Tactical use of Voice/FG Chat... is this even a thing?

[RolePlay]

So, I've noticed in the (relatively few) games I've been in that there are pretty varied uses of the multiple (often redundant) text/chat boxes.
At the least, crucial game information may be lost in the voice chat.
In the worst cases, people over-deliberate in the voice-chat, or there can be 20-30 negotiations about the legitimacy of a rule or a roll!

Enter FG's buried treasure of cool functionalities available in it's chat window!!!!
Character languages! Action descriptors! Is it the slightly HTML-esque syntax that intmidates people from using this functionality?
Perhaps there's a long-lost post with some preferred ways to structure the use of voice/FG chat/Discord chat!
Has there ever been a collaboration on how best to utilize these in game?

I wonder if it would be cool to organize it this way:

Voice Chat: Primarily for DM to narrate the game in real-time.alt= in-game conversation between a representative party member and Dungeon Master(i.e. DM asks Player 1 to roll something and the short conversations that come with the dice roll process.)
You should be able to play the game without a microphone, using only your speakers to hear the DM's narrations.
Multiple people on the mic should be discouraged at all costs.
Dungeonmaster should have priority use of mic during the game- perhaps only offering the mic to one PC at a time.
FG Chat DM Information: Basically the "text that appears in the grey boxes" in the module and in-character conversation using language tabs provided. (This of course can be a more advanced tactic for people with issues with typing... think of benefits of having conversations and in game details easily reviewed through the run of the game?!)
Discord/Teamspeak Text Chat: Deliberations between party members. Deliberations between DM and PC. If it creates a circumstance that affects the other players, or the game overall the Dungeonmaster would then relay this discovery made in a private message to the party.

[LordEntrails]

Here's what I do;
- I don't use Discord Chat during games. It's used for communication much like email. i.e. not real-time.
- I use FG Chat for things like room descriptions or significant findings etc. i.e. boxed text
- I use voice for everything, including room descriptions etc.

I think a lot of people don't use FG Chat because they don't spend the time to pre-type it prior to the game session. Most people find text too slow/challenging etc during a faced paced game.

Of course, some people run text only games...

[Zacchaeus]

I’m with LE. I don’t understand why you need another chat box when you are in FG. Discord runs behind my FG window so I woukdn’t see chat anyway.

[sciencephile]

This is what I do:

1. Discord for voice chat. I pretty much do voice chat exclusively at this time. I also bot sound from Syrinscape using the FG Sound Extension. I use it sparingly and for pretty much a few sound effects, such as when a character attacks. Occasionally, I will have an ambiance, such as grinding stone or even battle music when appropriate.
2. Chat box in Fantasy Grounds. I primarily use this for rolls though I will drop the room descriptions after I have read the descriptions. I polled my players. They like it when the description is read, followed by a chat story to follow-up with if they need to re-read later. I also use the chat box if something is in another language.
3. I don't have the problem of spending 20 minutes deliberating about the correctness of rules because I don't invite rules-lawyers into my games. The general rule is if a player thinks I messed up, let me know privately after the session. Unless that mistake means a TPK is eminent, then I tell them that this is the exception.

I used to do a FG text chat only game and while the emotes are cool people can roleplay via text a bit better than voice at times, the game does go slower. I ran one part of a story by text and it took 13 sessions. I ran that same part of the story for a different group using voice and it took 6.

Like the others, I have never heard of using any chat system outside of Fantasy Grounds*.

* The exception is using Discord for character role-play in-between game sessions as a way to get a little role-play in via Discord while waiting for the next week's game, particularly when the party is at a point where they need to brainstorm a solution. The method of RP'ing it between sessions in Discord does speed up the brainstorming downtime in-game.

In the end, I guess what system is used (text vs. voice) and how is just a matter of what a person is used to and prefers.

[shadzar]

I think a lot of people don't use FG Chat because

I will go further and say, lots of people that use FG or roll20, or MapToool, etc use the VTT as a virtual TABLETOP. Not a a video game. Even most online video games have voice chat now for communicating. with a RPG the text doesnt show emotion. That is a large loss in an RPG. The player can't show frustration with something in the game for themselves or their character so the DM can't change the game to fix something. the DM can't play the NPCs through text because you can't hear the tone or candor in their voices over text.

a VTT for many is just an electronic tabletop and glorified calculator. a digital whiteboard. This allows them to game "face to face" if using video, or even just voice. other wise chat only would be the same as if a game was started here in the forums as a "play by post" or in discord or there text software program.

if you want everything recorded for later, FG chat, roll20 chat, etc will never be able to offer that. People just like to play with their own voice when they can. it is just plain faster to say something than to type it.

if you want a record of your game after the fact, then record the audio with Audacity or OBS or something.

if you worry something from the DM will get missed due to a poor or dropped voice connection, just prerecord the "boxed text" so you can send the file out using DOE Sounds or whatever. play it through Discord, etc.

I can't tell you the number of people I have tried to get to do this. Now some prefer to do it live with the players, which is fine, but others forget, that if you are going to play online and use voice chat, you can prerecord your big things ahead of time to save you from having to talk so much during game time.

maybe i am just not understanding "tactical use of chat" if none of this is what you are talking about.

[The High Druid]

One of the reasons I like FG over the alternatives is that it has more of a tabletop feel, rather than looking like the front end of a database. You can pick up and roll the dice across the table, for example.

That in mind, I don't want to divorce my players anymore from that feeling than I have to, and banishing them to text chat, rather than using voice as they would around a real table, would not help with that. For me, text is for whispers, the equivalent of a note passed to the DM or another player.

