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Proximity voice chat for DBD to balance SWF and buff solo queue
Please remain civil and read the post before posting a comment. I am going to talk about how proximity chat probably would help balance SWF and buff solo queue while talking about the obvious problems with it.
After thinking about it for a while, I realized just how unfair SWF on comms using discord or some other voice chat system can be. I mean, this is a 1v4 game (asymmetrical) where two sides compete to win (even though you can't really "win" in this game). However, one side has 4 people against one person and also has perfect communication because of voice chat. Imagine if the killer had something that let them know where all survivors were, imagine how unfair THAT would be, but it is the other way around times 4. Not even getting into how meta perks for survivors stack or other variables.
People have made arguments saying that "We should just deal with it and git gud" or "It really is not that bad". But it is, it is that bad. Maybe not always, but the fact that it can happen and does happen says something is wrong here. The fact that it does happen drives even more people away from the game, it pushes them over the edge so they just uninstall which is unhealthy for the game.
Proximity chat and why it is actually not a bad idea (one of the best ones I have heard honestly)... but of course the obvious problems with it
Proximity voice chat just in general (so also for solo queuing survivors) would allow effective communication that isn't unfair but still useful.
So what is stopping this from being in-game?
- Incredibly toxic players
- Third-party systems (discord voice chat)
- BHVR - They would probably say something like "It would ruin the immersion in the game" even though people use voice chat normally which doesn't exactly keep you immersed. They also have yet to fix sound among other things.
The most pressing issue with it are incredibly toxic players. Some people who play this game are already "disrespectful" to say the least in endgame chat alone, imagine voice chat in-game. Mentally unstable people and children are at most risk to being affected by this. I could handle being yelled at by a 23-year-old adult for playing the game a certain way (I mean this has happened in other games before lol), but could an 11-year-old or person with depression? A work around for this would be to disable this feature, have a mute button for certain players, and an indicator showing if someone has it turned on. Even then, I am still a little nervous about this being in game because I worry for others. I mean just look at how people are when playing RUST, I'm sure you have seen the videos on youtube. The levels of toxicity in this game rival RUST, and like I have said before that is saying A LOT.
Third-party systems such as discord's voice chat could just work around this, I am unsure if there is a fix for this (I'm pretty sure there isn't). People could just use discord and completely avoid the in-game voice chat entirely. I mean it is a pretty simple solution.
BHVR is pretty slow when it comes to updates, especially ones that balance issues. I doubt they would be on-board with creating proximity voice chat especially when they have yet to fix sound just in general along with sound bugs. They would have to fix and refine the sound in this game and then implement a whole proximity voice chat system. They have also said in the past that it would ruin the immersion of the game (correct me if I am wrong about this statement).
I think that BHVR should at least test a proximity voice chat system in a PTB. They could then maybe update the reporting system so any people being toxic could be reported and dealt with. Anyone who doesn't want to use it doesn't have to, it could be dealt with by muting people in the esc menu. It would also be a very fun feature to use assuming people aren't being toxic.
If there are any other really good ideas out there I am unaware of, then go ahead and comment it.
Comments
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I'm not saying voice-chat is what killed Friday, the 13th, but it definitely helped contribute to its demise. While proximity voice chat would most likely be the only way to truly bring solo players to the level of SWF, I'm 100% confident that it would only create more toxicity and causing people to quit the game. As you pointed out, I wouldn't want to get yelled at by some 11yo kid who isn't supposed to play this game in the first place, or get cursed out for playing stealthy as survivor or campy as killer.
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I would love it. I just want a way to disable each person, too. Also, I better be able to talk to the killer :D Would love to talk smack while looping XD or tell the killer to stop chasing me, I bruise like a banana! lol. Would make the games even better. Just picture getting hook camped then singing kumbiya to the killer XD
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I would love it. I just want a way to disable each person, too. Also, I better be able to talk to the killer :D Would love to talk smack while looping XD or tell the killer to stop chasing me, I bruise like a banana! lol. Would make the games even better. Just picture getting hook camped then singing kumbiya to the killer XD
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Regarding what you get most of the time from post game chat, I would say I hate ingame voice chat. I can imagine how it could help the game, but I can also imagine how it could kill the game for me.
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They should just make a test weekend with proximity chat.
If it doesnt work, its gone again but if not, it can stay.
