
Originally Posted by
Naoki Yoshida
Hi all, it’s ‘coming down with the flu’ Yoshida here,
Thanks for the discussion regarding voice chat. I wanted to present my thoughts on the subject, too.
Conclusion
We currently have no plans to implement voice chat into FFXIV, even for Version 2.0.
Level of Communication
I’m also an online gamer when I have spare time, so I use voice chat when playing MMOs, online games, FPSs, and fighting games. However, voice chat is mostly used by the “hardcore players”. In MMORPGs, “chat” is the main form of communication and because it is text based it is fairly simple to use. However, hearing everyone’s voices when you’re communicating amongst a huge group of players can be highly irritating. Risks put aside, I think that the communication level in comparison to chat is a few steps higher.
Pros and Cons
Everyone pretty much said everything already.
The main cons:
There will be times when voice chat will be mandatory for things like instanced raids.
In particular, there is a fear that female gamers will get harassed when the say something and will then want to stay away.
A gap will appear between those that have/don’t have a mic.
As this will eat up more bandwidth, there will be more bandwidth costs.
We will need to create some kind of sound management, like creating an effect so that it's not your “real voice” that is being heard.
The main pros:
It is much faster than chat for direct communication so when playing as a party it is much easier.
If you can get along well with the other person, it is convenient, just like being on the phone.
Alternatives to Voice Chat
There are loads of great alternatives to voice chat such as Skype and Ventrillo. If we don’t officially support it, I think that there will be fewer cases where people will be forced to use it and told things like "come on, just use voice chat for crying out loud!" So for linkshells and what will become the Free Companies, if you can come to an agreement, I think that it would be good to consider using external software for voice chat purposes.
Summary
We will continue to make it so that our FFXIV players can play safely across all regions. Even if we can technically support it, for things that involve communication, we would have to make it official, but I think we would really need to think about this carefully so it won't be a stressful experience. So with that in mind, we will not be having official support for voice chat.