This game needs speech/chat bubbles!

Noisivid

only if they're able to be easily toggled off & an optional auto off setting for combat.
"Gizbacca greets you and blinds you with his chat window while you are meleeing a harvester"
"Would you like to respawn here or at a wayshrine?"

ok, overstating things a bit perhaps...

murklor007neb18_ESO

GnatB wrote: »

No, no this game doesn't need chat bubbles. Until everything else in the game is flawless/balanced, the dev's shouldn't be wasting any time on speech bubbles. It doesn't add ANYTHING to the game, RP, gameplay, or otherwise.

The same people ignoring the chat window when you're standing in front of them are the same people who will have turned off obnoxious speech bubbles. Not having them in SWTOR was a smart move.

If YOU are having trouble differentiating "important" rp chat from zonewide spam, then the simple solution is to have one chat window that is filtered to just have say, whisper, and possibly guild chats, while the other one has the more "spammy" chats. AFAIK while with the default UI you have to put them in different tabs, there are already addons to let you separate them into different actual windows.

Presto. Problem solved in the RIGHT way.

P.S. I'd also argue that, like SWTOR, there should be an option to dump subtitles for nearby NPC conversations into said chat window as well. Sometimes it's hard to make out what people are saying over all the other sounds. (I'll admit, maybe there is this option, I haven't really experimented much)

Oh the irony that you should argue that last part, since its the exact same argument why speech bubbles are needed. Its not all about roleplaying, its about an option to dump the chat text for player conversations into your view and attach it to an object (ie the player doing the texting) because its hard to make out what player said what in the chat window when trying to listen/have a conversation with players nearby.

But apparently, apples arent apples.

GnatB

Huh? It's *easy* to make out what player said what in the chat window. Each and every chat line shows the name of the person that said it. It doesn't need to be "physically" superimposed over my view for me to figure it out, I'm smarter than that.

edit: Heck, in an actual in-game situation, the chat window w/ names is the ONLY way to see who said what. Bunch of overlapping bubbles makes it impossible to tell who said what. I know, I've been there. It doesn't work.

steveb16_ESO46

Well they're coming so good.

LTP with speech bubbles or leave. </sarcastic boot on other foot>

Reldun

steveb16_ESO46 wrote: »

Well they're coming so good.

LTP with speech bubbles or leave. </sarcastic boot on other foot>

Nah, I'll just turn the option off and ignore the fuzzy unicorn brigade as per usual.

steveb16_ESO46

Reldun wrote: »

steveb16_ESO46 wrote: »

Well they're coming so good.

LTP with speech bubbles or leave. </sarcastic boot on other foot>

Nah, I'll just turn the option off and ignore the fuzzy unicorn brigade as per usual.

Yes, but you're a sensible person and not a borderline hysteric.

Selique

Regardless of who doesn't want them, the option WILL be there for those that do. So, no one loses, everyone wins.

murklor007neb18_ESO

GnatB wrote: »

Huh? It's *easy* to make out what player said what in the chat window. Each and every chat line shows the name of the person that said it. It doesn't need to be "physically" superimposed over my view for me to figure it out, I'm smarter than that.

edit: Heck, in an actual in-game situation, the chat window w/ names is the ONLY way to see who said what. Bunch of overlapping bubbles makes it impossible to tell who said what. I know, I've been there. It doesn't work.

But do you know where that player is? You dont. Even if he's standing next to you.

You seem to confuse speech bubbles as the removal of the chat window. If you think the chat window is the ONLY way to see who said what, it'll still be the ONLY way to see who said what for you if speech bubbles where in the game as well. So how exactly would that not work?

Guild Wars 2 has speech bubbles. It work perfectly. What game have speech bubbles where "it doesnt work"? Care to name it?

To have an example of the massive overlapping speech bubbles in GW2:



(yeah that's about 3x the speech bubbles you normally see in a fight)

Or how about common friendliness? Oh the horror of the massive bubbles.



But granted, now we're just talking spamming the entire screen!



