Commanders not reading chat
Wang Tang
Join Date: 2004-08-18 Member: 30699Members
Join Date: 2004-08-18 Member: 30699Members
Seriously, what is up with that?
Just lost another game due to a commander not reading the chat messages. This is really frustrating, and often they also won't respond to a map ping.
Commanders, if you can read this:
READ THE CHAT
I don't care if you use mic or text to tell players around, but for god's sake
READ THE CHAT
/rant
@UWE is there a way to have some kind of highlight for text messages if we write "COMM" or something similiar to chat? That would be really awesome.
Just lost another game due to a commander not reading the chat messages. This is really frustrating, and often they also won't respond to a map ping.
Commanders, if you can read this:
READ THE CHAT
I don't care if you use mic or text to tell players around, but for god's sake
READ THE CHAT
/rant
@UWE is there a way to have some kind of highlight for text messages if we write "COMM" or something similiar to chat? That would be really awesome.
Comments
On Trouble and Terrorist Town (2-3 bad guys spawn, identity hidden but want to kill everyone who isn't a bad guy). If you have a mic and yell that some one is the bad guy, and the other guy is just texting, 90% of the time they'll go with the guy with a mic.
Same sort of psychology applies when you have a greifer telling everyone that the com is a troll commander so he can get in himself and recycle ip's every round.
It is simple psychology, even in the average pub game a few people are constantly giving information via mic. Most people are not extreme multi taskers so the chat information is always sub or even glanced over while the com is concentrating.
I admit he was overall very slow, but not reading chat at all? Was he only looking at the upper half of his screen?
I prefer not to have to pay attention to text chat. I assume my teammates feel the same way. I also would prefer that they spend their limited attention on the game rather than on text chat.
If I notice that a teammate is using text chat, I'll try to pay more attention to it, but I'll be keeping most of my attention on the game and will in all likelihood miss a substantial portion of what they have to say.
I find that verbal conversation does not compete for the same pool of attention that game tasks do, whereas text conversation does. Perhaps this is not the case for everyone. But I bet it's true for most people.
It can be nearly as bad with voice chat. Ever call out the enemy base 1-2 mins in, only to hear it called out around 3-4 min mark. Some players get lost in their own world. Text or voice chat wont get through.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/14178788?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227000000000&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=21486607510&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem
In NS2, you're already overwhelmed with visual information such that requiring you to change focus for a visual chat or alert forces you to ignore something else. I do my best to keep up with the text chat as comm, but if I'm doing something that requires a high degree of focus (medpack drops, checking the minimap, microing macs/drifters, etc) I will miss stuff in the text chat.
This is not the case with audio information, which is mostly just a combination of NS2 sounds that you can largely ignore (e.g. attack sounds, ambient sounds, etc). The major exceptions are footsteps (which are useful for estimating the size of enemy attacks you don't have LOS) and alerts. Using voice chat is simply a much better method of ensuring that I will get the important info.
The in-game voice chat is great compared to others. Ive never used in-game chat for other games, especially pubs, but ns2 gameplay demands verbal communication. I wouldn't apologize for missing text either. i find it more unreasonable to expect me to read the chat than for other people to not use mics. Your quality of play will improve through voice communication, like any good team activity
Every problem that exists with messaging by text is eliminated if you use mic. Use one.
(plus some of us are even worse than you at commanding and have all of our time taken up with micro and macro, it's simply not reasonable to add another layer of visual complexity when a far far better solution exists in voice chat)
This game has 2 channels of direct communication. If you dismiss one out of laziness, or because of being overwhelmed, then either get off your butt, or train playing commander on a rookie server.
What about blind people? Maybe the game needs optional auto aim so as not to discriminate.
It sucks that some people have disabilities, but some things simply cannot be changed to be usable by all.
I'm just saying that people who are playing commander should be aware of it. I'm not saying it is superior to mic chat in any way (although there could be circumstances where this is the case).
I.e. that only says the game doesnt have enough pre-made commands and that the current system in place for them isnt good enough.
They cost almost nothing. If you can afford a computer to play NS2 you can afford the $5 to get a microphone.
The only people who have a valid excuse to not get a mic are deaf/mute people. Sadly and unfairly, def people are already disadvantaged playing NS2 because all aliens and marines have silence all the time. We should probably discuss how to help such people in a different thread.
But all the non-deaf people out there you must GET A MICROPHONE. I wish there was a way to make a server where microphones are required and anyone without one is not allowed to join, or at least not allowed to command.
One change I did think of that could be helpful is if chats could be read out loud with text to speech. Maybe a separate chat button for "ALERT chats" that would make a sound to get the commander's attention.
Another change is we could have a bigger automatic chat menu. Right now the only options are taunt, medpack, ammo, need order. Counter-Strike has more than that. Tribes 2 had the most I've ever seen. NS2 should have quite a few more. The major problem is that what you want to call out most of the time are map locations, so maps would need to include audio files with the names of each location and making a map would include voice acting.
Get a mic. Don't expect people to see every single chat message that comes through, especially not the commander.
The idea for chat messages with the word 'comm' or 'commander' in it showing up a different colour is a good one though. At least the comm would know what messages to pay attention to and the above wouldn't be so much of a problem.
It's not laziness, it's simple preference. For many people, myself included, the game is more fun when you don't need to pay attention to text chat. There's nothing unreasonable about us not wanting to play with people who make the game less fun for us.
And it's not being overwhelmed. Paying attention to text chat will make you less effective at the game no matter how good or bad you are, because it takes some of your attention. In a game like NS2 attention is a scarce and valuable resource. Any use of it for one thing means that some other thing suffers because of it.
We have in-game chat and order cues. people just need to use it ... I'm just saying people who are playing ns2 should be aware of it.
Text is something some comms overlook, at fault, but we try. In your case i feel you have not made an attempt at voice chat, as a choice. Don't you see that the team is worse off as a result of your choice not to voice communicate.
Anyways, i believe an HUD chat log with the last 5 lines of chat text may save your problem. Each entry can be logged to game time elapsed so comms are aware of how long someone has been ignored. Don't expect this to solve any reactive requests such as beacon. so if you care that much go work on a mod
There is if there is no point in it and your selfishness ruins the game as a whole for all of the team since you refuse to communicate properly.
Still. Voice trumps typing most of the time.