Destiny’s Problem – Social Game with No Communication

The biggest concern in the Destiny beta is the communication between players in Destiny. John of Mars on the bungie forums explains some of the issues with the in-game voice chat and combat-related gestures in the Destiny beta.

[nope111]

A chatbox would be nice.

[Volkama]

Those aren't so slick when you have a controller in your hand.

[UnHoly_One]

I guess they could use the companion app for text chat, but that would still be pretty unintuitive in the middle of a firefight.

[Blasphemy]

"Social Game with No Communication" This makes no sense to me in this day and age. It's 2014 not 2004. Come on Bungie!

[MechaGear]

Connect Headset. Problem solved.

[creatchee]

What kinda made me mad, and I'm not sure if it was a glitch or what, is that on Xbox One, I could only chat with my party (who were still downloading) if I kept the party app snapped on my screen. The second I unsnapped, I got muted and couldn't hear them. It didn't boot me out or anything - it just cut my communications. When I resnapped, it was like I never left.

Hopefully it was a glitch, but if it's intentional, I think it's a horrible idea.

[Johnsonparts23]

@MechaGear that doesn't solve anything. If you knew what the actual problem was you would say that. You can only talk to people in your fireteam. So unless you add people to your fireteam or join someones you can't talk to them.

[buttclown]

@creatchee
That also happened to me and my 2 buddies playing. We had to go in-game chat for it to work. When you are in a fireteam that is. Don't know why the party system wouldn't work.

[Jdoki]

@creatchee & buttclown

I had this problem in a Fireteam tonight.

A solution I read online...(although I didn't have chance to test this):

Everyone you want in your FireTeam needs to quit out of the Destiny Beta entirely.

Then start a party chat,

THEN open Destiny.

Apparently this solves the issue with having to have the Party Chat snapped all the time.

No idea if it works, but I've seen a few posts saying it does (and a few less saying it doesn't!)

Hopefully Bungie / MS will sort this between them before the full release. It's pretty annoying.

[MechaGear]

@Johnsonparts, yes, absolutely perfect! A (usually mandatory) chatbox would ruin it for me. More emotes would be welcome though. See http://n4g.com/news/1554701...

[DeadlyFire]

Maybe if keyboard in lap.

[Clown_Syndr0me]

I find this with all games now. Ever since party's were bought to Xbox 360, and now theyre on PS4.
Before parties I used to meet new people all the time as we would all use game chat, and now if you use fame chat you are greeted with nothing but silence as nobody uses it.

I also don't understand why games don't have keyboard chat. The new consoles support keyboards, and it would fit perfectly in games like BF4 and Destiny. BF4 already has a chat box.

Party's made gaming so much less social, half the time it doesn't even feel like youre playing with other people anymore.

IMO, online games should force game chat. Sure you get annoying people but that's what mute is for. Save party's for single player.

[pompombrum]

I miss the old social experiences. I remember playing Halo 3 back before Reach came out, I'd always have fun playing Saturday and Sunday mornings UK time as I'd always end up playing with drunk Americans and it was so much fun over mic.

[iliimaster]

i know exactly how you feel i have been saying this for years xbox live parties killed xbox live once in a while you will hear people with mics talking but usually nothing coming from before they made it possible there is a huge difference in experience now i remember early mornings playing gears against UK people man those were the days trash talking was the best

[Volkama]

I like the idea of forcing game chat, but it would be difficult to implement.

I propose a voting system, whereby the game will prompt a particular user to "tell a joke" or "say something clever", and other players in the game get to vote on whether they were successful. If you do not get enough positive responses... title screen. Maybe a 3 day ban.

Just to clarify, I am aware that this is not what you were getting at all. It is just a bit too warm in my office and my brain is being weird.

[Tetsujin]

I haven't tried talking in-game so I can't comment on the issues with it; what I can say is we talk through x game chat. My biggest concern is actually meeting someone worth communicating with in game however you would have to filter through the trolls and people that "slept with your mom."

Combat related gestures I do agree with, especially since I know some people who are very limited on communication through headset, and having that option will make things easier.

[amnalehu]

It at least needs proximity chat. There were so many times when I found a hidden ghost or loot box and wanted to tell some random person where it was but had no way to do so.

[Acadius]

I like players such as yourself because I do the same thing in game that have rare items. I wouldn't be surprised if proximity voice chat comes at launch.

[Clown_Syndr0me]

Most people wouldn't be able to hear you anyway because everyone just sits in party's.

[spektical]

killzones 2 proximity chat was just fantastic. Hearing enemies and other team members was awesome. sometimes you had to go radio silence in those clan battles when you hid in radec academy lol

[Ozmoses]

I mean find a friend or two.. make a fireteam... problem solved...

or let's say you got 6 ppl... create a party chat on PSN and use that to talk...

[Johnsonparts23]

I agree this is a problem. I think they need to make muting people EXTRemely easy but make it so you can hear your whole team right off the bat. If someone gets annoying, one button and they're muted. I hope they change this.

[FullmetalRoyale]

I love the party chat system. I love that when my buddy and I switch games we don't have to lose communication until we get the other game up and running. I also love not hearing anyone else in BF4, ever.

"There are two great tragedies in this life. Not getting what you want. And getting exactly that."

The reason I put that quote up there is because although I love the filtration of other voices, I met my best friend/roommate through MW2. It was the first time I had ever used a headset(I crappy usb one, that was like what a phone operator would use in the 50's) and it was also not only the first online game I ever played, but the first shooter I had ever actually bought.

If it were not for the ability to hear all of those ragers and griefers, I would not have ever met my best friend. He and I sometimes talk about how crazy it is that we met. Of all of the millions of people playing, at any moment of time, all of the teams of all of the maps, we happened to both be there at that place and time.

I cherish our friendship. He is one of the most important people in my life. All thanks to voice chat in-game.

While it obviously(party chat) has it's perks in Destiny, it sucks for people that maybe don't have a best friend to play games with. Or even more selfishly, it perhaps denies me the opportunity to meet more great people.

I hate the idea that some younger gamer, perhaps this is his first console, gets isolated from the community because everyone else already has their own thing going on.

That's just my long-winded opinion though.

[SilentNegotiator]

"Social game"? It's a shooter with chat limited to certain groups, it's not really a "social game".

[AgentSmithPS4]

I hate when games have no easy way for you to meet other people with mics that want to work together (like BF4). How hard is it to do something simple like have an option that you check that says "group me with people that want to meet other mic users." Sometimes if not a single squad has a mic user I'll switch teams and give them hell ;).

Working with other people has a better chance of giving you more points, dying less, get annoyed less often when 5 enemies kill you and no friendly is in sight, getting ammo, winning, etc. Parties can be ok depending on the people and if they're actually playing the same game as you.

[Voozi]

I love the game but this is the biggest pet peeve of mine :/

If someone is annoying you...well...that's what the mute button was built for

[its_JEFF]

Has anybody been able to chat with anyone in the Crucible? I haven't heard a single person. I need to be able to verbally tell my team members that it was "my bad" or "Sorry guys" Maybe I'm not just use to it, but I'm kinda sucking at the PvP stuff right now.