maybe other countries but every lang-group only hanging out with equals. One of the fun parts of S.L. is that we meet ppl all over the world, and yes, the typing isn’t always good english, but text is much more forgiving than speech as an accent can make someone quite hard to understand. Also as said by many others, Bye bye Role Playing.
I don’t care a 50 year old housewife is playing a 25 year old vixen or even a guy pretending to be a babe, as long as they play their role well. This was supposed to be SECOND Life, not 0.5 Life, right?
But of course, I can always quit playing, right?
- Zhe
March 29th, 2007 at 3:16 AM
People who have tried the beta and are worried that everyone will use voice and no-one will type: most likely this is because most of those who are not interested in trying voice are not on the beta.
I would expect the trend to be that the majority will type, and therefore those people who do use voice will be forced to type to join most conversation. The feature will probably end up with quite limited usage… but that’s only my predictiom.
March 29th, 2007 at 3:36 AM
Some people will love it, a few people will hate it.
Overall it will do very little for most people because I suspect that most people won’t use it much. I have about two people that I’d talk to, but if I can’t have a private conversation then there’s really not much I can say on it, or at least not much value to it.
I also have other sound sources in the room and other people around so I can’t just jabber on endlessly. Many many of the people I’ve spoken to (typing) have said the same.
IMHO skype is a better system because it’s private (groups are alowed) and not limited by position. Note the word LIMITED.
I can see voice useful for groups and IMs but very little point in a full 3D voice system at this point.
3 million signups and only a tiny percentage of consistent users. I think they’re taking a stab at increasing the number of people interesetsd but I don’t think this will help more than a few percent. A grid that works would be a lot better.
March 29th, 2007 at 3:45 AM
68 *So I suppose it wouldnt hurt for someone Hearing Impaired to ask me to type instead of talk, would it? Or is that just too much to ask*
Actually yes it is. - can you type as fast as you speak? at the same time, whilst controlling your avi? From my experience the simplest option wins. Its easy to speak, hard to type. In a group of ’speakers’ the typer looses.
65 *There are lots of times and places where this will be nifty. It’s a good feature, even if it’s not useful 100% of the time.*
Totally agree, in the right place at the right time. However a global voice enabled client would have far reaching implications.
We are not, whatever we pretend, tolerant of differences. Personally I dont want SL = RL. I can use a webcam and skype or go to a pub for that.
But its going to happen, so lets make sure that it works for everyone who wants to use it.
Perhaps LL could install a SL default text -> voice synth so that when you type it speaks for you?
Now, I got this avi thats a lime jelly. What sort of voice should it have?
March 29th, 2007 at 4:06 AM
Hello,
i tried to login but it fails, because the client could not connect to a simulator. i open the ports in my firewall and router, which are necessary for the client. why does other people could login and me not. i would like to test the new voice beta. i hope to get an answer.
help me please.
thanks
March 29th, 2007 at 4:14 AM
From germany the beta grid seems to be down.
I get
Login failed
Unable to conect to a simulator.
March 29th, 2007 at 4:34 AM
Linux…!
March 29th, 2007 at 4:39 AM
Downloaded it, instaled it on a new twin core running vista business and the built in Realtec sound sysyem with latest Vista drivers, but when i start the viewer it just sits there forever with the loading log spinning round and round and round….. No idea how to submit a bug report from outside the connected viewer so i guess this will have to do. It won’t start! any iseas, I’d really like to try this audio tech first hand cos I’m a floating voter on the issue. It would be great…at times…but i can equaly see that it could totaly ruin a lot of folks 2nd Lives which they want to be very different to their RL. For instance I am rubbish at typing (and spelling!), so to be able to audio chat with SL friends would be great. But i also like detailed Role Play and sometimes like to play charecters that I and my fellow RP’ers in the scene couldn’t vocalise convincingly. I know we’lll be able to switch it off and on, but…. I want to try it and see, but i can’t, cos it won’t start, sorry, rambling, just my 2cents.
March 29th, 2007 at 4:56 AM
82 Nye Mu Says:
March 29th, 2007 at 3:45 AM PDT
68 *So I suppose it wouldnt hurt for someone Hearing Impaired to ask me to type instead of talk, would it? Or is that just too much to ask*
……………..What?
March 29th, 2007 at 4:59 AM
@ 68…. “So I suppose it wouldnt hurt for someone Hearing Impaired to ask me to type instead of talk, would it? Or is that just too much to ask”
Read 32 then go into the beta grid with voice turned off, go to one of the voice areas and enter a group of people. Ask them to type instead of speak so you can join in.
I would be interested to see if you get more than an LOL like I did.
March 29th, 2007 at 5:07 AM
@85: This is *supposed* to be a voice chat test, so why do you expect people to go back to typed text, when they are *supposed* to use voice? That’s like asking people to use pencils during a ball point pen testing stage …
Oh, abd by the way: Linux? Tofu? Anyone?
March 29th, 2007 at 5:21 AM
Goodbye anonymity, hello 20 thousand annoying guys trying to constantly chat up the few females around.
