Comments on: Voice in Second Life http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/2007/02/27/voice-in-second-life/ Intellagirl Ponders the Possibilities Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:45:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.3 by: An Engine Fit For My Proceeding · Vocation http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/2007/02/27/voice-in-second-life/#comment-8357 Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:26:30 +0000 http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/2007/02/27/voice-in-second-life/#comment-8357 [...] Second Life Education Research [...] […] Second Life Education Research […]

]]> by: Ben aka Benjamin Mip http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/2007/02/27/voice-in-second-life/#comment-8325 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:36:50 +0000 http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/2007/02/27/voice-in-second-life/#comment-8325 I agree with your concerns. Introducing voice as a generalized feature in SL will change the whole thing completely. Voice integration will of course cut off a great part of role playing possibilities (not just gender switching), as avatars serve much as a kind of projection screen for our fantasies. On the other hand, of course, new possibilities of "enacting" a character are opened up. But if I imagine what it will sound like at the (in)famous german Biergarten for example, I guess there will come up a rather vulgar flair in many places. In the end, people want to be shiny and beautiful in SL; they wouldn't want to appear as the everyday people crowd they actually are, (as they definitely will due to their non-trained voices and pronounciation (accents etc.) - or would they? Then again, and for the same reason, a new quality of personal relations could emerge. Voice is not just a tone, it's a trace of human's body which creates a sort of immediate 'presence'. If we think of the (potentially) "rich experience" of a telephone chat - like talking fo hours with friends or people you like - relationships in SL will possibly shift from rather weak to rather stronger ties (I know there are strong ties there right now, but its main character seems more like a rather anonymous IRC chat to me). Maybe it had been a better idea to integrate voice chat as avatar based instead of land based. There could be voicechat-groups where people would automatically enter a vc when meeting in one place, etc. I agree with your concerns. Introducing voice as a generalized feature in SL will change the whole thing completely.

Voice integration will of course cut off a great part of role playing possibilities (not just gender switching), as avatars serve much as a kind of projection screen for our fantasies. On the other hand, of course, new possibilities of “enacting” a character are opened up.

But if I imagine what it will sound like at the (in)famous german Biergarten for example, I guess there will come up a rather vulgar flair in many places. In the end, people want to be shiny and beautiful in SL; they wouldn’t want to appear as the everyday people crowd they actually are, (as they definitely will due to their non-trained voices and pronounciation (accents etc.) - or would they?

Then again, and for the same reason, a new quality of personal relations could emerge. Voice is not just a tone, it’s a trace of human’s body which creates a sort of immediate ‘presence’. If we think of the (potentially) “rich experience” of a telephone chat - like talking fo hours with friends or people you like - relationships in SL will possibly shift from rather weak to rather stronger ties (I know there are strong ties there right now, but its main character seems more like a rather anonymous IRC chat to me).

Maybe it had been a better idea to integrate voice chat as avatar based instead of land based. There could be voicechat-groups where people would automatically enter a vc when meeting in one place, etc.

]]> by: » Blog Archive » The whispers are true… and you’ll hear them soon! http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/2007/02/27/voice-in-second-life/#comment-8315 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 01:10:38 +0000 http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/2007/02/27/voice-in-second-life/#comment-8315 [...] This will break interesting ground for Second Life, and has already angered part of the virtual community, stating that it will shatter part of the illusion of the virtual world. My personal option is that the female community might take a dip as we find out that some of those cute avatars you’ve been flirting with may indeed be men. (I’ll leave the debate on gender play out of this post, as I am not an authority on topic.) There are other reasons this might cause issue with SL users, as brought up in Intellagirl’s latest post, that could cause a divide between those with disabilies or lacking the proper technology. [...] […] This will break interesting ground for Second Life, and has already angered part of the virtual community, stating that it will shatter part of the illusion of the virtual world. My personal option is that the female community might take a dip as we find out that some of those cute avatars you’ve been flirting with may indeed be men. (I’ll leave the debate on gender play out of this post, as I am not an authority on topic.) There are other reasons this might cause issue with SL users, as brought up in Intellagirl’s latest post, that could cause a divide between those with disabilies or lacking the proper technology. […]

]]> by: Rick AKA RadEd Statosky http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/2007/02/27/voice-in-second-life/#comment-8310 Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:17:09 +0000 http://www.secondlife.intellagirl.com/2007/02/27/voice-in-second-life/#comment-8310 Hi Sarah, Great article! I'm posting a similar one on my blog and referencing you and ZDNet (of course). One thing. I think your link to the ZDNet article might be a bit off. it sent me to the second page of the article first. I'm showing http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6162410.html as the main link to it, just thought you'd like to know. Thanks again for the news, I guess we'll see what happens when this all get rolled out how problematic it will be :/ Hi Sarah,
Great article! I’m posting a similar one on my blog and referencing you and ZDNet (of course).

One thing. I think your link to the ZDNet article might be a bit off. it sent me to the second page of the article first.
I’m showing http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6162410.html
as the main link to it, just thought you’d like to know.

Thanks again for the news, I guess we’ll see what happens when this all get rolled out how problematic it will be :/

]]>