I am working on revues at school, and I tried to make on just then, so please tell me if it is good ~~~~~~~~
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TeamSpeak or other voice-chat systems can be really a great improvement to the gameplay, but it can also ruin everything. One part of the players think that it improves the RolePlaying, but on the other hand, some players think it ruins the game. Below will be explained to two point of views and how they may be implemented.
It would be great if a internal voice-chat system could be implemented without to much problems. It will need to be highly customisable because not everyone puts their speakers to the same volume and not everyone speaks at the same volume. It should also have a very high compression system to reduce the ping and to help people who can use a certain amount of bandwidth. The good part of having it implemented internally is that the players won't need to download anything extra and the developers/administrators won't need to buy any licence or ask an authorisation from anyone. On the other hand, the developers will have to sacrifice a lot of time on creating fading effects and other sound effects (echo in caves, "stuffy" in crowded rooms, etc.) they could spend on improving the graphics, AI, and other important thing for the gameplay. Also if it was in game, the developers/administrator will be able to customise more such as fading, coverage, auto-volume, etc.
The other thing which would be possible is to have an option on PlaneShift where you can use TeamSpeak (or any other program like that) and if it is ticked to "yes", when you launch PlaneShift, it automatically launches TeamSpeak and logs you on the right server. The server PlaneShift would use for that will need to be one where you can create as many channels as you want. Each channel would correspond to different sections such as the magic shop, the forest, ojaroad section 1, ojaroad section 2, ruins, etc. This system will diminish greatly the privacy of people, and everything said would cover a greater distance. The people who do little OOC chat in corners of the map or places where no one goes would be also heard all over that section.
Another thing possible with TeamSpeak, if you can be in several channels at a time, would be to have for each player they own channel. Let's say P#1 is talking to P#2, P#3 will have to be in the range of P#1 for let's say 2 seconds before he is logged on p#1's channel. This would create a lot of processing and might not be possible but could be an option. It would also require a lot of programming from the developers.
Another totally different solution is simply not having any chat at all, and if a guild wishes to have one, they can just make it on they own. This would not create any problems.
Voice-chat systems allow players to exchange ideas much quicker and much more conveniently (unless you can type faster then you talk ...). For that exact reason, people will start writing less and less until a point where certain players don't right at all. This would create literally two groups in PlaneShift, the "tipers" and the "talkers". The groups wouldn't interact between each other anymore because the talkers can't be bothered to right something down.
Another inconvenience would be that the voice-chat you be only available for the general chat, you wouldn't be able to tell something to someone. Unless you create a shortcut key for every contact you have, which would very impractical for people having 10 or more contacts. And even worth, you would need to add the guild channel and group channel.
I think it could be great, but at the same time, many inconveniences will be created without counting the fact that the developers will need to basically create a whole new sub-program for that system, and it would be a very complex one.
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wow, I when I see the previen, I see that I wrote a lot and I didn't even notice 
I hope people will read it, cause it took me 1/2 an hour to do that ...
