IGN: Splatoon's lack of voice chat is "cheap and lazy"

Well then you're ridiculous.
Well I can't very well mute other people's loud radios.

Honestly for such an innocent game it would be nice to hear some friendly banter online. Perhaps we'll get it in an update?

My guess is something will come in the August update along with the ability to form locked friend parties. Either in-game chat among friends or just lobby chat with friends. It would seem a weird omission considering there's some form of chat among friends in their other online games and I'd be very surprised if they didn't already know there's some demand for it
 
Great arguments are pointless for people who already have their mind made up. Science will back me up on that as well. I'm just being straightforward about my emotions towards the matter.

So, "I won't bother actually making an argument because people think differently". That's really not how discussion forums work.

And what "science" is going to back you up? Care to cite this "science" you speak of?
 
The cheapest and lazyest gaming website calling motherhumping Nintendo cheap and lazy. Regardless on how you feel on voice chat, that's another reason to never visit IGN again.
 
Someone's mad.

Someone let their Nintendo/antisocial boner cloud their judgement and can't make an argument for a really bizarre viewpoint.

And your argument is about a game that requires constant communication and slow paced gameplay (to an extent). But hey, my opinion's dumb. Guess I will just go finish up binding my thesis.

You didn't even get my point.
 
Well I can't very well mute other people's loud radios.

So you would take them away from everyone? k...


If you are getting mad about lack of voice chat in a n already good game, I would hate to see you in rush hour traffic.

I'm fine in rush hour traffic as it's out of everyone's control. Nintendo is the one making inane decisions here again.

Customers GET to call out stupid decisions and demand them changed. See: xbox one.

"Someone's mad" is never a proper message board reply.
 
If you are getting mad about lack of voice chat in a n already good game, I would hate to see you in rush hour traffic.

I'm upset that a game that seems fun and unique has stabbed itself in the kneecap and made itself a worse game for no reason whatsoever.
 
Its laggy and the quality is shit.

They could definitely patch in an on-screen overlay notification from the base OS, just as the OS can always kick in and override the game from the Home button. Its not like the system's OS shuts down the moment you boot a game. :P

I think its more that they just don't "believe" in notifications that disrupt the screen/gameplay.

What? there is no issues with BO2 voice chat, spent at least 20hours playing it on WiiU with people chatting 90% of the games.
Lag ingame is most likely due to small community, hard to match 12 people with low pings when only 250 people are playing world wide.
 
Well I can't very well mute other people's loud radios.



My guess is something will come in the August update along with the ability to form locked friend parties. Either in-game chat among friends or just lobby chat with friends. It would seem a weird omission considering there's some form of chat among friends in their other online games and I'd be very surprised if they didn't already know there's some demand for it
Custom 8 person games will definitely need some sort of chat feature in the lobby at a minimum as how else will you suggest to the party leader what map to pick, and so on?

Hopefully they can just add full chat to the 8 man customs and put this argument to bed forever (although I suspect 99% of actual games will still be through random matchmaking rather than customs)
 
I personally would not use voice chat, and I don't even know how useful it would be in such a fast paced game like Splatoon. But there's really no reason not to give players the option to use it.
 
I agree, it is both cheap and lazy, even if you have a rationalization in place for the decision. They're exhibiting a fundamental disconnect with the audience that makes and keeps a game like this popular. Should probably have a label on the case: Casuals Only.
 
Yes, you can play with friend or even against them.
iPR5VWO.png
Just to point out, this matchmaking option is part of the August update. For all we know this could very well support voice chat. To be completely honest, only the two modes that are in this August update make sense to support voice chat as you'll be teaming up with friends there by default. In the regular modes it would just be a potentially unfair or toxic experience which is why I like its omission, I would start complaining when the August update didn't support it.
 
Bare minimum there should be chat with friends. Chat with randoms should also be allowed, but just make it default off and you have to opt in. This way, everyone who doesn't want to chat will never have to and they can play as if its not even there. It's always funny to see people in these threads complaining about additional options. Maybe try thinking about it for more than a second? It doesn't effect you at all... well maybe the more coordinated team would stomp you harder but that's what team shooters are all about.

