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For all the benefits PC gaming needs improvements with the social aspects

pr0cs

pr0cs

Member
I despise how difficult it is to have an easy to use voice chat mechanic on pc. A voice chat mechanism that works with all games, doesn't require everyone to be running some third party program or pay extra for chat hosting.
It is a huge shame that no one has replicated the chat options on services like xbox live. I have an amazing pc but because doing coop on games like gears 4, the division, etc I relegated to using the inferior versions of the game on xbone because it was the best way to chat and communicate.
Why hasn't steam or ubi or ea etc not creates a system addon that gives more configuration options around chat mixing?
I want an easy to use option that allows me to control game sound one way and voice chat another. Where I can select all voice comm to come through my headset and regular game audio through my speakers.
I lost count how many times I wanted group up in coop enabled games with randoms on pc but simply skipped it because I knew that I would fight with chat more than was worth the effort.
Why hasn't Microsoft enabled or Ported the functionality to the xbox app on win10 around chat?
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
I mean, aside from the third party caveat, it sounds like you mostly want Discord.

It's probably the closest you'll ever get because PC isn't owned by one single conlgomerate. Say Valve gets things going, or MS, why would Player X on Origin playing Battlefield 1 bother with those? It's essentially the same thing as Discord, Vent, etc. It'll always be third party to some players. So might as well use the best option available.
 
I

IcyRhythms

Member
Sinatar said:
This.

There are a million voice chat options on PC including one built into Steam.
Click to expand...

I think he was saying that no one should have to download one or a few of the chat options available. The Steam voice chat is awful, though. I understand his point. It's just that PC would feel a lot less open if everyone was in one centered chat environment. My friends and I love TeamSpeak. *shrugs*
 
pr0cs

pr0cs

Member
Perfec7_ said:
Ever heard of Discord? It's a million times better than either home consoles options
Click to expand...
I don't want to install another piece of software. If I encountered a random guy in a game the chances of them stopping the game, installing software xyz, then meeting me back in game?

It should be a lot more integrated
 
Lister

Lister

Banned
Good PC voice chat does usually require a third party solution, but many ae drop dead simple and/or free, like Discord.

And good Pc voice chat >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> console voice chat any day of the mother effing week. I mean, there's just no comparison in terms of features and quality.

I do wish Valve would buy Discord and incorporate it straight into their API.

The built in Steam voice group chat is not terrible either, but people don't like it for some reason.
 
Lister

Lister

Banned
pr0cs said:
I don't want to install another piece of software. If I encountered a random guy in a game the chances of them stopping the game, installing software xyz, then meeting me back in game?

It should be a lot more integrated
Click to expand...

Everyone I know who does multi-player gaming on PC already has discord and or teamspeak though.

In fact can't you use discord via webbrowser?
 
M

Miker

Member
Discord shits on absolutely everything else wrt voice and text chat. I wish consoles had something half as flexible. As for downloading another program, sure, but at this point Discord is basically like Steam where it was initially viewed as extraneous and a barrier between you and your games, but Discord and its community have hit critical mass and now it's on the list of things to download for any PC gamer.
 
T

topplehat

Member
A lot of people mentioning Discord here are missing OP's point. I agree that Discord is great, but over the years many voice chat clients have come and gone.
 
X

Xyber

Member
pr0cs said:
I don't want to install another piece of software. If I encountered a random guy in a game the chances of them stopping the game, installing software xyz, then meeting me back in game?

It should be a lot more integrated
Click to expand...

Discord work in the browser too, no program needed. But having the program installed also allows for push-to-talk, which doesn't work in the browser.

You just send a person a link to the room and they can join in a second.
 
I

Ikuu

Had his dog run over by Blizzard's CEO
pr0cs said:
I don't want to install another piece of software. If I encountered a random guy in a game the chances of them stopping the game, installing software xyz, then meeting me back in game?

It should be a lot more integrated
Click to expand...

Higher than you think, and I'd rather use something like Discord than anything integrated, can even install it on your phone and contact people anywhere.
 
P

Perfec7_

Neo Member
pr0cs said:
I don't want to install another piece of software. If I encountered a random guy in a game the chances of them stopping the game, installing software xyz, then meeting me back in game?

It should be a lot more integrated
Click to expand...

You technically don't even have to install software. It's also browser based. Give your friends a link to the sever and you're good to go.

