VoIP?

Woodwizzle · Post by **Woodwizzle** » May 8th, 2006, 7:56 pm

Recently I've had the chance to play some commercial games that include VoIP. I loved it! Its a lot more fun expressive and quicker than text messaging. Some games like WoW or Age of Empires 3 don't include support for VoIP but many players do so over a 3rd party application. The only problem with this is it really only works for your frieds and not random chaps you start a game with unless you work it out in the multiplayer lobby. Other games like counterstrike include VoIP in game. It is much more convinient and allows you to speak globally or only to teammates etc.

Would anyone else like to see this in Wesnoth? I think it would add a lot to multiplayer matches. A low maintenance cross-platform FOSS library would need to be found to include voip in game, but creating a wesnoth channel in existing 3rd-party VoIP software is certainly plausible even in the short-term.

What do you all think?

Ranger M · Post by **Ranger M** » May 8th, 2006, 8:06 pm

What is VoIP?

Woodwizzle · Post by **Woodwizzle** » May 8th, 2006, 8:14 pm

VoIP is Voice over Internet Protocol. In other words it is voice chat. All that is required hardware wise is a cheap headset or desktop mic and a broadband connection. [/url]

Tomsik · Post by **Tomsik** » May 8th, 2006, 8:15 pm

I have been proposed few times, it seems noone want to do that.. in other words.. Code it!

Woodwizzle · Post by **Woodwizzle** » May 8th, 2006, 8:27 pm

Tomsik wrote:I have been proposed few times, it seems noone want to do that.. in other words.. Code it!

Coding it would be a big pain, unless a great library could be found. However I am able to start a channel or something using 3rd party software like Teamspeak. Both solutions I'm looking into but I just posted here to see what kind of interest there was.

BTW, anyone know if Teamspeak works on Macs? I've goten mixed reports. If so I think Teamspeak would be an excellent piece of software to try this idea out with.

Post by **Boucman** » May 8th, 2006, 8:36 pm

usual problems arrise

1) the library must support windows, linux, mac and god knows what other OS... remember some people did put wesnoth on Zaurus at some point

2) seting a h323 (most common voip protocol) through a firewall is HELL, trust me.

3) Wesnoth being a TBS and not RTS, speaking fast is not a "must have" and having conversation loged is quite handy. moreover lot of games are international and most players are confident enough to write in english but wouldn't dare talking => wouldn't work well...

Disto · Post by **Disto** » May 8th, 2006, 9:17 pm

I'd like to see the game being able to be used by Xfire

Post by **Dave** » May 8th, 2006, 11:10 pm

I think it's a good idea, but may be hard to implement.

One hurdle to overcome is finding a good, GPL-compatible VOIP solution.

Another is the issue of peer-to-peer vs going through the server.

With peer-to-peer, firewalls become a nightmare.

With going through the server, bandwidth availability on the server becomes a nightmare.

David

Dragon Master · Post by **Dragon Master** » May 9th, 2006, 12:06 am

doesn't sound like too good an idea as Wesnoth isn't a talk-heavy game like WoW and AoE where they are real-time. Wesnoth is turn-based so speed of typing vs. talking doesn't matter. and hearing "LOL I PWNED JOO!!!11!!!one!!" in English would be a lot more painful than seeing it typed

Alks · Post by **Alks** » May 9th, 2006, 4:39 am

it's rare situation, when i agree with Dragon Master, but turns are long enough to type the message properly. Speaking system would discourage many people from writing.

JW · Post by JW » May 9th, 2006, 5:07 am

To be frank and perhaps harsh, I don't want to hear a bunch of nonsense while I play. It would interfere with the music and I'm sure lots of people's voices would get annoying.

If you want to chat I say use an outside program, type, or call the person.

Post by **deserter** » May 9th, 2006, 5:21 am

I wouldn't want to talk with random people, no. Typing is more than enough for me. But it's nice to use teamspeak or whatever if you're playing with friends. The talk often has nothing to do with the game. I think it's actually very convenient to use 3rd party software for this and there is no need at all in implementing this. (Unless if you want to hear of your opponents problems in love life or something. Or lack of that...

)

LibrarianBrent · Post by **LibrarianBrent** » May 10th, 2006, 2:31 am

Voice chat ruined XBox Live, let's not bring it here as well...

Post by **irrevenant** » May 11th, 2006, 10:54 am

deserter wrote:I think it's actually very convenient to use 3rd party software for this and there is no need at all in implementing this.

Do you think so? I haven't looked into VoIP for a while, but last time I looked it was very much an IP-address-to-IP-address thing. That's a pain in the posterium for something like Wesnoth, where everything's identified by player names rather than IP addresses. It means you have to:
(a) make sure everyone's got compatible software;
(b) find out everyone's IP addresses; and
(c) make sure the chat software is all set up okay
before you can start play.

It's a far cry from having it 'just work'; which would be possible if it was integrated into Wesnoth.

I'm not saying "Devs! Rush out and do this now!", but it's far from a stupid idea.

A 'mute' button would be required though.

Post by **deserter** » May 11th, 2006, 1:32 pm

irrevenant wrote:
deserter wrote:I think it's actually very convenient to use 3rd party software for this and there is no need at all in implementing this.
Do you think so? I haven't looked into VoIP for a while, but last time I looked it was very much an IP-address-to-IP-address thing. That's a pain in the posterium for something like Wesnoth, where everything's identified by player names rather than IP addresses. It means you have to:
(a) make sure everyone's got compatible software;
(b) find out everyone's IP addresses; and
(c) make sure the chat software is all set up okay
before you can start play.

It's a far cry from having it 'just work'; which would be possible if it was integrated into Wesnoth.

I'm not saying "Devs! Rush out and do this now!", but it's far from a stupid idea.

A 'mute' button would be required though.

I don't really know much about these things. But I'm using Ventrilo 2.1 which allows unlimited number of connections and supports "chat-rooms". I don't know if it eats a lot of bandwith if you are setting up a server, but my bandwith is stays good as ever as it is very fast indeed. No IP-addresses.

Anyway, I was talking earlier about talking with my friends and the setting things up has been done earlier. I do use this over other games too, and for me it's convenient to always use the same program. This way I can talk with people that aren't playing the same game that I am.

What I'm saing is that I'm not interested in VoIPing with random wesnoth players. Standard way is enough. Some might think the opposite, but I'm not sure if this feature would be used very often.

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