I enjoyed the chat in F13.
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Can’t wait to have everybody muted instantly. I don’t play DBD to hear people talking shite.
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If they ever brought in chat (which I hope they never do) I doubt you’d be able to speak with the killer. Imagine how many people would tell the killer where other teammates are. It would make the game a nightmare to play.
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I’d rather not be called homophobic slurs in game like f13 tyvm
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I'd rather not have racial slurs hurled at me by angry 12 year olds while I'm trying to loop the killer
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Also to add to my previous comments, I don’t see how voice chat would help me, who’s a solo player. How does having teenagers playing music down the mic help me? Or being shouted at in a foreign language? Or somebody trying to dictate to me how I should play the game? I’ve only had a few scenarios where I’ve met nice people over mic. The majority of people that go on mic during online games are the biggest wastes of oxygen you can find. I just don’t see how or why this is needed.
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You gotta admit though, would be really funny if they lose your ######### while looping them.
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I'll pass on listening to some 13 year old brat shouting out racial slurs thanks. Even if I can disable it like with Friday the 13th I'd still have to hear them first before knowing they needed muting.
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i think there are better ways to buff solo. i would hate that so much.
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If you want to make solo better, why not just have more specific emotes instead? Like, we only have point and come. Why can't we have one that means "heal me" or "danger" or "I got this." there are so many they could add. Hell, give survivors their own scream button. Would be funny as fk smashing that during a chase
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I don't think a proximity voice chat is a good idea in my opinion mainly because of how annoying it would be for the players. I feel a better system to help is something like in white noise 2 that is really balanced for both players. The seekers would have a set chat system in which the characters themselves would speak and tell them things like "the monster is near" or "I hear a tape" (That's the objectives). Thia could work against them as it would sometimes give the location of the seeker. In dbd the survivors would speak out saying lines like "I'm on a gen" or "please help me" to communicate to other survivors. I think this is the route they should go.
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Exactly this. Proximity chat wouldn't buff solo-queue much, if at all. It would be exactly the same except instead of peace, you'd get something like:
"I'm working on gens!"
"Who cares, [insert racial slur]."
Most strong SWF teams are strong partially because they know and can rely on each other to communicate.
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Thats why I said I would like a mute button also and its proximity, not map wide. Maybe 7 meters away proximity chat but yeah, didn't think about teammates telling on others'.
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It was the same with FT13. It was rare to find other counsellors that actually wanted to be civil and just play the game. It was either people being homophobic / racist or them telling you how to play the game without actually knowing how to play it lol.
People already find ways to be incredibly annoying without a mic. Just imagine how much worse it’d be with.
I feel like I’d die so much as I’d be too busy arguing with people. 😂
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That's what the mute button would be for.
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That's what a mute button would be for.
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I usually stay away from games with voice chat for this exact reason, lol. Sure, I could always mute everyone, but then I'd be put at a disadvantage because I'm either a) missing call outs or b) getting sandbagged for not responding. There's also just the fact that some people have disabilities or other barriers that can affect communication.
Pretty sure that adding any form of voice chat to this game would alienate those of us who were drawn to this game because there was no voice chat. I certainly wouldn't have purchased this game if voice chat was available, and I definitely would quit if it was added.
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Most agree to help bridge the gap between solo and SWF more info is needed. In-game voice or expanding on emotes is the only way I see of doing it.
The opposition to it points out the abuse it can open up, often from experience from other games. All very possible unfortunately. Avoidable? Prolly not.
But here's the way I see it: can't stop comms; can't remove or split off SWF, won't debuff them either.
Given all this, what else is there to do?
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Sounds like a good idea at first, but yeah - the toxicity would likely ruin it complete. Already today I've had three rounds where a teammate actively tried to get another teammate killed. Voice chat with them? I think not.
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Pls no Voice Chat. I would mute all before the flaming, crying and whining starts. Also I really don't need a chat on console...
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What about written chat with command? Instead of typing yourself, you bind a key for an automatic message: "I go for the save", "I'm on a generator", etc.
But I could see it abused too. Someone telling they go for the save when they actually don't. Or someone telling "I'm in a chase", but doing something else.
If there was a voice chat, I would mute everyone and myself, and miss the point of having one. And I would cut the end game chat not to be insulted because I didn't hear a teenager yelling what to do during the game.