This honestly sounds like your nitpicking just to nitpick.
 
Crayon

Crayon

Member
I have mumble, skype, teamspeak and google hangout apps all on my phone. Ideal? Nothing is. Using 3rd party apps actually has some of it's own benefit, tho. I would sooner use this method than psn chat in many cases.
 
T

topplehat

Member
Conkerkid11 said:
Like what? TeamSpeak, Vent, Skype, Mumble, etc... Are all still very popular.
Click to expand...

Right, so if I am playing with a group of strangers how do I know which client to use? In the end, many PC games I play online are silent, and I only do voice chat via Discord with a group of friends on planned game nights.
 
T

Tenck

Member
topplehat said:
A lot of people mentioning Discord here are missing OP's point. I agree that Discord is great, but over the years many voice chat clients have come and gone.
Click to expand...

steam and blizzard have voice chat built in you can use. If I remember correctly so does origin. No idea about uplay.
 
C

Conkerkid11

Member
topplehat said:
Right, so if I am playing with a group of strangers how do I know which client to use? In the end, many PC games I play online are silent, and I only do voice chat via Discord with a group of friends on planned game nights.
Click to expand...
That's how it is in console games too though. That's also completely unrelated to what I just said, and what you said.

If the people in your game want to talk, they'll talk in-game, otherwise that's one of the downsides of playing with random people. Which is almost entirely the point of joining a Discord server and playing primarily with premades.
 
M

Miker

Member
topplehat said:
Right, so if I am playing with a group of strangers how do I know which client to use? In the end, many PC games I play online are silent, and I only do voice chat via Discord with a group of friends on planned game nights.
Click to expand...

I guess you mean if you wanted to party up with strangers? That's definitely easier on consoles, but that's such a rare consideration I don't even care. Even so, chances are those people have Discord accounts and servers.
 
M

MUnited83

For you.
not sure of why you have this weird "no third party programs" restriction. Discord is everything you need and want, and it's better than any of the party chat options in consoles.
 
M

M0nochromatic

Member
Well, because the PC is an open platform, no one can force a voice chat option onto people. Instead, what most people do is hook up through forums/in game chat/ steam and then join a discord server from there.

It's not built in sure, but aside from the one time easy to install and setup process, the PC platform is actually far more convienient when it comes to communication.
 
R

Rizific

Member
topplehat said:
A lot of people mentioning Discord here are missing OP's point. I agree that Discord is great, but over the years many voice chat clients have come and gone.
Click to expand...

people will move onto the better programs. ventrilo stuck around for a LONG time (at least for me and my friends) until gamevox and discord came around. i think the point is, why should anyone be stuck to ONE voice chat client? especially if better options are available. out of all the things pc does right, having multiple options for a voice chat client is definitely one of them.
 
M

m_dorian

Member
There is Discord.
There is Skype.
There is Teamspeak.
And other programs.
A variety of products, options to select from according to my needs is what need, what i want, what i have and what i don't want to change.
 
M

Movalpolos

Banned
Can you join in on your friend's games through Discord? Serious question, I have never used it since I don't play MP games on PC.
 
M

MUnited83

For you.
topplehat said:
A lot of people mentioning Discord here are missing OP's point. I agree that Discord is great, but over the years many voice chat clients have come and gone.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a good thing. Whichever option is better will constantly rise to the top and people will always the best experience available.
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
Third party voicechat programs >>>> standard console voicechat.

Like, if you're used to crappy built-in chat there's always steam chat for you. But I don't understand why you wouldn't just download a simple program to use with your friends.
 
D

Dylan

Member
I've met people in-game on PC that I've remained in communication with for years. Nothing like that has ever even come close to happening to me on console.

edit: Though I have to say unlike many people in this thread, I generally dislike using third party voice solutions. If there is no in-game voice chat I generally just don't use voice.
 
T

TI82

Banned
Discord is easily the best VOIP program out there, if OP is the one deriding it then he just doesn't know what he's talking about and is nitpicking imo
 
C

Conkerkid11

Member
Movalpolos said:
Can you join in on your friend's games through Discord? Serious question, I have never used it since I don't play MP games on PC.
Click to expand...
No, and that wouldn't be possible with anything because of how many different platforms exist on PC. You can see what anybody is playing though, and from there you open up Steam, BattleNet, Origin, Uplay, etc... and join them through there.

holygeesus said:
It may well be better but I'd never heard of it. I agree with the OP, PC gaming feels less social to me, and I have hundreds more people on my Steam friends list.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a personal problem.
 
holygeesus

holygeesus

Banned
Conkerkid11 said:
Sounds like a personal problem.
Click to expand...