When I play halo or destiny with my friends we are always in a party chat on Xbox. Why wouldn't you be? Although a lot of times we end up talking about non-related things more than stuff relevant to the immediate game at hand.

And there's the real purpose of team chat. Coordinating plans can happen but mostly people just want to talk with their friends about whatever. Facilitating that type of communication will make them happier and keep those players in longer. It's not complicated.
 
Just jumping in here to reiterate my hatred of calling anything development-related "lazy". I highly doubt that this is "cheap", either.
 
tumblr_mn7t0rEOHn1ssppvlo1_500.gif


I think even Animal Crossing New Leaf has a goddamn chat feature. Yet, a game where teamwork is required to win and communication, therefore, is essential not only has no voice communication option but is being actively defended for not having it? I have utterly utterly astounded. I don't understand at all.
 
The lack of friends-only chat IS lazy and after playing the demo yesterday, I know it will affect my enjoyment of Splatoon. The people who are saying its omission is a good thing are talking complete and utter twaddle. It's still fun enough (and cheap enough) for a day one purchase though so I'll be picking up a copy.
 
I guess they're still afraid of child molesters and the bad press that comes with it. They can't be "lazy" at the same time, though.
 
Create a multiplayer heavy online game that focuses on team-based objectives instead of death matches... proudly proclaim that there is no voice chat whatsoever. How can you get so out of touch???
 
Whatever precludes Nintendo from criticism yall
Its the best way to go for reasons I'm coming up with right now

To be frank, I think this article is vacuous at best and clickbait at worst, since this was a discussion to be had well over a month ago and this article was clearly placed now for the attention of the Testfires. The headline is also rather mindnumbing.

That said, options are always a good thing. I can, in all good faith, understand the randoms not having any chat as the game has no region lock on the multiplayer pool, so an open chat would be effectively pointless, and Nintendo has a habit of being terrified of anything that may backfire with kids and creeps after Swapnote. Obviously this isn't a problem for fixed parties/friends, but that may go beyond Splatoon's capabilities and tie into OS deficiencies.

The WiiU in general needs OS level rework to fix up a bunch of its issues (some of which have happened over time, others... like a better friend's list and capabilities therein, haven't) but I doubt we'll see it. I doubt it would even be possible without a tear down and remaking of the OS, so unless the console has more than two more years... I don't expect it.
 
Honestly, if Nintendo is that squeamish about total strangers yelling obscenities at people, they should've just disabled it in public games with randoms. But disabling it for people who are already on your Friend List? "Lazy" is a pretty decent way to characterize it.

They've already demonstrated, between Smash Bros. chatting and that chatting mode on the Wii U, they don't have a problem if friends chat through the microphone. So what's the deal with Splatoon? I know chatting during Smash matches isn't possible, so maybe it's just a weird networking or hardware thing on their end, but you would think by now, they could get it to work.

The whole thing is weird. Maybe when they do they August update for the friend battles, they'll patch it in. Hopefully.
 
So, "I won't bother actually making an argument because people think differently". That's really not how discussion forums work.

And what "science" is going to back you up? Care to cite this "science" you speak of?

There is some that I found in small search for antisocial behaviors in online video games. I can delve into the more fundamental aspects of social psych if you would like?
Yang (2012)
Ferguson et al. (2014)
Howard et al. (2014)


Changing minds:
LaCour and Green (2014) <---That ones a very interesting read.

Point is, no one here is really talking about the design decisions that went into the games. One side is saying:

"This is how its always beeen and how it always should be."

The other side (my side that I am guilty of):

"I don't like voice chat and what it can do to a community"

There isn't any talking of the design decisions or full fledged examples of when one opinion can show to the other besides preferences.
 
I really hope at some point that Nintendo stops trying to take responsibility for how people behave in their games. No other company lets that impede their games' multiplayer features. Sometimes you really do need to let the ULA/Terms of Agreement in the multiplayer games do their thing, regardless if people read them or not.
 
Yup, it really sucks. Nintendo could be the king of multiplayer games like in the N64 era if they'd just modernize.
 
Top Bottom