I can guarantee you no one is going to be able to seriously roleplay with voice chat or face morphing enabled.
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Also, Neko is a furry.
1) these guys would like to beg to differ:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfT4aAytFrE ad-libbing seems pretty easy for them without breaking character. granted, they are professional comedians and they get paid to do that for a living, but I hope you see what point I'm trying to make.
I personally never found it to be that hard to stay in character and adapt to events that unfolded around them. I have quite a few characters that died/nearly died because I knew where it was going to end up, but to stay in character, I went along with things as they unfolded. But to each their own. People "RP" just as differently as you and I and everyone else are different in the real world. I don't think it's anyone's ability to immediate nay say it into oblivion just because they themselves think it to be useless. The very nature of this game and the ideals behind its creation state that all ideas are welcome and should be looked at on equal footing. If it's something that could potentially enhance gameplay to a subset of the player base, then let them have at it. It don't hurt or hinder you or myself's personal experience if we decide that feature is not for us and simply keep it disabled. And as I shall address below, technically, it doesn't even have to be officially incorporated into the game itself. So if people wanted to use it, they are going to regardless.
2) previous iterations on this type of technology never had the advances that have been made in voice and human face recognition technology either. say what you want about micro$oft and it's agenda, but if you really get into the technical detail and challenges they solved you have to at least admit that they came up with some great tech when they were able to make the Kinect. it really did take gaming to a whole new level, at least on consoles.
PC games have started to lag behind in the ways a bit, sticking with the tried and true keyboard and mouse, but many are slowing coming around to at least having console controller support. I just see this software as the next step to that. there's going to be a day when there isn't a distinction between console and PC. Valve's already hard at work and trying to merge the gap with their Steam box.
3) Considering their donations page has been up for about a week now, and they have already been put on the front page of Steam, multiple gaming websites, etc. and the fact that the populace has responded and they are already half way to their goal, I think the majority a gamers simply want to have a new tool to enhance their game play experience.
4) cats, are indeed covered in fur, yes. unless they have been shaved, or are one of the hairless types. those are freaky looking things though, so lets not think about them. i don't see how this really relates to the topic at hand though.
No problem, just get them to sign the abc license. :p
5) About the technology itself, this program is really no different than what has become pretty darn standard on most games that are online and require the player to work with other players. Teamspeak, Vent, Mumble, skype, facerig Throw in any other communications program you want into the mix. the fact is and will always be, its faster and far more efficient when needing to communicate with fellow guild members, raiding party members, etc., verbal is far better than typing.
it's just the next step in evolution of this type of software. mumble already has features that put overlays on the screen while you are playing various games to let you know who's talking. none of that is built into the games, it's on the chat programs side. so people are going to make their fan made creations, load up their game of choice and go to town regardless of what the game makers themselves think or care. now, you won't see any official packs from the facerig development team without them getting agreements from other game developers if they want to use their trademarked assets, but they clearly cover all that on their FAQ, as well as the future abilities to write in an easy way to take their pre-existing models and allow for users to create fan made re-skins.
all in all, its a nifty piece of software they are making, and if done correctly, will allow gamers of all types to further immerse themselves into the game they are playing with their friends and online buddies. gaming is about having fun after all, I know I'd have tons of fun doing karaoke as Talad singing "Blue".
oh and that's a whole other beast in itself, isn't it? just imagine all the fun the peoples on video sharing websites like youtube and what not could have when they machinemas or 'let's plays' of games, etc. As my buddy boogie said in one of his recent videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKeGwTmz2-g