Put your thoughts about VOIP here please
7/15/08
Ok if people who are interested would download Ventrilo prior to Friday that would be great. If it seems like a workable project I can always put it on one of my servers at home (I have 3)
Fritz
7/14/08
I would think that Ventrilo is a good program to test with, there are public servers that can be used, and the program is very light on resources. I think that those who are interested in this should give it a try over the next couple of weeks. We know that Marco and Mike will not be attending the next two sessions, so with fewer people in the mix it might be a good time to try.
BOB
who likes to think he is aging fairly well thank you very much ;P
7/14/08
As I have said it wouldn't bother me, I'm not so sure I want to see and hear people getting frustrated. Then again, I wonder if I'll be able to hear, if not, that would add to frustrations considering someone would have to type to clarify what was said. However, these adjustments can be made, and I know that I can hear somewhat better if I wear a headset considering sound is concentrated on my ears that way. I hope this works out for everyone.
And... LOL Fritz. You sure you don't want to watch Bob and Mike age while we're playing?
Vicki
7/13/08
So what VOIP are you interested in using and when would you like to begin implementing it? I personally would prefer if we went to VOIP before doing a web cam. Although seeing you and Mike in the game room doing nothing sounds like a thrilling idea, I think we would be better served at this time with a way to communicate rather than a way to watch the 2 of you age.
Fritz
7/12/08
Bringing this up again, I do think that offering a VOIP option would be good, as well as a video option. I will investigate getting a decent web cam to set up at the house that can show what is happening in the game room so that when things such as Lag or quiet times in the chat room happen people out on the net can look and see if there is anything happening in the room.
I think that voice will be good to help people plot and plan, but the "official record" will still be the chat history log.
6/13/08
John does bring up a good point about the problems we had with KloOge and bandwidth in the past. If possibly bandwidth wasn't as much an issue would you be agreeable to trying it out John? Also in the past when someone came to the table late someone would always take a couple of minutes and catch that individual up to speed on where we were. I personally believe this would be faster than reading the chat log to find out what is going on. So from that point of view I think not having chat would be a benefit. Now I agree that as far as historical documentation of what we have been doing it is a good thing. Remember though that at one time we used to keep a journal of what was going on in the game. I had a journal for Almarin that I kept of all our adventures. We could restart that habit again for each individual or even elect someone to keep a journal for the group and type a summary of our adventures on the web site the weekend after the session. Others could read and add to each summary as they then see fit or to fill in the blanks.
Fritz
6/10/08
I feel like I am a realist, though many think I am negative. I was very much against Klooge when it first started, for a number of reasons. Clearly it gives us something that is otherwise impossible, namely getting this particular group around a table to play on a weekly basis. The history with the chat log is a nice bonus that we never would have with a table game, and now even I can not imagine loosing that. So losing it to gain voice simply does not seem like a fair trade, not that voice does not have advantages. The simple fact is, it would be a huge jump just to get voice. First of all the requirements on individuals will be a good deal more. One of the issues with basic Klooge was the requirements, between having enough band with and the updates early on, we spent more time "klogging on and off" then playing. The demands for VOIP will be more complicated. Like thoughts that suffered with low bandwidth before, they will again be short changed. Even when VOIP is working properly, there will be issues. As BOB pointed out, discussion at a table get confusing. What happens when someone is AFK, or late how will they get caught up?
I appreciated being back at BOB's Friday, especially with Fritz there, but it reminded me why I feel we need to all be remote, so we are all on the same page. We had laughs we could not share, stores we could not explain, and visual aids we could not show. It sound like perfect reason to have voice, for it would be wonderful. I just do not see how we can not loose the completeness of the conversation for all.
John
6/10/08
VOIP wouldn't bother me; however, I do have concerns for future additions. The fact that not everyone would be able to hear, even with a headset. I can hear somewhat with a headset, and wouldn't mind using it and using Klooge for clarification on what's being said, as I often misunderstand verbal words without being able to lipread. That being said... I'd like to see other thoughts as well.
Vicki
I would like to see a voice component to the game so that people can enjoy each other's laughter and talk about how to settle things. There are times that a quick word or two from everyone can save some time in a night. I think that with more speech recognition that it is more and more possible for this to tie into our game.
I like the historical factor of the chat logs, and would not want to loose those. I have participated in other games that use Voice for everything except the dice rolling and while it is very close to table top gaming, it can also be confusing for more than 4 or 5 people at a table. Plus there will always be those quiet people who do not get to talk much, or can type in a room with children rather than speak. Finally at least two people outside of our game have commented on how nice it is to have that history easy and accessible.
I hope some people experiment and try this out again.
BOB
You do know the solution to that, right? Type and talk. I don't know about everyone but I tend to type more than talk, but even then, I've been known to verbally say what I've typed.
Vicki
