Voicechat thoughts/concerns

[Talyn]

Hey guys,

So the past few voice chats have been rather chaotic and loud. People have been getting talked over, questions lost in the social chatter. I must admit I also get excited and lost in the social chatter but the voice chats are meant to be about questions for the game. We all greatly enjoy the game which is why we want to talk about it. However, when the chat turns from talking about the game to something outside of the game maybe take it to private tells or we do have a voicechat-channel. Anyways, I'm getting off track these are a few concerns and thoughts on how to fix Friday night Voice chat so that we aren't getting of track.

• • Have your questions prepared before hand. We have a week to come up with thoughts, concerns, and questions for Rias to answer. (Trust me It's hard I need to do it myself. Questions that come up during the talk aren't a bad thing either)
  • Push to talk is a pain to get use to I know, but maybe if we had push to talk it would allow others they can ask questions without getting interrupted, or when a question is asked not lost in the chatter like last time.
  • Without being at a table it's hard to see when people have a question. Maybe in the Voicechat-channel we could set up an order of who has a question, then have either Rias or 1 other person that Rias nominates to call on those who prepared questions.
  • When a question is asked let them talk, get the answer back from Rias. Then if that question rises a question or concern of out of you, wait in 'line' to ask it again.
  
  I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone before anyone gets upset. I'm at fault with this too, which is why I wrote about this because I think this might help future Voicechats. If anyone else has concerns or thoughts on this please feel free to write about it. Just, I would rather voice these concerns before Rias thinks the voice chats aren't worth his time. The game is great and learning about it is even more fun. We should be professional or at the very least respectful of our fellow players and their questions. I know I will be trying to be next Friday.

[Irylia]

Thank you so much for posting this. I think there's a lot of really good ideas here. Push to talk is a big one for me as it seriously cuts down on off-topic chatter, background noise or conversations, and helps people to think before they speak.

It might be a good idea for whoever is the designated note-taker for the chat to gather questions in advance so things are more prepared. If someone has a question they want to ask in VC, they can send it to Nobody or Zombie as it comes up during the week. That way it's not forgotten by the time VC rolls around and we can have a list pre-written for the actual chat. It would be easy to then go over those items first. Question, answer, then discussion. Rather than the current norm which seems to be interjecting at all times with examples, agreeing, disagreeing, or whatever else seems to come to mind. We can then move on to a sort of round table where each person is asked in turn if they have anything to ask, then Rias can answer, discussion can happen, then move on to the next person. If someone has to leave early, they can post in the chat channel and maybe they can be asked first.

I understand people get excited and want to share their experience. I totally get that and I love how passionate people are for COGG. I don't want to discourage that in any way. And I definitely don't want chat to turn into some parliamentary, strict, formal thing. But some ground rules would help those of us who are less prone to talking over others actually get a word in. It's also helpful for Rias and just overall a more respectful approach for everyone involved.

Remember too that the channel can be used outside of the regular VC timeslots. General socializing can happen there or in the off-topic channel at any time. These voice chats should stay on-topic so that those participating can feel their time is being put to constructive use.

[Karjus]

What those two said.

I love the fact that people want to talk and chat, but I also don't want it taken for granted that Rias is taking time away to be around and to answer questions regarding the game in a very direct format. Straight from the Dev's mouth.

I'm all for joking around, but I think some sort of changes need to be taken on board so that people can utilize that in the best possible fashion and Rias keeps on considering it worthwhile.

[Rias]

I appreciate everything said here as well. I really want to know what you all have to ask, say, critique, or seek clarification on about the actual game when we do our voicechats. As mentioned in this thread, the voice channel isn't restricted to only these Friday chats - you're all welcome to hop in any other time and socialize about whatever you want as a community.

I know it's a tad last-minute for tomorrow's voice, but I really like the idea of people gathering a list of questions or comments ahead of time, and then we start a voicechat off by first going through everyone who already has talking points prepared. In this section of the voice everyone would be muted by default except for myself and each speaker in their turn. As a response is being given, other people can type in the #voicechat-chat channel that they have a followup comment or question on something that was just said, and we can get to people one-by-one that way instead of having people essentially fight to take the mic. I was hoping Discord had some kind of "raise hand" functionality that I've seen in other voice platforms, but I didn't see one so just saying "raise hand" in the text chat will have to suffice for now unless someone has a better idea.

After we run through all the prepared talking points people brought for the primary portion of the voicechat, it can then be shifted to a more open and natural discussion where people aren't muted anymore and everyone can chatter away.

I also like the suggestion of enforcing push-to-talk. It looks like it's a Discord option I can enable for that channel. It'll help cut out background noise and side-conversations that can sometimes be broadcasted when someone wasn't meaning to. And as mentioned, it will be good to have to at least take that brief moment of consideration before speaking, which is always good with groups of more than you can count on a single hand, in my opinion.

Also, a plea: Please try not to be the "I don't have anything to say, I'm just here to listen" person! Because often the majority ends up as that person, with everyone assuming someone else will provide questions or talking points, and then no one has anything to say and we sit around in awkward silence while a few people desperately try to think something up on the spot. I know some of us are shy - I definitely get that, being a shy person myself - but I think we're a pretty awesome and laid-back community so I hope everyone can feel confident speaking to the rest of us. So jot those questions, suggestions, and game-related thoughts down when you have them, and especially if you find yourself mentioning them on chat but don't get a satisfactory response - staff usually has that channel muted now that it's so active (not a bad thing!) but we'd love to know your thoughts via the voicechat set aside for just that! And if you get to Friday and realize you don't have anything ready to say, you can always just come up with some simple random COGG-related question or suggestion. They don't have to be deep or insightful or anything to be brought up in the voice. Lore, mechanics, comments on recent events or developments, status inquiries regarding ongoing projects (hillfolk hairy feet any day now!) - I really appreciate having stuff to respond to or serve as a prompt, as I am not what would you would call a socially adept person nor a particularly capable conversation-starter. I've considered preparing some of my own stuff to say ahead of time, but really these voicechats have always been, to me, a chance to hear the thoughts of the players and then discuss the things important to you all. I don't want to just hop on voice and drone on about whatever I'm doing at the moment.

I love the Friday voicechats and I'm thrilled that so many people show up to them and have things to say! That anyone even has an interest in any of this stuff at all is just one of the greatest feelings in the world for me. I think with a little structure we can all get even more out of these weekly chats that many of us already enjoy.

If anyone has any further thoughts or suggestions on this subject, let us know in this thread!

P.S. Huge shout-outs to Zombilicious and Nobody for all their efforts taking notes and posting summaries of voicechats. I know there are people who don't get to attend these for whatever reason that really appreciate that, and I also enjoy having the summary for my own reference.

[Talyn]

There sort of is a Raise hand feature but I just took the past 30 minutes trying to figure it out. With Discord also being linked with the game's chat unsure of how it would work so maybe just typing raised hand can work. If you're interested in the feature still though Rias I can message you about it.