Tools of communication: Life is Feudal’s communication system

The importance of in game communication goes without saying. Can you imagine trying to get your message across without text, speech or body language? Impossible, so Life is Feudal features multiple types of chat.

Local chat

Local chat enables players within certain proximities to text chat one another. If you type a message into local chat, the text will appear above your avatar as well as the chat box. There are three different ranges of local chat, varying the distance your message can be seen from.

WHISPER is has the shortest range, only covering a few meters at most. Whispering is ideal if you want only those in close proximity to see what you are typing.

SAY has a moderate range, and is the most popular form of chat used in 3D MMO games. It enables anyone within 10 to 50 meters to see your text. This chat has great utility, and is used for miscellaneous social interaction in MMOG games.

SHOUT has the greatest range, covering an area greater than 100 meters. This chat should be used if you want as many people to hear your message as possible, but in most fun online MMORPG games fills a comedic role. Ideal for getting your Chuck Norris jokes out there.

Normal chat

Normal chat is a series of chat rooms that players can join, facilitating global communication. Life is Feudal’s chat rooms run from IRC chat servers, meaning they can be accessed outside of game as well as inside. Only players in the relevant chat rooms can read text inside it, and there are multiple types of chat rooms.

GUILD chat is a chat room that members of a order/realm can use to communicate. For example, the order called Elegance’s guild chat can only be entered by members of Elegance. More information on orders and realms at Orders and realms in online virtual worlds.

TRADE chat is a chat room that anyone can join. This chat rooms intended purpose is to enable players to buy and sell goods and services globally. WTB (want to buy), WTS (want to sell) and LF (looking for) are just a few terms used frequently in the top ten MMORPG trade chats.

GLOBAL chat can be joined by players in that chat rooms associated region. It is more accurate to think of it as a regional chat room, rather than a global one. Hypothetically, if you were in Toronto, you could join Toronto’s global chat room. But if you were in New York, you couldn’t join Toronto’s chat room, but instead would join New York’s chat room. This is just an example to get you comfortable with how global chat rooms operate.

PRIVATE chat, unlike the other chat rooms, is player created and moderated. Anyone can create and moderate a private chat room. It enables you to communicate ONLY with those you wish to see what you are typing.

Voice chat

No voice chat will be featured in Life is Feudal, as the logistics concerning it cannot be accommodated by the current staff and budget. Perhaps it will be integrated at a later time, but until then players should use third party voice chat programs. Some recommendations have been made by this author. Orders and realms should invest in a permanent Teamspeak, Ventrilo or Mumble server.

SKYPE - The most popular voice chat program in the world. Skype has a few great pros and cons, biggest being that it’s free. It doesn’t use servers, instead linking peer to peer, which is ideal for for small groups. Skype’s high definition audio while clear, strains bandwidth considerably. Avoid Skype if you have a slow connection or limited bandwidth.

A big con is how user unfriendly Skype is for new users. This author still hasn’t figured out how to set push-to-talk, but is still recommended for gamers new to voice chat. Find out more at http://www.skype.com.

TEAMSPEAK - Teamspeak has a good balance of audio quality, user friendliness and server size. Another great feature: you can host your own 8 slot Teamspeak server for free. Teamspeak is this author’s personal favorite. Find out more at http://www.teamspeak.com/.

VENTRILO - Similar to Teamspeak, Ventrilo is somewhat easier to setup and moderate than Teamspeak. Great customizability, but has the worst audio of all the recommended voice programs. This author’s close second. Find out more at http://www.ventrilo.com/.

MUMBLE - Best  quality audio of all voice chat programs. Biggest drawback of Mumble is that it’s very user unfriendly, and is difficult to setup and moderate. Never used it personally, but many friends give it accolades. Find out more at http://www.mumble.com/.

Forums

Forum refers to any website with message boards, where users can post messages. Forum’s are great places to visit if you want to talk about anything related to that forum’s subject. Visit the Life is Feudal forum at http://lifeisfeudal.com/forum/

In summary, Life is Feudal features local chat and normal chat rooms, as well as hosting a forum. No voice chat is featured, so you will have to use a third party program.