I think this will be less immersive in the end.. perhaps even bothersome enough to drive some away.. but LL is a corporation, and they’ve invested money in this, and no matter what we say they will implement it. No way in heck they’ll reconsider, that would be losing money.. so we may as well get used to it. (sigh) I for one won’t be using it.
March 29th, 2007 at 5:41 AM
[...] Jeska Linden announced yesterday on the Official Linden Blog that the beta voice feature in Second Life is open for use. Download details here. [...]
March 29th, 2007 at 5:53 AM
[...] mundos virtuales entran en una nueva fase. Linden Lab acaba de anunciar que ya está disponible la versión beta del cliente de Second Life que permite a los avatares hablar a través de sus micrófonos. De la [...]
March 29th, 2007 at 5:59 AM
Another forum in which the loudest, most agressive and most charismatic will dominate. Yeah, we needed that.
Where else would all the beautiful popular people go if the Lindens didn’t extend yet another advantage to them? Thanks, LL!
March 29th, 2007 at 6:00 AM
Zhe Suen Says:
March 29th, 2007 at 3:16 AM PDT
With voice-chat SL will soon be an American Only thing
*****
/me coughs
excuse me… I am not american, but I speak better english than a good proportion of americans, partly because the mother-tongue I speak is English, because I am English. And Canadians and Australians and many non English-as-mother-tongue Europeans do pretty well too, not to mention South Africans, Jamaicans, people from india… etc etc etc…
I know its old hat, but the sun does not rise and set in texas
Mini-rant over
March 29th, 2007 at 6:19 AM
I personally dont care to hear all the noobs testing their mic’s, the 100’s of conversations going on in a club all at once, and the random and unavoidable obscenities of griefers… If I did… I would just go to a bar IRL…
But… chat clients like Yahoo have been using voice for a long time now, for the most part… I would say 90% of the users dont use the voice feature. I know I dont, because when I did use yahoo (once upon a time) all you would usually hear was some jerk opening their mic and playing bad music… so I just mute all sound. I have a good feeling it will be the same here.
I short… this is a mostly useless little feature that 90% of us wont use, but will look nice in the description of the system on the SL website, and will be used to draw people in. Its a rotten carrot on a string…
March 29th, 2007 at 6:24 AM
I’m not 100% sure why we have to test the voice chat thing if we know that it is a waste of time. Enough people have put enough good reasons forward why there are far more important things that Linden Lab should have done before implementing this, as well as reasons why it will further fragment an already precariously held together ‘community’.
I don’t have to put my hand in a fire just to know that it’s going to burn, after all.
Broccoli
March 29th, 2007 at 6:24 AM
my spoken english is really bad. so i’m in the voice grid and i type instead of speaking. there was NO PROBLEM at all with that.
Most ppl have enough brain to be able to read a chat while listening or talking on the voice chat.
Actually, i’m alone on the voice grid… and i see 88 post in this blog… did you actually tried the voice grid before whining ? I don’t think so.
March 29th, 2007 at 6:28 AM
“Login failed. Unable to connect to a simulator.” Anyone else getting this?
March 29th, 2007 at 6:31 AM
kerunix.. your alone on the voice grid because.. nobody seems able to login.. me included, i have been trying for hours now…
March 29th, 2007 at 6:33 AM
no problem here. (macbook pro behind a firewall)
March 29th, 2007 at 6:38 AM
Yep me too.
> “Login failed. Unable to connect to a simulator.” Anyone else getting this?
March 29th, 2007 at 6:54 AM
If SL were a musician, with slick technique and good ideas, but a terrible timing and equipment that doesn’t work half of the time, I would not bother to play with him.
I love audio, but agree with the poster who wrote that this’ll break the camels back. Too much, too fast.
March 29th, 2007 at 6:57 AM
@80 - totally agree. I think these are the things that will limit the use of this here. Mainly because many of us do not consider it an enhancement and many think it an annoyance. Hey different strokes for different folks, but it’s like adding more cup holders to a car that did poorly on crash tests. It will be of interest to some and good in certain situations, but boy I sure would just like to see what we have working better, more reliable, faster, etc.
So I think Dave @81 (among others) is right. Us dumbass, third-world non-English, funny voice, gender bending lime jello avis will just keep typing. And if you’re like me I won’t hear you talking at me.
March 29th, 2007 at 7:09 AM
Still no connection
win xp in germany
March 29th, 2007 at 7:12 AM
@#92, Donegal Ofarrel Says: “Login failed. Unable to connect to a simulator.” Anyone else getting this?”
Same issue here.
March 29th, 2007 at 7:19 AM
@#92, Donegal Ofarrel Says: “Login failed. Unable to connect to a simulator.” Anyone else getting this?”
me too!!!! >:’(
March 29th, 2007 at 7:24 AM
In closed beta, this did not work for my mac, but everyone was able to hear me. I’m very excited about the next few builds and hope I will get to use this soon. KARAOKE LIVES!
March 29th, 2007 at 7:24 AM
It’s the end of the world as we know it!
Voice is going to cause chaos…. we already know that people who type get ignored by voice people. And people who talk when amongst typers just annoy them.
The SL world will split in two. Simple as that! This has already been proven in the beta grid, so argue all you like, but facts are facts!