Aijul
ZionTCD
Legacy Rising
55
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Posted - 2012.07.19 00:32:00 -
[1] - Quote
Effective Communication for Players Without Microphones(This is a complitation of ideas in my thread here.)
While on the battlefield, effective communication with your team is crucial to forming any type of strategy or success. Currently, a problem with this is that text speakers have a disadvantage in communicating with the rest of the team. One must stop to pull up a screen in the NEOCOM, navigate to their squad, and then send a message. This is time consuming, and will most likely warrant you constant death.
I had an idea in where a "Quick Chat" prompt could be opened up immediately by pressing the Left D-Pad, immediately giving you access to the virtual keyboard to type your message to members of your squad.
In addition, messages you type should appear on the game screen followed by your player name, and displayed to all members of the team along with the NEOCOM. This way, all players can simultaneously see and read what is being typed without stopping to check the NEOCOM each time.
Since typing via the virtual keyboard is time consuming in itself, a set of basic messages or commands could be selected via another prompt for fast communication. These would be general commands such as:
- "Hello"
- "Get to point (X) "
- "Enemies ahead"
- "Help!"
- This command prompt could be brought up by pressing and holding the SELECT button (Similar to how one pulls up the Weapon Select Menu). Simply pressing SELECT would bring you to the NEOCOM chat as normal.
- The messages could possibly be displayed underneath the kill log/messages, or marginally above the right side of the player HUD for clear visibility.
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It might be best to solve this communication gap by establishing the option for both squad leader(s) and members to be able to see a hand signal or symbol (simplified, obviously, for the game) that can be selected quicker than opening up any typing interface...
This could be perhaps a handful of signals that appear visually to all members (or targetted to specific members) that would be something "roughly based on" typical "Arm-and-Hand Signals for Ground Forces" - a symbology which is used in over 80% military ground operations when speach is either impossible to understand or would be unwanted during a covert ambush.
An example would be from the U.S. Army Field Manual - (21-60) Visual Signs: ... "Arm-and-Hand Signals for Ground Forces"
Somehow simplifying/future-modernizing an implementation of some of the essential and basic symbols would help keep typing time down and allow better communication between everyone, regardless or whether they are shouting over a microphone, typing franticly, or simply feeling lost (and essentially not part of the game)...
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This is an excellent idea. I can think of several alternative ways -- alone or in combination -- to implement it. I'm sure there are others. When the player presses a key / button they get a signal list. When they pick one...
- the minimaps of their team show a transparent, colored field-of-view overlay of the signaling player with a symbol for the chosen hand signal in the cone.
- a separate window briefly pops up for their teammates showing the signaling player's character from the back with an over-the-shoulder view making the hand signal
- the player's character makes the hand signal
- there is an audible alert combined with a brief color change of the character's symbol on the minimap.
Or some combination of the above.
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