I was so looking forward to SOEmote. I had such plans! Such dreams! The rousing speeches I would make to my guild, holding them enraptured as they hung on my every word, mesmerised by the subtle yet intensely meaningful wrinkling of my aquiline ratongan snout, inclined majestically against the lowering Freeport sky. The videos I would record and send out into the world, expounding ratongan philosophy and wisdom in my noble, if slightly squeaky tones.
For SOEmote I bought a webcam. A webcam with a built-in microphone, no less. With much swearing the webcam was made to work. With much more swearing the microphone, too. With swearing of truly heroic proportions both were made to work with SOEmote.
And what did it get me?
That's what.
Posts
I think it has a ways to go before it eclipses Mr. Ed.
ReplyDeleteI can do no more than quote the SOEmote website (yes, a feature that has its own website, SOEmote.com)
ReplyDelete"EverQuest II players will have this revolutionary feature. Other games in the SOE portfolio will soon follow. So get in-game and try out SOEmote for an unequalled immersive experience".
Be still, my beating heart.
LOL
ReplyDeleteOh my. I can only imagine the kinks they'll have to work out, what with having so many non-human races with very different facial structure.
I wonder what a Froglok looks like using this?
I've read that Froglok is about the best, which is why Smokejumper used it in the promo video.
ReplyDeleteI would rather juggle crocodiles than play a froglok so I'm not about to test the theory :P
Were you sneezing IRL in that last bit? That's what it looks like!
ReplyDelete@Pai If only! I have to gurn like the proverbial bulldog eating his wasp to get the thing to react at all, and then it does it on a delay that makes it look like I'm reporting from the moon.
ReplyDeleteHm... maybe it will work better if you use a headset microphone, because it's closer to the mouth and will be better at picking up your voice?
ReplyDeleteThen again, that would probably mess with the facial recognition.
The sad thing is, SOE's development cycle is more a development stone skimming: after release, the stone goes wherever, and if they mess up and it immediately sinks, they're not going to get their hands wet picking it up from the water. So I'm not holding my breaths for consistent improvements. :(
That is just wrong. At first I had my doubts about how this could make the game better, but eventually I came to understand how it can be fun and usable to a portion of the player base. Until I read your post. Even if it did work as intended something like this would need to work out of the box with little to no fiddling. Not everyone playing the game has the patience and know how to make it function as intended. Hope these are only teething problems and SOE manage to fix this.
ReplyDeleteWell, there is the possibility that the cheap webcam I bought isn't up to the job. Perhaps I should have bought a Sony model. But yes, if it's going to work it should just work or it won't get used.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, Mrs Bhagpuss and I can now talk to each other using EQ2's built-in voice chat instead of yelling between rooms. And I do like the little pictures of each character in the group window, even if the faces aren't doing want the player does.