Why are people so adverse to talking in discord within FC?

[Packetdancer]

Except typed chat is not truly covered in game because there's no record kept. Someone logging in 5 minutes after a conversation started isn't going to know what was said in those first 5 minutes unless everyone repeats themselves. Someone who isn't logged in can't be part of the conversation.

This is the big thing, in my experience.

Stuff that's more immediate and transient ("Hey, anyone want to help me get my first clear of Delubrum before I have to get offline in an hour?" or "Does anyone have <crafting material X> to spare?" or "Anyone want to grind through Wonderous Tails for the week?") is well-suited to the FC channel; if someone logs in an hour later and doesn't see it, that doesn't matter. Stuff that's likely to be relevant longer-term, though? That's worth having on Discord's text channels.

Imagine someone asking "Hey, we're putting together a group for later tonight to get anyone who needs it a Castrum clear; we're going to hit Bozja around 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern, let me know if you want to come along." If they say that on the /fc chat in-game, those who are online at that exact moment will see it. If that's asked at 2pm Pacific (to allow people time to prep essences or whatever, or to make sure they aren't stuck in the middle of a duty or whatever), someone might be offline because they're at work and not in-game. They could therefore miss seeing it, and thus miss out on the event.

If they ask it on the Discord, though, someone who isn't in-game can see it and go "Oh, I really need my Castrum clear! I'll be home by then, save me a spot." or "I really need my clear, but I won't be home until 4:30pm Pacific. Will that be too late to join in?" or whatever.

This is why stuff like "Hey, anyone want to do a map party this weekend?" or "We're going to put together some alliance raid runs for folks working on their relic tonight, for whoever's interested." or whatever is usually asked on the Discord for my FC; it makes it possible for more people to see it.

If it was always just announced in-game, I think that would be more prone to unintentionally clique-y events, because only people online at the moment of the question -- or the folks those people were friends with and would specifically flag down with "Hey, this is happening this evening if you wanted to join in" -- would have a chance to participate. By organizing events on the Discord text channels, more people have an opportunity to see that they're happening and join in.

But just transient in-game chat? Yeah, there's no reason that shouldn't be on the in-game FC chat channel.

[SamSmoot]

I rarely talk to people in RL, so why why would I want to do it in a game. The only times I've used Discord voice comms was while raiding in WoW, but I'd log off it as soon as we were done.

[TaleraRistain]

Yeah, pretty much what I've been thinking whole time. The whole "we only used text" struck me as odd. Discord wasn't always a thing, but voice chat was used. I used to use teamspeak all the time. I actually only started using discord a few years ago, because everyone moved there. Ironically, I actually use discord more for text chat nowadays.

Ventrilo and Teamspeak both came out after EverQuest debuted. Maybe they became bigger later on or were more of a thing with an ultra high level world first guild like Fires of Heaven, but "we only used text" is how I raided in EQ for years.

[Delis]

Ventrilo and Teamspeak both came out after EverQuest debuted. Maybe they became bigger later on or were more of a thing with an ultra high level world first guild like Fires of Heaven, but "we only used text" is how I raided in EQ for years.

Teamspeak came out in 2001ish, I know my guild started using it soon after. Sure we used in game chat in raids etc before we went to voice, but it was a lot easier to communicate in voice.

I enjoy discord. It is very useful. My fc can keep in touch during the day when we are at work/school. Chat about our day, share funny videos. People that want to take a break from the game can still hang out and stay in touch while they are gone. If someone is at work or whatever but feels like doing something later in the day, they will post and will usually get a full group of people willing to join in.

With voice, it is so much easier to talk while I am in game. Can keep up with the conversation instead of trying to find a place in the dungeon or combat to get my reply out.

[LisSquid]

Ventrilo and Teamspeak both came out after EverQuest debuted. Maybe they became bigger later on or were more of a thing with an ultra high level world first guild like Fires of Heaven, but "we only used text" is how I raided in EQ for years.

Ultima Online came out two years before EQ and people jumped onto teamspeak soon after it debuted in 2002. It was well used. Raiding with just text went the way of the dinosaur as soon as it became available. Sure "voice mandatory" didn't come for a while, but to say every guild who could have their own server wasn't living in it is historically inaccurate.

[Limecat]

Discord is where discussion goes to die.

[VirusOnline]

I actually find it odd that some people seem in need of voice.

Back in my days of WoW, you spoke purely through vent when you raided and if there were no hosted vent servers, you typed. There was a lot of typing haha.
Also, I'm an introvert already. I work while playing. My headphones are heavy and do give me a migraine after a while. I don't care for small talk, I prefer meaningful conversations or if someone just needs someone to talk to because they need an ear. There's also times when Discord sorta overwhelms me. You can type in game, in discord, speak in voice and then you sometimes get this weird event of people typing, speaking, and dm'ing while you're in the same party and it all gets a bit confounded. Overchoice.

I think the biggest issue for me and some people is that being on voice create an atmosphere of being unable to be available to yourself, to break away, being polite and staying for the sake of others in voice. Hm, I don't know if I described it well, but with text communication you don't have that preoccupation that voice brings with it.

[Xatsh]

It is interesting to see the opinions of why so many dislike using voice chat.

I always found it a lot easier to communicate, build friendships in game and what not using voice chat. As a guild lead I always noticed across multiple game it was the ones who never/rarely used voice who were most likely to leave the guild, or hop group to group. Typically they state they feel left out, guild is dead, or just are out of the loop and have no idea what is going on. Can count more then a dozen times in the last 15yrs people quit because "we never do anything/The guild is dead/I never get invited" when 20+ people where in the middle of a guild event which is open to everyone all with everyone talking in discord when they dropped guild.

I know personally I rarely type in game unless someone types to me, outside the Hello Freecompany/Linkshell/Everyone that I type when I first log in. If I am in content there are times I never look at the chat box at all mid fight. Almost 100% of the communication is done through discord/vent/teamspeak (Discord these days). Same thing in real life I guess. I really hate talking to people in text as well, takes 2-3xs as long and you lose so much context not hearing someones voice inflection. Something that was said in a text could be both negative or positive depending on how the person says it. Without hearing the voice it can easily be mistaken a taken the wrong way completely.

[TaleraRistain]

Ultima Online came out two years before EQ and people jumped onto teamspeak soon after it debuted in 2002. It was well used. Raiding with just text went the way of the dinosaur as soon as it became available. Sure "voice mandatory" didn't come for a while, but to say every guild who could have their own server wasn't living in it is historically inaccurate.

*shrug*

You have you experience, I have mine. Maybe you were the FoH type. I still raided heavily but I ran with the crowd that didn't have to be server firsts like Fires of Heaven. That was my server's top of the top. And neither my guild nor the guilds I knew worried much about voice. We could do everything in text and managed that just fine for the 3 years or so before voice was even a thing and continued to do fine for years afterward.