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A Momentous Day (For Some)
Well, it seems that "Voice" is present across the Grid now, at least for those who care to Download the newest Viewer, and it is on as standard across Caledon. Those of you who wish to partake in the receiving of other-worldly voices - and coughs, and feedback, and the sounds of errant other-world children, and so on and so on ad nauseam - may do so widely, without even having to pay any sort of Pharmacist for this Altering of the Mind.
You will not be able to do so in any parcels over which I have control, though - I have taken the liberty of disabling said function, lest visitors have the impression that they can ask me questions using it, and I will respond. I will not hear them in the first place, let alone be able to speak back in this arcane fashion.
I do, to be honest, feel a little guilty for preventing my customers from engaging in discussion in their chosen form whilst I am not there. For the moment I shall be leaving this particular option unworking, but perhaps a sign somewhere saying "Ordinal Will Not Hear You" would be more appropriate. As soon as I have developed such a thing I will try its use, and if it turns out to be ineffective, well, back to the blanket forbiddance.
My views on the whole situation have not changed from the last time I pontificated regarding it, by the way.
~*~
As a more serious point: I am able, in the current environment of Second Life, to reject the use of voice, and yet still have people willing to entertain my preferences, as (I believe) I have proved that I am capable of Scripting and Doing Other Things.
It does concern me that those younger than I, with less of a Reputation, will not have that option. I am not concerned for myself, I am awkward and difficult and have no intention of budging, but others in a less fortunate position, I would not like to see disadvantaged, and I do worry about them.
Suffice to say that anyone who wishes to converse on Scripting Matters via the medium of the written word will always be able to do so with me, and with any of the people whom I respect.
~*~
Oh, and by the way - whilst at the moment the service is free, and a relief that must be for Island Owners who were considering having to pay a Hundred American Dollars Extra per Month, this will not remain the case indefinitely, according to the Voice FAQ at this time:
Island Owners will have voice for their land at no cost until the end of the 2007 calendar year. After this, Island Owners will be asked to pay a monthly fee for voice if they are not already at new pricing that includes voice.
Said fee not being explicitly detailed, though, one presumes, it will be less than a hundred dollars.
Good points Ordinal, and yes please, stick to that position. I will disable voice on my 20000sqm of parcel (if that is even technically possible), and I am sure to disable voice in my SL client.
I use SL to escape reality, yeah my bad. Good for those who really wants to use it, but the last thing I need is annoying echoes of RL resounding into my ears. SL is my safe heaven for calming down. Hearing the voices of drama won't contribute to my zen. So I am cutting it.
Voice is good for businesses, conferencing and some community talk. But IMOHO it also undermines what makes SL a brilliantly diversified community, by making second class citizens those who don't want to use it. For me SL is about some kind of anonymity but also about choosing how you want to be. Unfortunately this glimpse of RL into SL will do a mess of all of this.
I'm sticking with you Ordinal, no voice for me. All the latest features LL added to SL are more than welcome. But voice is for me the most controversial one since it will create a division among Slitizens, which I can only presume to be dreadful.
Thanks for the as always insightful post Ordinal
Codie
Bravo to you Miss Ordinal! You are most welcome at my parcel in Caledon Regency for voice will disabled at my homesite as well. As for a sign at your place of business, I was thinking, "Ordinal sees all and therefore has no need to hear." {:o) Take care.
What I have implemented on Wyre is that voice is enabled for the sim, but I've turned it off on all parcels that I control (which is at the time 3/4 or more of the sim). There are prim reserves (1/2 the sim) and the Commons that will always remain sans voice.
Tenants, however, can enable voice in their parcels if they wish.
I hope in this way to prevent sound pollution while giving individuals the greatest possible flexibility in their use of the land they rent from me.
I see absolutely nothing *at all* wrong with you disabling voice on your premises. I shall be doing the same.
I doubt you will find yourself out of step on voice Ordinal. My personal views are precisely the same as Codie's - We come here to escape real life. This is a virtual world and simply the last thing I want is something to punch a hole in it and let reality flood in.
I used to be worried by the split that I forsaw developing between the users of voice and those who don't, but I'm no longer concerned. All of my friends share the same view as me. Almost no one I know either wants it or will use it.
As per the request and longstanding wishes of Ms. Ferguson, the Proprietess of the "Gin Rummy" and "Wilder Mall" establishments of Joie sim, I have disabled the use of Voice in those two locations. I will probably not bother disabling it at my own Family Compound, but neither do I expect it to see much use there. If it becomes too much of a bother, though, I most assuredly will do the same there.
Of course, along with the Voice capabilities in this new system, we must also endure the oddity of the integrated Communicate window, which still strikes me as somewhat...well...wrong, not to put too fine a point on it. Alas, SL often epitomizes that timeworn sentiment, "What can't be cured must be endured."
Most people I know use one or more voice messengers to talk with each other already. On Skype/yahoo/ventrillo/ and phones we discuss our projects and while we work we kinda use it to chit chat. I see a great future here for Voice. We will use it more and more. I dont think that it will divide my friends.
But I will turn voice off in my shop for the same reason you do it and also to prevent "assholes and grievers" to Spam people with their voice as they seem to do now so often already in the beta.
You do realize there's a little dot (or lack thereof) over the heads of people which determines if they may be listening, right?
No dot, definitely not listening.
...Although, might have to invesst in a sign 'headphones not on' vs 'headphones on'...
I've turned off voice on all my land. Although I think there are some good and interesting uses for it, I don't think it should be part of the mainstream of SL, and I don't want anyone on my land to feel like they should be using it.
Innocent that I am, I had not even thought of the possibility of people using voice to Deliberately Annoy Others on my land, but it is a further consideration.
I think that all of your points here are valid and well thought out. I personally am not sure how I will use voice just yet. Like you I go to SL to escape. But what I do like is that I have a choice, and everyone around me has a choice.
What LL is trying to do is admirable and I appreciate it. Nothing will ever be perfect in SL but I like that they are at least trying.
Voice will give a lot of people a better experience and opportunity to express themselves. How about some poetry readings!? Some Shakespeare? Some stand-up comedy? Or just the plain sound of laughter and people talking on all sorts of accents - makes the world a smaller place.
Like I said, not sure how I will use it just yet as I am still new to the world as it is. But I like it. Hoping more people like it too.
No voice for me. No use for it in SL.
Should I wish to speak to someone, there is Skype, or Gizmo, or gods forbit, a telephone! But then again, I spend all day on the 'phone helping brainless morons, and I see no reason for that to extend into my leisure time.
I'll add my L$ 2 pence to Ms Malaprop's well-reasoned and -presented points.
I too will be disabling the Otherworldly Voices on my parcels ... and hope that voice doesn't polarise SL in its use, as it has in its testing, though that may be naive to expect. Caveat auditor!
If I wish to hear Other Worldly voices I would go to a séance
Notice the Voice Enabled icon in the top bar? I bet if you check estate tools "Enable Voice" will be unchecked. Another bug? Say it isn't so!
Voice is a waste of effort and resources. There is no way that the number of region owners who do take advantage of the feature will justify its implementation.
1. Folks love their free Skype.
2. TeamSpeak is easier on resources for those who want to fork out a few bones.
3. There's an option to listen by camera position (untested personally). This is a new level of "wall busting" to kill the existing (lack of) privacy in SL. Ironic isn't it that it's "illegal" to use a camera listener to spy on conversations but it's ok to use voice via camera position?
I don't "hate" voice since there are environments where it would more than benefit from its use, but at the same time I can't help but anticipate a flop in January.
There's just better and cheaper available elsewhere.