Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Alltalk

The Alltalk debate is one that I have been mulling over for the past few weeks. It all comes about as a result of the Javaserver, the place where I play the majority of my Team Fortress 2 games. In the old days there was the PCGamer server, which would always be slow to update, and often crash for days at a time, disappearing after every update. I loved it. It was the first time I had found a server to play on where I started to recognise the people, in that specific online-gaming way, who lpayed it with me. It was great. It had teamspeak. Then time progressed things along, and the Javaserver was born. Most of the people moved from PCG to Javasever, and I was content. But something was very different, and it was unnerving. It was Alltalk.
The idea behind Alltalk is written in the name. If you use a microphone, and talk, then all on the server will hear you. With Teamspeak, only your team will hear you. This massively affects the words you say. With Teamspeak, glorious tactics emerge. With Alltalk, banter with the enemy enlivens the game. I still can’t decide which is better.
There is a downside to Alltalk, it can get quite loud. Some people insist on screaming at every kill and at every death. I don’t like loud; it’s just the way I am. There is also a downside to Teamspeak, it can be very isolated. You are divided from half of the players, which is not so good at creating such a friendly atmosphere.
Is there a compromise? I don’t see how. Having both Teamspeak and Alltalk would lead to much hilarious confusion, as people shout their tactics to the enemy. Is it even possible, to have both enabled at once? Can I assign two buttons in TF2? Should I have researched this before I started writing?
These are the things that I think about on public transport. One fact emerges form all this however: TF2 rules, and I hope all TF2-ers never leave.

--- News ---
Sorry about having not updating things recently. I have had a crazy time at college, mock exams and coursework! I am gonna be gone for a bit, for I have a trip to Berlin planned. Be back soon. Any comments you may have, feel free to post them below.

2 comments:

Lukasa said...

Interestingly, there IS a potential compromise. It would be possible to disable alltalk on the server proper, but use a Teamspeak channel for those who wish to speak to the entire server. Then, those who simply want team-only comms could do so, whereas those who want the banter can use Teamspeak.

Of course, the disadvantage is that you need two different talk buttons, and need to be paying attention to which method of speech is being used.

Lukasa

grey_painter said...

I think thats the option Java has been mulling over. It requires everyone to get teamspeak though and Java to set it up. Considering how easily distracted and his indecisiveness for fear of offending anyone we may be some while.

As it is I'm relatively happy with alltalk as most of my enjoyment from the game comes from peoples cries of "Damn you and your damn grenades!" after a particularly successful run of skill/luck. But I certainly wouldn't turn down the opportunity to actually plan a push without giving it away to the enemy occasionally .

Next problem, HLSS wars. Which I may contribute to now I have the program...