Typing notification for players

[kurozael 22]

I think it would be awesome if when a player was typing a message (aka their chatbox is open) then some text like "Typing..." or "Speaking..." would appear above their head in-game.

This allows players to realize when other players are speaking or typing. Sometimes you might not recognize that somebody is trying to speak to you and just walk off - or shoot them.

Of course this should only happen in Direct Communication.

Or perhaps you could have different messages like:

Direct Communication: Speaking...

Anything Else: Typing...

[unsobill 0]

too ICQ like :D

[Bandit Hunter 29]

I personally don't want any additional immersion breaking UI. I'm not sure how to handle this one. Moving lips would be nice, but from a distance it'd be just as worthless.

[kurozael 22]

I don't think it'll particularly break immersion... if anything it aids in it. It's not like it'd be clunky UI, just a simple one word above their head when they're speaking.

[Mangler 0]

Jedi Knight Academy (and I think Quake 3) had this feature, and it was a real drag. Eventually behavior developed around it to where it was expected you would not shoot when the chat bubble was up. This lead to people stopping to chat in the middle of a battle and raging when you killed them anyway. Sometimes you would get kicked/banned for it. "No chatkillers."

There's a good mod for JKA, and if I recall the mod makers were discussing the removal of that feature because it had become such an obstruction and so much controversy developed around it.

[griffinz 2817]

just move to a safe place before typing

[ElemenoP 60]

I, for one, don't want a giant "shoot me" bubble appearing over my head when I'm typing.