EVE General Discussion

The microphone thing is a bigger deal than many realize.

Those of us who are in the older gamer demographic (35+) where games didn't involve voice coms when we started playing and now have families... dealing with comms is something that is not as easy to accept as many want it to be.

When my main was looking for a corp after returning I put up the fact I wanted to get out of high sec but not be in a corp that required voice comms. I literally got 30 messages from corps recruiting telling me I was an idiot for not wanting to use a microphone.

I ended up joining one that was okay with not having me on voice comms... but even with that I can't take part in a lot of alliance activities because of that.

I think many fail to realize how many of us people who were around at the dawn of MMO's are still around but can only play for a few hours each night with the sound turned off (to not wake up a spouse or child). I know it's a futile wish... but i do wish the voice comm thing wasn't such a central part of group play on most MMO's (especially eve).

I have been in sov holding alliances for a big chunk of the years I've been playing and unless you are an FC or somebody "important" in the alliance talking on comms was not that common. I would often not talk because others in the house were asleep...was hardly an issue. And if listening to the FC is s problem: headsets people...headsets.

BoB/GBC and later IT Alliance and Goons provide support for deaf players. I know I used it when my headset crapped out once and was waiting for the replacement. It does rely on other players with headsets typing FC commands. Not perfect, but player groups are trying....

You're right that it's not realistic. Voice comms are by far the most efficient way to communicate commands in a fleet engagement, so not using them would be a disadvantage. Telling people you are deaf would mean some do-gooder is wasting his time relaying commands for your needy self.

People who refuse to use comms without a good reason are considered untrustworthy and annoying.

Sounds like you're lacking in self confidence and motivation and expect others to do the work for you.

The problem with your idea, as you observed, is that it would require CCP to change the fundamental nature of EVE. If you posted that ad right now, anybody who responded would more likely kill you than protect you because nobody wants to protect a bunch of nobody wormhole farmers for free. Joining a corp is about establishing a trustworthy reputation and meeting other people you can depend on for things like that.

You're in no position to be picky. The "perfect" corp for you is one that will tolerate your presence.

Spat some of my drink out. Kudos

Alpha clones allow player to stay in touch with the game, but don't really do anything to lure them back into subbing again. Instead, ccp should have allowed players to use all ships spicing things up, keeping and / or placing current / other limitations such as 95% reduction in bounties and LPs, unable to skill anything else, market skills would be limited, implants would have limited use, jump fatigue bonuses inactive, double the fuel cost for jump capable ships, etc.
Flying cruisers can be fun, but re-using blops and caps might be a turning point for old players.

Also ccp could use alpha state to test some approaches, such as limited use of covops cloak (timer) to avoid perma eyes in a system. From test server to tranquility, alpha could be a useful tool , mediating changes in a manner that acts as a bridge between design and actual implementation. Its not all sour grapes for alphas, depends how ccp uses them.

Which is why I'm not part of your corporation.

See? I'm not bothering you, you're not bothering me. But don't whine that players like me aren't joining the part of the game you think we should. Voice comms in video games was not a thing until relatively recently (last 10-15 years). Some of us old farts aren't interested and it is a barrier for entry to a lot of things.

I still enjoy the game. I am still part of a corporation and I still PvP... I just do it solo in FW complexes in Low sec instead of in alliance fleets in null. I likely could be somewhat helpful in those fleets... but I don't want to take part in voice comms so I don't participate.

Sorry if that annoys you.

Voice comms mostly became a thing when large group cooperative game play became a thing because people realized it's much easier to tell someone to do something than it is to type. Typing a command to someone else essentially mean you stop doing your own job because you would still need your hands for that and usually take more time than just saying the exact same word. Any competitive group will want to have better communication. Why some people would rather stay in the "stone age" of comms and still type stuff is a mystery to me.