But I dont know. Maybe you're right. Maybe the ESO community cant handle the speech bubbles. I guess we'd know then exactly why it doesnt work. Because that's the only reason I could possibly think of. It would of course be interesting to analyze why. Skyrim got subtitles, speech bubbles would simply move the text above the character so Elder Scrolls fans should be accustomed to it. Is it the MMO base that cant handle it? Then it must come from that game that doesnt work. I'm eager to know what game it is.

GnatB

Selique wrote: »

Regardless of who doesn't want them, the option WILL be there for those that do. So, no one loses, everyone wins.

No, we all lose. Instead of time working on useful things, they spent time working on the bubbles. I have no problem not turning them on, (and I assume it would be opt in). I just don't think it's worth wasting the devs time.

bugulu

GnatB wrote: »

Selique wrote: »

Regardless of who doesn't want them, the option WILL be there for those that do. So, no one loses, everyone wins.

No, we all lose. Instead of time working on useful things, they spent time working on the bubbles. I have no problem not turning them on, (and I assume it would be opt in). I just don't think it's worth wasting the devs time.

Because it's not useful to you doesn't mean that it's not useful to someone else, right?
Stop beating the dead horse, they are implementing the chat bubbles already. The work is probably already done and they are making sure it's ready for release.

aldeera_terab16_ESO

@ link,

funny you should mention speech bubbles, because I contemplated making a thread along these lines as well.
It's amazing how plain antisocial this game is. In the beginning, I figured people would realise that /say and /e existed if I greeted them or emoted something. Nope. Silence of the lambs, all the way. The only reaction I ever got was a "thx bro", which did not help immersion, much, but hey - it was something!

Speech bubbles. I want them. I don't want my characters to be mere puppets that don't even move their lips when they talk ... because they CAN'T talk. Only I, the player, am able to use several chat channels, whereas my characters are unable to communicate. Say what you will about WoW, but at least your character would open their mouth and gesture when you typed. I really appreciate the many emotes we have in ESO, but ... come on. It's like our characters are not even there. They're so unimportant they don't even get their own guild memberships since that is account based, too.

They want to scream but they have no mouths...

Hiply

Jumpin' Jesus on a Pogo Stick, no. Ahhhhh hell no. The screenshot in this thread and the PvP Taunt comment alone were enough to reinforce this.

Unless it's off by default and all the gameplay bugs and balance issues have been fixed...in which case carry on.

As for the "we demand this!" comments; demand in one hand and <expletive describing bodily function obscured by the use of many words> in the other...see which one gets full first.

Hiply

murklor007neb18_ESO wrote: »

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Rude and Insulting comments]

That's where you lost me, and that's where any reasonable argument you may have made in favor was summarily ignored.

Hiply

pong wrote: »

JKorr wrote: »

There was a fascinating discussion in zone chat the other day before I managed to turn it off. Several people were having a debate about what kind of human hair is best for using as menstrual pads. Along with sucking on tampons.

What conclusion was reached, I have no idea. I turned off zone chat as soon as I could.

I don't think I missed any socializing opportunity by not seeing that in chat bubbles, imo.

EDIT: spelling

This is what so fun about mmorpg the silliness in it. if you don't want this maybe its best for you to stay on rpg games. thats why bubble chat will bring more of that

Yes, because the game's ambiance will truly be enhanced by Barren's Chat 2.0 floating over people's heads instead of in a chat window. /sarcasm_off

steveb16_ESO46

Hiply wrote: »

pong wrote: »

JKorr wrote: »

There was a fascinating discussion in zone chat the other day before I managed to turn it off. Several people were having a debate about what kind of human hair is best for using as menstrual pads. Along with sucking on tampons.

What conclusion was reached, I have no idea. I turned off zone chat as soon as I could.

I don't think I missed any socializing opportunity by not seeing that in chat bubbles, imo.

EDIT: spelling

This is what so fun about mmorpg the silliness in it. if you don't want this maybe its best for you to stay on rpg games. thats why bubble chat will bring more of that

Yes, because the game's ambiance will truly be enhanced by Barren's Chat 2.0 floating over people's heads instead of in a chat window. /sarcasm_off

Look. What appears in speech bubbles is not what people type in chat channels. It's very specific speech, with a very limited range (and therefore audience) and duration.

