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Speaking in character: using voice-over-IP to communicate within MMORPGs

Published: 03 December 2007 Publication History

Abstract

While voice-over-IP has long been favoured as a communication medium by players of team-based online shooter games, it has recently also been appropriated by players of MMORPGs, and some recent MMORPGs have included voice facilities in the game software. However voice communication has provoked controversy among players and designers, some of whom believe that it is not suited to some of the communication tasks required in this genre of games, such as role-play, coordination of large groups, and interaction with strangers. Little research has been published on VoIP use in MMORPGs. We studied the use of voice by three groups playing Dungeons and Dragons Online and World of Warcraft over a period of three months. The players kept diaries, were interviewed individually, and participated in focus groups. We organized this data into themes which are presented here. We discuss our findings with regard to prior research into computer-mediated communication.

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Cited By

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  • (2019)Building and sustaining large, long-term online communitiesProceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games10.1145/3337722.3337760(1-12)Online publication date: 26-Aug-2019
  • (2017)Transferability of Voice Communication in Games to Virtual Teams Training for Crisis ManagementInternational Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development10.4018/IJSKD.20170101019:1(1-25)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2017
  • (2016)The Appeal of MOBA GamesProceedings of the 2016 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/2967934.2968098(313-325)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2016
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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences
IE '07: Proceedings of the 4th Australasian conference on Interactive entertainment
December 2007
174 pages
ISBN:9781921166877

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Publisher

RMIT University

Melbourne, Australia

Publication History

Published: 03 December 2007

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Author Tags

  1. CMC
  2. Dungeons and Dragons Online
  3. MMORPG
  4. VoIP
  5. World of Warcraft
  6. computer mediated communication
  7. media effects
  8. voice-over-IP

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  • Research-article

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IE07: Australian Conference on Interactive Entertainment
December 3 - 5, 2007
Melbourne, Australia

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Overall Acceptance Rate 64 of 148 submissions, 43%

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Cited By

View all
  • (2019)Building and sustaining large, long-term online communitiesProceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games10.1145/3337722.3337760(1-12)Online publication date: 26-Aug-2019
  • (2017)Transferability of Voice Communication in Games to Virtual Teams Training for Crisis ManagementInternational Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development10.4018/IJSKD.20170101019:1(1-25)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2017
  • (2016)The Appeal of MOBA GamesProceedings of the 2016 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/2967934.2968098(313-325)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2016
  • (2012)"Friendly, don't shoot!"Proceedings of the 24th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference10.1145/2414536.2414548(72-75)Online publication date: 26-Nov-2012
  • (2012)The effect of communication channel and visual awareness display on coordination in online tasksProceedings of the 2012 iConference10.1145/2132176.2132192(120-128)Online publication date: 7-Feb-2012

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