VoIP…the New Frontier in Gaming?

“Online systems are a complex and moving target as social architectures and interfaces change and new community and entertainment forms emerge.”  (Williams, Caplan, & Xiong, 2007)

In the world of Massively Multiplayer Online-Role Playing Games (MMORPG) being able to communicate to others in the game is a necessity. In the past the only way to accomplish this was to use the chat feature. Every communication had to be typed into the game, and you would wait for a response. During critical moments in the game, when every second counts, this can take too long to be effective. So along comes VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) for the gamers. This technology allows players to communicate via voice during game play. It has greatly increased response time during those critical moments, which makes the game much more enjoyable.

Although voice chat can be a great benefit to the gaming world, it has also been a hindrance to some. When a player is communicating through text only, they can keep their identity anonymous, their background, their gender, and their age. The second you get on voice chat, it doesn’t take very long to figure out a few of these things. In most cases it does not seem to become a problem; usually a player is talking to other players they have played with before. They know they can play well, and that is all that matters in the game. However, this is not always the case. I have played World of Warcraft (WoW) for about a year now, I am a level 77 Human Warlock. I spend hours doing quests, helping other players, raiding, and doing dungeons. I never have a problem grouping with other players to complete a quest, or to run a dungeon. That is, until I get on voice chat, and they hear my voice. First it’s shock, “You’re a girl!” Then they want to treat me like I have never played before, even if I have just saved their butt! Now, I’m not saying this happens all the time, but more times than not.

Communicating through voice chat is a huge benefit to online play, but it does come with its drawbacks, as I have previously explained. In the article Can You Hear Me Now? Voice and Online Community, the study revealed that voice communication increased response time, and allowed for a better play experience. It also showed that the majority of the players in the study knew each other from outside the game. This leads me to believe that they are so excepting of others even when they can hear them, because they already know who they are. I also think that allowing other players to know your gender is a bigger problem for women, than it is for men. Even though there are huge numbers of women players, it always takes them by surprise when they find out they are playing with a “girl!” One study discovered the following statistics on players gender and age.

“From the survey data, the average age of the WoW player is 28.3 (SD = 8.4). 84% of players are male. 16% are female. Female players are significantly older (M = 32.5, SD = 10.0) than male players (M = 28.0, SD = 8.4). On average, they spend 22.7 (SD = 14.1) hours per week playing WoW. There are no gender differences in hours played per week.”  (WoW Basic Demographics, 2006)

In the end, I believe VoIP in the gaming community has increased game playing pleasure. There are drawbacks, but I think those will be overcome in the future.

Works Cited

Williams, D., Caplan, S., & Xiong, L. (2007). Can You Hear Me Now? The Impact of Voice. Human Communication Research , 427-449.

WoW Basic Demographics. (2006). Retrieved August 2011, from The Daedalus Gateway: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001365.php

 By Jennifer D.