So coming from old EQ where everything was keyboard typed /chat /guild in specific windows it made communicating and playing the game semi-mutually exclusive. Nowadays close friends will teamspeak together so that its easier to communicate in real time without affecting play.
For pick up groups, it is unlikely that they will connect to a teamspeak server to talk to random people, and then there are different techs for communication (Ventrilo, etc), who is hosting, jumping out of the game to connect, etc.
Is there some middle ground between typing everything or connecting to a team speak server? I would suggest the Pantheon client have a speech to text mechanism. For example, if I hold a key or mouse button, my computer's microphone captures my speech and converts it to text in the /chat window in near-real time.
I know there are shortfalls of this tech, namely voice training to recognize speech patterns. However I believe for the most part, this would be a huge improvement. I could play and essentially dictate at the same time without any external tech at a much faster rate then trying to type everything.
Some opinions:
- Perhaps a standard 'dictionary' of words on the client without having to traverse the internet to do lookups from speech phonemes
- Including a voice-trainer in the Pantheon client to improve word recognition
- Would probably work better than most people typing in the chat windows while trying pull/heal/play
Alternatives?
- VR could host their own teamspeak server to connect groups/guilds automatically
- Type everything
VR has stated it plans on having an in game voice chat available for grouping.
Speech to text would be a HUGE help for us hearing impaired people :)
Although i do realize that a game cannot be catered towards any handicap someone might have, i also feel that the frequent use of VC - especially when its also provided as an in game resource - will leave me more and more out in the cold. If a group uses the ingame VC and i do not respond to that, doing something that is decided differently over VC (which i cannot hear) i see myself being kicked from group easely.
Now i already notice in guilds using VC that im basically playing a single player game, even if they know about my handicap and they have stated up front that this will not be a problem. Because all the guildies log into VC immediatly and hardly ever looking at text chat anymore, making me an unheard voice. Imagine how that will be in a group with people you dont know.
Oh well...i guess i have to live with it, because as said before, i don't expect a game to cater to all possible handicaps.
Very good point Tharca. Having a handicap as well I totally understand. Its not optimum but is there not software available that would convert speech to text on your end? I realize it would be 3rd party but it may help in your case.
Im exploring several things which would help handicap people play and enjoy Pantheon and other MMOs more. This is one thing I will add to the list.
Aatu said:Very good point Tharca. Having a handicap as well I totally understand. Its not optimum but is there not software available that would convert speech to text on your end? I realize it would be 3rd party but it may help in your case.
Im exploring several things which would help handicap people play and enjoy Pantheon and other MMOs more. This is one thing I will add to the list.
Dragon Naturally Speaking - https://www.nuance.com/dragon.html
I believe EQ had built in integration for this program for voice commands and maybe dictation? Never used it but I remember this being a thing somewhere.
Thanks for the sympathy :)
But i have a hearing problem, so i could speak through VC, problem is just i wouldnt know what im talking about since i can't hear whats being said hehe. If other people could convert their speech into text that i can read that would solve my problem. Like some video's on youtube.
But it would be a kind of silly asking everyone to install a 3rd party software so i can understand what they are saying. Although it would be a solution for a guild that is willing to take in people with my handicap.
Im thinking if you install it on your side so when people use voice chat, which your computer would have to have, it then translates it into text on your end.
Aatu said:Im thinking if you install it on your side so when people use voice chat, which your computer would have to have, it then translates it into text on your end.
Interesting thought. Not sure such a thing exists, but definatly worth to do some research towards that.
Tharca said:Aatu said:Im thinking if you install it on your side so when people use voice chat, which your computer would have to have, it then translates it into text on your end.
Interesting thought. Not sure such a thing exists, but definatly worth to do some research towards that.
Of coarse it exists. Didn't you ever hear of closed caption?? Available on all tv's
My understanding of closed caption is that it is data added to a show and not a direct voice to text translating device. Im thinking more along the lines of what hearing impaired people use on their phone. I have seeen phones which take the voice heard on the other end and translate it into text on a screen in the phone or a seperate small display beside the phone. So no... it does not exist in closed caption for TV.
The technology exists for phones... question is does it exist as software for a PC.
Aatu said:My understanding of closed caption is that it is data added to a show and not a direct voice to text translating device. Im thinking more along the lines of what hearing impaired people use on their phone. I have seeen phones which take the voice heard on the other end and translate it into text on a screen in the phone or a seperate small display beside the phone.
The teechnology exists for phones... question is does it exist as software for a PC
I dont know how feesible this would be for a game but, youtube does this
"YouTube can use speech recognition technology to automatically create captions for your videos."
Tharca said:Thanks for the sympathy :)
But i have a hearing problem, so i could speak through VC, problem is just i wouldnt know what im talking about since i can't hear whats being said hehe. If other people could convert their speech into text that i can read that would solve my problem. Like some video's on youtube.
But it would be a kind of silly asking everyone to install a 3rd party software so i can understand what they are saying. Although it would be a solution for a guild that is willing to take in people with my handicap.
I played around with this concept in EQ2 and Eve using Dragon Naturally Speaking software. It was a little klunky at times, but I did manage to get it to work. I would prompt in the chat box, speak, and the software typed what I was saying, but not always correctly. Eventually I simply resigned to Teamspeak and Ventrillo like most everyone else and Eve supported their own voice chat which I agree is a good idea in team gaming.
The trick, Tharca, would be getting a few of your team mates to accomadate your needs to enrich the experience of your play together. Maybe they could look into something like this. Just a thought.
Fulton said:Crazzie said:....heck we can send people to the moon but we still can not get voice to txt right.
What are you tall king a bot, I am you sing techs to speech now, and it is flowless. /ROFL
Lol... my Truck has voice commands for the Navagation and Stereo (where I can say "play some blues" or "play some rock") and half the time I say "point of interest" to trigger the navigation, the damn thing responds with
"would you like to play some midgets?"
The first time took me totally by suprise, how do you respond to that?