Skype

[Dr. Goner 661]

I didn't see a thread on this anywhere and was wondering what players think about the use of skype (or other outside game chat services) in the game. I've played with groups that use and also been the only one out of twenty on a server not using it. There's really no question that it's an unfair advantage. I think the game would be better without it, but I was wondering what you all thought. Does it ruin the immersion for you?

[-Se7eN- 874]

yeah id say it does, i like what dayz nexus did with including ACRE, you have to be on there ts, but your mic is muted unless you have a radio, but then anyone with a radio can hear you, apart from that direct chat only.

dosent really fix the problem but its an interesting feature.

but yes it does give an unfair advantage to those not using teamspeak/skype.

[Erik (DayZ) 61]

It really does, sadly enough there is nothing u can do about it.

[willey.erd@oundleschool.org.uk 506]

If there was a way to block it I hope they would without a second thought.

Hopefully this 'third party software' that is being purchased for the new radio system will be able to help with some of this.

[BwobBwub 660]

Been a-many topics about this and they usually end up with non-constructive arguments.

[rossums 2190]

My personal opinion (and the general consensus) tends to be:

It's not against the rules but it is against the spirit of the game.

There is no way to stop it and it does give enough of an advantage to mean that you generally have to use it also to remain properly competitive.

Edited April 29, 2013 by Rossums

[JeffDetroit 717]

Not to mention that looking at other people in those lil' Skype boxes while playing DayZ is distracting (esp. if they're naked gamers).

[tajjuk 65]

If there was a way to block it I hope they would without a second thought.

Hopefully this 'third party software' that is being purchased for the new radio system will be able to help with some of this.

I don't.

It's a game and it's meant to be fun, playing with mates adds to this, meeting up trying to work out where each other is etc. Game would be worse if you couldn't do this and I along with many other wouldn't bother playing. Hardly an unfair advantage either, everyone can use and download it and unless you are a total loner you can always hook up with friends to play.

[iamghost 48]

^ That.

Irl a bandit crew, or any good group, would have private personal coms. I don't understand how it could affect the reality or fairness of game play. Do you think the secret service just yells back and forth? No, they talk quitely on their ear piece. Why would YOU not do the same?

[herrjon 478]

I don't have a problem with 3rd party chat, partly due to the fact that the in-game chat doesn't really work in the first place. Disregarding the inability for snipers/overwatch to call things out to their mates 300m away, direct chat has a short range to begin with, drops off too quickly meaning you have to yell in the mic to be heard by someone who isn't right next to you, and on some servers it just straight up doesn't work.

It can "break my immersion" sometimes when I'm coordinating with people on the other side of the map, or on a different server, but it's not really a problem when we're in the same active group. And when I want to do the immersive experience, I don't play in a group in the first place, much less use TS or skype or anything.

I'm also not sure what major unfair advantage you claim it has over the current in-game chat, or the promise of radios. If there was a group going around talking, coordinating things, calling things out with direct, you wouldn't hear them unless you could spit on them anyways. The only thing I can think of would be overwatch or just overall spread out groups, but this would be the case with a private in-game radio channel also. I'd also doubt radios would be super rare with the way Rocket has been talking about SA, so by the time a squad would be PvP ready, they would probably all have radios by then.

If they can get radios to work well in standalone my opinion might change, but for now that's the way I see it. But even that won't matter as a game disallowing the use of 3rd party programs in a public game is a form of spyware, which is wrong.