In no game I've ever played with speech is it used for general chat - because that sort of chat is for distributed participants (or in most cases for asinine posturing, which requires a big audience to feed the ego's of those involved).

Hell unless you are close to people and looking at them you won't even be aware of it going on most of the time. And if you are, simply looking 30 degrees left or right solves your problem.

Reldun

Hell unless you are close to people and looking at them you won't even be aware of it going on most of the time. And if you are, simply looking 30 degrees left or right solves your problem.

Yea... except in places like banking, crafting, and anywhere else it is crowded... it's gonna be a huge pain in the ass if it's turned on. The whole "just turn or walk away" crap really doesn't apply here... it's fluff for the sake of fluff to placate a vocal minority.

murklor007neb18_ESO

Reldun wrote: »

Yea... except in places like banking, crafting, and anywhere else it is crowded... it's gonna be a huge pain in the ass if it's turned on. The whole "just turn or walk away" crap really doesn't apply here... it's fluff for the sake of fluff to placate a vocal minority.

How long are you standing near a bank just staring at people?

Enjoying that sound kind of perverted...

Last time I checked, no one was talking around the banks or crafting spaces. They where busy fidgeting with their inventory or... uh... crafting.

But you know what it would have been called if they did talk alot and you saw a couple of speech bubbles, compared to not seeing them while trekking in the forest or something?

A crowded area.

You know, kind of like a bank or crafting place where people usually interact with each other.

Strange, I know.

Selique

GnatB wrote: »

Selique wrote: »

Regardless of who doesn't want them, the option WILL be there for those that do. So, no one loses, everyone wins.

No, we all lose. Instead of time working on useful things, they spent time working on the bubbles. I have no problem not turning them on, (and I assume it would be opt in). I just don't think it's worth wasting the devs time.

Its already done. I doubt they wasted a ton of time on it. Something like chat bubbles probably doesn't require as much time as you might think to develop, especially if they already have them working.

Besides, there are different teams working on different parts of the game. I'd imagine the UI is developed at the same time as content, and bug fixing. So, what are you talking about wasted time?

steveb16_ESO46

murklor007neb18_ESO wrote: »

Reldun wrote: »

Yea... except in places like banking, crafting, and anywhere else it is crowded... it's gonna be a huge pain in the ass if it's turned on. The whole "just turn or walk away" crap really doesn't apply here... it's fluff for the sake of fluff to placate a vocal minority.

How long are you standing near a bank just staring at people?

Enjoying that sound kind of perverted...

Last time I checked, no one was talking around the banks or crafting spaces. They where busy fidgeting with their inventory or... uh... crafting.

But you know what it would have been called if they did talk alot and you saw a couple of speech bubbles, compared to not seeing them while trekking in the forest or something?

A crowded area.

You know, kind of like a bank or crafting place where people usually interact with each other.

Strange, I know.

Quite. When I go into banks in other games people are just getting on with their thing. The level of hostility to a perfectly ordinary and common MMO feature that demonstrably in game after game does not cause the sky to fall borders on the clinical.

But thanks for the balanced response Reldun, you stay classy now.

Hiply

Upon reflection I have decided you're not thinking far enough ahead. Forget speech bubbles and go for something nextgen; universal in-game speech.

Sure, why not? Code voice into the game that dynamically scales in volume based on range. It has truly amusing, and genuinely disturbing, possibilities.

Discuss.

/popcorn

AlexDougherty

Hiply wrote: »

Upon reflection I have decided you're not thinking far enough ahead. Forget speech bubbles and go for something nextgen; universal in-game speech.

Sure, why not? Code voice into the game that dynamically scales in volume based on range. It has truly amusing, and genuinely disturbing, possibilities.

Discuss.

/popcorn

Lipsynch issues mean it's a minor gimmick that rarely works.
Not to mention the processing power used by it is enough to clog the server.

