Player Chat System

* See also Game_Mechanisms
* See also Game_of_this_type_-_Difficulties
* See also Interfaces
In-Game Communications Between Players 
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A MMORPG is NOT supposed to be a Mostly-SOLO game in an Open World. Effective Communications between MMORPG Players is fundamentally needed.
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Chat Interface Ideas ( Aspect of Inter-Player Communications ):
* Voice Partyline - Small Player selected group of other Players -  ( Common in games now within a short list of Players )
* Small Radio Voice over short distance ( they HAD 'Walkie-Talkies' in WW2 ...  Only one person talking at a time on a radio channel ).   Radios seem to be common enough ( technology-wise ) so that goes straight to a Player's Avatar from another Player. ( Features like : Pointing-Out another Player off the Players View or Selecting off a List to initiate a Radio Conversation )
* Public Open area Sound/Voice - Situations with too many (potential) Senders and Receivers ( requiring mixing with subsets Server load )     
** Close Vicinity (high quality) with quality drop over distance fading into ambiance ( to do a step-wise handling of the audio mixing load )
** Higher game connection bandwidths in future will help   *** TV face image not impossible - even better if Avatars can have Players face pasted on them in '3D'
* Text Form ?  Voice text bubble above the figure at a distance ( at least for NPCs or if voice recognition/synthesis used for Players ). Having to constantly 'look down' at a Chat Box kinda is a Player Distraction when other things are happening. Typing of Messages, likewise.
* General directed text messaging  - with the usual Channels possible -- But is that 'proper' for the game ?? ( It is not practical in a fast moving game situation )
* Telegram/Mail deliveries of text/diagram messages within the City.  ( Radio Telegraph McClendon product ? Era Mechanism done with a Scrolling line of Alphabetic Nixie Tubes )
* Out-of-game for Private Comm - Text or Voice ( It really can't be stopped, so THAT communications will not be blocked in any case. )   Feature App Assists/Helps to coordinate/facilitate Players getting set up to 'play in a group', and getting together to interact ( something you really want for the game ).
* Announcements over the Public Sound System ?  "Jack Sparrow, Please pick up the Courtesy Phone ..." ( I have hopes for VASTLY improved speech synthesis for generated game content ).
* New Players don't yet have many of the various handy comm-tool things from their start. They have to work thru getting them and learning how to use them (tutorials ...).  Effective communication is a significant tool for the inhabitants of Rapture ...
* Voice Recorded Email Messages (to minimize typing)
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Likelihood of Talking to an NPC ??? :
Voice Recognition and Good Voice Replication may be possible by the time THIS MMORPG ever got made.
That would be a good AI project - not just the voice manipulation, but Proper Context Driven Interpretation Reaction of the NPCs. Cliche phrases and communications would be first ( better than nothing and certainly expandable ). 
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OF COURSE, USEFUL FOR TESTING :
The 'Many Eyes and Many Hands' Tools are needed to help the Players do their part in developing this MMORPG game.
Comment logging audibly could be useful - including MARKING situational things within a 'Test Server' ( and possibly the production Servers ) - Snapshots and being Quickly able to be recorded and run for Playback ( while demonstrating the problem and with game data being logged ).
Definitely useful in the 'BEFORE BEING PUBLISHED "Vetting Process". 
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CONFLICT ( If there is a voice control interface to the game );;; :
A 'Push to Talk' (button) might be required so the system could differentiate between commands to the voice recognition and to other Players ( a 'Push and Hold' perhaps, and likely a toggling of reversing the toggle for 'Push To Interface' )
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