Possibly. Though on my consoles, I can boot up, see who is online, and communicate with them, and any stranger in-game, without launching 3rd party software. I can't do this on PC. The universal aspect of comms on console is a major plus. Seeing what people are doing, being able to comment on said activity, being able to join them, and conversing with strangers, is far easier to do on consoles.
 
Z

Zemm

Member
Umm PC is the most social platform, I dunno how anyone can think otherwise. Shit, I can talk to friends who are on discord or teamspeak or Skype from my phone whilst I'm out shopping if I wanted to.
 
O

orava

Member
Please no. The beauty of PC is that you have dedicated solutions for these kind of things. And there's plenty of choice.
 
O

oSoLucky

Member
What's so bad about the console voice chats? I've never had any problems with them besides a few weird disconnects. I'm not trying to argue(looking at my desktop right now I have Skype, Disc, Mumble and TS3 shortcuts and paid for my old guild's large Vent server for years). I've never heard any complaints about them before.

Is it about ping? That's the biggest reason why I stopped using TS(before version 3) and Vent for Skype a few years ago, and I haven't noticed any really bad instances on PSN or XBL chat.
 
holygeesus

holygeesus

Banned
oSoLucky said:
What's so bad about the console voice chats? I've never had any problems with them besides a few weird disconnects. I'm not trying to argue(looking at my desktop right now I have Skype, Disc, Mumble and TS3 shortcuts and paid for my old guild's large Vent server for years). I've never heard any complaints about them before.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I have had no issue with console communications at all. I think people have different definitions of 'social' though. For me, console gaming is more social, when it comes to voice chat, because by default, you communicate with everyone, friends and foe alike. On the PC, it seems easy to launch software to communicate with friends, but to offer a truly universal social communication system seems more tricky, if one person is using a 3rd party app, and someone else a different one.
 
M

MUnited83

For you.
holygeesus said:
Agreed. I have had no issue with console communications at all. I think people have different definitions of 'social' though. For me, console gaming is more social, when it comes to voice chat, because by default, you communicate with everyone, friends and foe alike. On the PC, it seems easy to launch software to communicate with friends, but to offer a truly universal social communication system seems more tricky, if one person is using a 3rd party app, and someone else a different one.
Click to expand...

That makes no sense. You don't communicate with your enemies by default on consoles, you need to invite them to chat with you. Unless you mean in-game voice chat, which literally exists in every major online game on PC...
 
O

oSoLucky

Member
holygeesus said:
Agreed. I have had no issue with console communications at all. I think people have different definitions of 'social' though. For me, console gaming is more social, when it comes to voice chat, because by default, you communicate with everyone, friends and foe alike. On the PC, it seems easy to launch software to communicate with friends, but to offer a truly universal social communication system seems more tricky, if one person is using a 3rd party app, and someone else a different one.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that consoles are MORE social simply due to the fact that in basically every PC game, you can quickly type using your KB/M. In most competitive games, it's easy to get everyone in the lobby to join up in Curse/Discord real quick. Almost no one uses in game chats, same as with console. The difference is that on console, unless it's a premade group or something, not everyone is going to hop in a party even if someone invites. It's only "almost" equally social if playing with people that you're already friends with or a preformed group, and then you still can't type/communicate with the enemy team.

On another note, it's complete BULLSHIT that most console games don't allow KB/M support for social features, or even as a viable control option for anything that's not a shooter. I don't know why the hell they aren't allowed as an OPTION, it would do nothing but improve things.
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
Ummmm what? It's the exact opposite. I constantly think how amazing social aspects are on PC compared to console. Discord Alone puts it to shame.

As for Audio Mixing why are so many people on GAF the guy/gal who plays sound through their speakers so everyone has to hear your audio repeated through their mic.

Just use a damn headset when playing online. Audio mixing can be done indendently on PC via the sound panel, and in the voice program themself. You have much more granular control of everything on PC.

The Xbox app on Windows 10 can also be used to join parties and such with friends on Xbox. I've done it when playing gears with them.
 
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