Is that enough of a discussion or do you want more?

/sneers at popcorn, and tucks into bag of Doritos

alphawolph

bugulu wrote: »

As long as it's optional, I don't see it as a problem.
Anyway, they have already confirmed that it's gonna come soon in May 1 Reddit AMA.

"Chat bubbles will be introduced soon".

http://dulfy.net/2014/05/01/eso-may-1-reddit-ama-transcript/

Cool, so we are getting them.

steveb16_ESO46

I had to go back into ArcheAge to check that it actually has speech bubbles. It does and that's how obtrusive they are. Saw none in the craft areas. Saw none around the bank characters. Saw none around the farms.

Saw one from the corner of my eye as I was riding up a road.

Well obviously I reported the player for griefing and then rage-quit.

I would have kicked a puppy to death but there was this one incident a couple of weeks ago when someone asked if needed help and now the Shelter has cut me off.

Hiply

AlexDougherty wrote: »

Hiply wrote: »

Upon reflection I have decided you're not thinking far enough ahead. Forget speech bubbles and go for something nextgen; universal in-game speech.

Sure, why not? Code voice into the game that dynamically scales in volume based on range. It has truly amusing, and genuinely disturbing, possibilities.

Discuss.

/popcorn

Lipsynch issues mean it's a minor gimmick that rarely works.
Not to mention the processing power used by it is enough to clog the server.

Is that enough of a discussion or do you want more?

/sneers at popcorn, and tucks into bag of Doritos

That's an implementation issue, not a design issue. Nextgen should be about smashing technological barriers.

Besides, think of all the "ewwwwwwwwwwww, I could have gone my entire life without hearing that!" moments when you are exploring a house looking for motifs and trip over some badly done ERP.

murklor007neb18_ESO

Hiply wrote: »

Upon reflection I have decided you're not thinking far enough ahead. Forget speech bubbles and go for something nextgen; universal in-game speech.

Sure, why not? Code voice into the game that dynamically scales in volume based on range. It has truly amusing, and genuinely disturbing, possibilities.

Discuss.

/popcorn

You're too late, I already mention on earlier pages that until a game is so advanced that when you speak on ingame VOIP and the character then speak that at his location, speech bubbles is the only way to realisticly and in an immersive way simulate speech from an object that cannot speak.

When games are at that point I will agree that its time to call the good old speech bubbles cartoonish. Just like we no longer use intermittent text in silent movies after we moved to fully voiced movies.

But on the upside, just to let you guys know that at least the ZOS mods are in fact watching this thread! Very diligently it seems, judging by the code of conduct edits I get.

Zodi53

Whilst there needs to be a huge revamp of player interaction, (Doesn't even feel like an mmo), chat bubbles are a big no! This is not some cartoony game like Wildstar

steveb16_ESO46

Hiply wrote: »

That's an implementation issue, not a design issue. Nextgen should be about smashing technological barriers.

ArcheAge has a silly system whereby you can obtain a phonograph you can place say in your farm. It'll play short loops of whatever the player fondly imagines is good music.

It would be really irritating but I discovered this awesome workaround where I stepped 2 paces away.

Of course I'm still left to worry about what would happen if say I was travelling on an airship and there were a dozen people on board and each bought a phonograph.

I've been playing a few weeks now and it hasn't happened yet so there's still time for me to start a petition on the official forums.

AlexDougherty

steveb16_ESO46 wrote: »

I've been playing a few weeks now and it hasn't happened yet so there's still time for me to start a petition on the official forums.

Ah, no there isn't, petitions are against forum rules, best you can do is start a thread or a poll on a subject.

steveb16_ESO46

AlexDougherty wrote: »

steveb16_ESO46 wrote: »

I've been playing a few weeks now and it hasn't happened yet so there's still time for me to start a petition on the official forums.

Ah, no there isn't, petitions are against forum rules, best you can do is start a thread or a poll on a subject.

/rage-quit

Selique

Any news or updates a Dev could give us in regards to Chat Bubbles?