[Blahness98]

Personally, I run text games. Yes it can be slower, but I have been running games for the same group of players for about four years now. The amount of RP that they do is incredible and contrary to what was said above, you can read the emotions and the feelings the characters and players are putting out. I run voice in the background for general chit chat and out of character BS, but everything in character is in FG text. I also run a discord and a neglected forum for other ways to get RP out there. I make sure that I as a GM have multiple ways of getting in contact with me availible. This works for me and my group, but I know it isn't always the case with other groups.

As I don't want to turn this into another Text vs Voice debate, I will get back on point. I feel any added boxes will only remove valuable screen real estate which could be used for other things. Voice can be record by OBS as was said earlier, char in discord can be complied and placed in a file with the FG chat log by the GM. There are probably some voice to text options out there that could even scribe what everyone is saying in voice and save it as so you can review it later. Does FG need these things? In my opinion, no. It should just continue to facilitate the playing of games for players the world over.

Does this mean you as a GM can't write the extension or the code to do it for your game? If you have the skill, go ahead it do it. Make that extension which improves the way you run your game. If it really works and you find it useful, post it on the forums and maybe others will as well. While it may not be useful for me, it could be useful for another GM.

Just my thoughts..

[Skillkoil]

I think voice is important, I think text has it's place as a support function. It allows us to check if everyone is ready to continue /vote action. It allows people to give info about briefly going AFK with /OOC function and then during gameplay you can have some language fun or send private messages to a player if only they notice something with a perception check. It also gives you the ability to paste important information that your players should probably take note of without having to spell out words for them, or repeat it several times over voice.

The majority of the communication should be in voice, all "IN Character" speech and descriptors. In fact if there was a simple way of having everyone's face up on the bottom or top of the screen so we could see facial expressions that would be ideal.(I am aware of using other software and OBS to accomplish this for streaming.)

I have seen text only games and they have their fun elements but they are excrutiatingly slow for my playstyle. I can see the reasoning for initially thinking, We can use discord and FG in tandem and strategically to handle all aspects of the game. But in practice it starts to fall apart. Just make sure that everyone is respectful of other players and people aren't talking over each other. I think you will have a positive experience.

Sorry I rambled a bit there...

Happy Gaming!

[mac40k]

I'm one of those people that uses FG as a VTT and just as I would never restrict players in a face-to-face game to writing and passing notes around the table, pretty much never use chat for anything other than looking at the results of die rolls. In fact, I have a tendency to not pay attention to the chat box in FG during RP heavy segments where dice aren't being thrown. If a player types IC dialog or other info into chat during these times, I'm more than likely not going to see it or at the very least, not see it at the point in time when it is relevant. As a GM, for gray box info like room descriptions, even with published adventures, I tend to paraphrase the info rather than expect people to read a wall of text in the chat window. If it is something that I want the players to continue to have reference to, I tend to copy/paste or write info text into Notes that can be shared with the players. That way they have access to them at any time in the current or even future sessions without having to resort to scrolling back through chat.

[Nyghtmare]

I'm totally with Blahness98.

I have been running text-only games in FG since the 4e days. We have no issues expressing emotions/feelings nor conveying anything else via text. Plus, to add, me and my players are not worrying at all about how long it takes to finish any particular adventures — we enjoy the journey, not the destination — so pacing doesn't matter in the least to us.

And yes, another chat box would be redundant in my opinion as well.

[Valyar]

During sessions we have single communication channel, which is voice. Chat is used by me as GM to send secret messages or things only for specific player's ears and by players who are not under the spotlight to discuss something so they don't interfere with the actual play.

No in-game talks happen in the chat, mostly meta-game and out of game talks and quite brief. The chat is for roll results :)

[RolePlay]

Personally, I run text games. Yes it can be slower, but I have been running games for the same group of players for about four years now. The amount of RP that they do is incredible and contrary to what was said above, you can read the emotions and the feelings the characters and players are putting out. I run voice in the background for general chit chat and out of character BS, but everything in character is in FG text. I also run a discord and a neglected forum for other ways to get RP out there. I make sure that I as a GM have multiple ways of getting in contact with me availible. This works for me and my group, but I know it isn't always the case with other groups.

As I don't want to turn this into another Text vs Voice debate, I will get back on point. I feel any added boxes will only remove valuable screen real estate which could be used for other things. Voice can be record by OBS as was said earlier, char in discord can be complied and placed in a file with the FG chat log by the GM. There are probably some voice to text options out there that could even scribe what everyone is saying in voice and save it as so you can review it later. Does FG need these things? In my opinion, no. It should just continue to facilitate the playing of games for players the world over.

Does this mean you as a GM can't write the extension or the code to do it for your game? If you have the skill, go ahead it do it. Make that extension which improves the way you run your game. If it really works and you find it useful, post it on the forums and maybe others will as well. While it may not be useful for me, it could be useful for another GM.

Just my thoughts..

I appreciate the sentiment of avoiding the exclusive "text-only" or "voice only". The main focus of the post was how to use text AND voice together to create the richest environment possible. I think your post raises a lot of great points and details a lot of the benefits of text chat.

[RolePlay]

During sessions we have single communication channel, which is voice. Chat is used by me as GM to send secret messages or things only for specific player's ears and by players who are not under the spotlight to discuss something so they don't interfere with the actual play.

No in-game talks happen in the chat, mostly meta-game and out of game talks and quite brief. The chat is for roll results :)

PLEASE consider inviting me to your next campaign. Your play-style sounds fantastic!