Add a Zone chat?

Now that Local chat is really local, would it be possible to add in a Zone wide chat? The game feels a lot emptier without an in game general chat.

 

I don't know about others here, but personally I like that its local-only -- it makes it feel more like a real world. Of course, there's nothing wrong with whispering (IM) to people you know, but that's more of a player-directed activity.

I think it would be cool though for players to be able to make a sound in a hex, like with a moot horn, and if necessary, this would let others know there was something going on.



And of course, war horns / hunting horns too, for PvP play.

 

I think it would be awesome to have an area wide chat you could turn on or off in one of your chat tabs. If something isn't provided in game, most players will use some form of out of game chat (like we did with ICQ when UO was new), but these days it would be Skype, TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, Steam, etc. It would be great to have this in game so everyone can use it and it doesn't become isolated pockets of global chat that have to be found outside of game.

 

Yea but you'll be able to whisper to anyone you want over the chat interface, which will be like IM.

Some players will still choose to want to join group chat like IRC. But -- in my opinion, anyway -- you want to avoid that in game, because generally what it will mostly involve is people helping each other get through the game and notifying people of events that you wouldn't normally be able to know about in the game world. That's okay, I just don't know that the game should facilitate it.

And for finding party members, I think the best thing to do is encourage people to go into taverns.

That's just my view anyway.

 

Today - I went to the tavern and sat there trying to listen to people's conversations ... I could hear one player but not others - I eventually moved to sit outside to listen to folks speak to one another

It was a nice experience ... no chat overload - or people using chat to troll

I'm all for local chat / whether something "more global" is needed I think it may come down to how polluted our in game world will be ... but the more "local" system the better for me

(makes me want to look around in the town to find people - that's good in my eyes - it encourages me to meet new face to face - things that I don't generally do in MMO's)

 

@Margard,

Yea, I think if someone wants to find party members, they should be encouraged to go into taverns to find people. That encourages role-playing.

 

The horn idea is awesome ... maybe there can be one in the middle of town - that people could use to make announcement

 

It does feel quieter w/o zone chat. Horn idea sounds fun.

I think it would be cool if within certain areas as more people enter area specific ambient crowd noises start and rise. Then a busy market square could sound busy with bartering and when empty sound empty. A busy tavern should be filled with clinking, washing, pouring, and chattering. Emotes could factor into it, when someone claps the crowd noise could start to sound more like applause.

 

I don't miss a zone chat... I think we'll be fine with private messages, party- and guild chats. We could have something like /yell to reach even further than normal talking, but then again I don't know if it's necessary.

 

I vote NO to zone/global chat; I like the need to actually visit people to chat with them.