I think there are tons of Discord where we can find people if we want voice chat. I play solo for the experience too. And this experience is muted.
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That's a good idea. Shortcuts for in-game notification for others, like I save this guy or killer is following me. Behavior should look on the VGS from Smite. This work really well.
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Yeah I really love hearing people screaming in the mic.
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I do play quite a lot of games that have voice chat, but I usually just make a party chat for myself and change the settings so that nobody can hear me and I can’t hear them lol. The thing I find most alarming is how many people just assume you’re sat listening to them and don’t have them muted? As I’ve had people message me in the past asking why I did something when they told me not to and it’s like ??? Why would I want to sit and listen to you speaking whilst I’m trying to play?
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To be honest, even if proximity chat was enabled, SWF groups would still be using the more powerful third party chat services like Discord and such.
Personally, I just love to play solo, anyway.
I don't want my game ruined by listening to other people talking out of their butts and slurring the whole game. It would just give the community way too many more chances to be overly toxic.
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There is one really big problem with that solution. Swf has still an advantage. So adding proximity voice chat would not end the complaints about swf.
Then we have the problem with balance. It is a buff but like you said there are many reasons not to use it. So should killers be buffed accordingly or not? Do we make it for killer harder or for the survivor who dont want to use it?
So i think a solution for the difference between swf and solo needs to have two things to work: it must be for everyone and it needs to be comparable to discord.
So i think a ping-system, voice lines etc are better bc you dont need to use a mic. So 90% will use it. (In Apex legends almost everyone uses it) And it needs to be mapwide. Proximity voice is a clear downgrade to discord.
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Kindred being basekit would be the better option, voice proximity chat would more than likely lead to more toxicity.
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I'm gonna make a macro that just plays the Benny Hill theme song over mic whenever I get in a chase.
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Damn it to all hell I want this! Yet another thing we consolers cannot have....
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They literally did voice chat for a bit a long time ago. It was such a sh!t show that they got rid of it.
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So........
Screw those console gamers, they already get no endgame chat, we'll give the PC users the ability to communicate cross map during matches and the ability to say GG or scold teammates after the trial, but we need to segregate the consoles and give them no ability to communicate whatsoever, also they can't even use discord on console so they'd have to use a separate device if they were gonna even try to remotely close that gap to PC players... What a crock of expletives, either figure something real out or we need to ABOLISH SWFs, because this expletive is exactly why we have so few killers, and queue times are so long...
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Yeah it will be fun being called the F word, The N word, or being told my mother should die, because I didnt save someone from the hook right away lol. Sorry but anyone can dress up in game chat anyway they like, but I just can't agree it's a good idea for DBD. The only people that would actually use in game chat would be nasty people lol I'd stick it party chat
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No. Absolutely not. Negative. Negatory. Nope. No way. No chance. No how. Naaaah.
This is a very bad idea.
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This just cements what I've held in form belief for pretty much most of my time playing dbd, it's not the games balance that's the issue, it's the people who play/abuse it.
Proxy chat would be a great idea to balance swf and solo and it would overall make sense, communicationing with nearby teammates etc while removing long range comms so people can't just tell the others what the killer is doing half way across the map.
But like many have said, toxicity is the issue. Giving people on the Internet the means to voice there opinions in game or in a chat will often lead to more bad than good. So it's difficult, give people the benefit of the doubt and hope things work out? Or decide the risk is too great and not implement it.
Besides, since it doesn't stop third party apps its unlikely that people will use Ingame comms to actually do anything productive.
As much as I support the idea as a concept, it needs refining before it can be implemented without being a detriment to the game.
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No just no I don't think this is a good idea the bass outweigh the goods im sorry
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There wouldn't be anything to prevent people using third party tools still, so they'd have no reason to use this.
I'd wager it wouldn't work crossplay either, so for my friends and I, who are half-Playstation half-PC, we wouldn't be able to use it anyway.
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on eu servers i wouldnt be able to understand anyone. not to mention the amount of kids ######### their microphone mid game, i mean just use fortnite squads as an example
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If you made everyone the obsession (notification for chases) made aftercare/bond/kindred basekit you'd close the gap instantly between swf and solo's the problem with that is killer would be incredibly frustrating and balancing would be way harder after that
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