[MUD-Dev] PvP and teamspeak?

[Victor Wachter]

Ola Fosheim Grøstad wrote:

> Is it common for PvP oriented teams to require teamspeak? I
> suppose it could be a real advantage when you coordinate PvP
> actions. Still, they say they aim for around 70 members. How do
> such guilds organize their fighting given the bandwidth issues?
> Any ideas? I imagine that you could set up teams with teamspeak
> and then have the teamleader using text chat to coordinate.

Speaking from the all-PvP PlanetSide experience, it is nearly
ubiquitous. Every successful organization maintains a voice server
(whether TS or Ventrillo) and expects member participation on
it. Most of them use remote hosting services, so bandwidth is not
really and issue, given wide adoption of broadband. They tend to
create different channels for different Outfit (our version of a
guild) activities. In many cases, the leadership are friends or
family that play together in the same space, so they can be in
different channels while keeping cross-communication active.

> This kind of situation makes PvP game designs rather impossible to
> balance for non-hardcore without either making defense much eaiser
> than attack or introducing some kind of artificial handicaps based
> on ratings etc. The most bothersome thing seems to be that the
> advantages of teamspeak and a professional organization structure
> isn't really represented in the server database.

In our experience, it really only requires hardcore leadership to
host the service. Teamspeak is just application software with only a
few keybinds to learn and you're set. Most members (even casual
ones) seem to adapt fairly quickly with only the investment of a
headset. Where the problem occurs is in the new player experience,
before they have made any community ties and begin using the tools
an Outfit can provide them with.

Anecdotally, I see voice comm diffusing neatly through various games
so in the end, I think we'll be left with the same knowledge gap
that already exists between hardcore and casual players.
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