[MUD-Dev] DGN: Effect of voice chat on game design

[Douglas Galbi]

Per Magne Bjornerud wrote:

> Remember that many friends have been role-playing while sitting
> face-to-face rolling dice on the table. Knowledge of real life
> poses no problems to role-playing.

This is a very important point.  In multiplayer (console) Madden
football, the person sitting next to you isn't wearing pads, and may
not look at all like a football player, but his or her physical
movements, tension, and excitement adds to the game.

The human body naturally integrates sense across worlds.  That,
fundamentally, is what communication is all about.  See my work,
"Sense in Communication," freely available at www.galbithink.org
(see Section V.C., pp. 130-138 for discussion concerning virtual
world design).

That doesn't mean that conventional sense of voice character isn't
an impediment to role playing.  Of course it is.  But an inexpensive
design approach might be to just be to have all voices transformed
into non-verbal sounds.  Then players would have to create their own
language of emotive sounds.  I think that players would easily and
naturally do this, and that it would enhance role-playing.

Douglas Galbi
FCC Senior Economist
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