Why Riot should never implement voice chat
By Josh Tyler
3. It will make it easier for players to be toxic
Many players insist that adding voice chat will reduce toxicity, as it is harder to flame other players if you can hear their voice as opposed to just talking to a nameless, faceless, text bot. Ignoring the fact that, as stated above, certain types of players like females will receive disproportionately more flame, this argument makes no intuitive sense.
At present, text chat requires the player to actively stop using the keyboard for gameplay to type out their message. If a player does not want to risk stopping his champion’s action to type a flaming message, he will be forced to suppress those feelings. This consideration likely halts some players from sending flaming messages to their teammates.
By contrast, as many successful streamers have shown, it’s quite easy to keep playing the game while talking. If there is no cost to talking to your teammate, it will be much easier to verbally abuse and harass them.
This is because audio reactions in a MOBA context are easier to express than textual (i.e. you’re more likely to swear aloud when dying than to type after dying). Giving players the freedom to do so only invites further toxicity.
In addition, major studies have found that toxicity over voice is more harmful to player performance than text speech. In a 2017 study done by the University of Oulu, researchers found players generally had a “moderate” negative response to verbal toxicity on their in-game flow (ability to continue to perform game functions normally), while they only had a “slight to none” negative response to text chat toxicity. This makes sense because, as most of the participants noted, it’s easier to mute or ignore the text than ignore verbal toxicity.
One only needs to cursory google search to find all the threads that exist out there of Overwatch, Dota, or CS:GO players complaining about the problems of voice chat. Articles have been written about whether it’s worth it to endure the abuse just to play the game they enjoy.
Popular streamers and Youtubers like Ragtagg, Cliff Terios, Sky Williams, and Mioskii have all weighed in to say that toxicity is a big reason for their not enjoying Overwatch as much due to toxicity. In particular, the discussion between Ragtagg and Cliff is a must watch for those unaware of the toxicity problem via voice chat in Overwatch.
4. Voice chat becomes an expectation
This was briefly touched on in the above video, but it bears repeating. In those games with voice chat, it becomes near mandatory to use in the competitive environment.
Overwatch and Dota players have been reported for not using the feature in the ranked ladder, as other players view it as playing with a disadvantage. By not communicating with the rest of the team in voice, that player is putting their interests ahead of the team’s. In reality, that player’s desire to avoid harassment, not get distracted, and stay in flow might be in their team’s best interests, but they may be forced into the voice chat for fear of being reported or harassed in-game if they don’t.