I wouldn't have thought I'd be putting this up for discussion, but a debate about the propriety of even allowing TTS in Sansar has started in another thread. So let's discuss it.
Date
Votes
5 comments
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Galen Whystler started the ball rolling by requesting "text to voice", citing several personal reasons it would help him. For example, "various restrictions here from not being able to talk out loud because the partner is trying to watch TV." He pointed out that "if you chat with type in the chat window, you kind of feel like the unpopular kid that no one pays attention to."
Gindipple responded that he thought we "absolutely don't want text to voice. Or voice morphing shenanigans. Be who you are or don't be. Stephen Hawking excluded of course."
I think his tongue-in-cheek example of Steve Hawking brings up a concern that is on the minds of a lot of people in the disability community, though. They are wondering how inclusive Sansar will be, compared to other emerging VR communities. I would argue that Second Life really hit the sweet spot for them precisely because it started out and remains largely a keyboard-based communication system. Sansar's emphasis on voice communication and (current) VR equipment can be intimidating to a lot of people for whom SL's comfortable setup works well.
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draxtor very very good point about inclusion! Virtual worlds can ONLY reach their true potential if they are inclusive!
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Whystler There was a time in IMVU when there was a voice to text craze. I think there was some partnership between voice to text company and certain developers in IMVU, and that started things happening.
It was actually pretty popular ... for ... a month or two. And then it fizzled. I think it will work in Sansar quite nicely, but it had problems in IMVU.
Here's why...
In IMVU, everyone chats in text. Hearing a voice wasn't interesting enough, and the text to voice integration was not inherent in the software, it was an add on to certain products. So really, it wasn't worth the hassle of having to jump in a hot tub just to use text to voice chat, because really no one was being missed - everyone used text chat.
In Sansar, it's a very different situation. We are having the problem of people using text and not being heard. There is no blame to be laid. I get the feeling that everyone wants to hear everyone, and also that people in VR headsets have a very hard time tuning into text chat. So it's understandable that text messages get lost.
Text to voice, if included in the sansar software, would be a great way to ensure that folks who:
-aren't set up for voice chat
-have voice chat difficulties in their home environment (I am a candidiate for this .. the ambient noise of the aquariums, and the fact that my I use my computer in the same room we watch TV..).
-aren't comfortable with using their real world voice
-aren't able to use a real world voice effectively (ie. disabilities)
... have a chance to be heard. -
Ralf Teatime I am most interested in all speech recognition and speech synthesis applications inside Sansar. I am not in favour of leveraging Windows speech capabilities; since, cloud based speech APIs are now far superior. I would like to hear from anyone doing speech development in Sansar. I have visited "Larry the Loquacious Lamp" by Cain Maven; but, automating text chat is old school, and too much like Second Life.
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Bluebell Yes, it should.
I have been asking for this from the day I arrived in Sansar.
I am in Europe, I have been running into too many reasons to not use voice. ( time difference, small kid asleep, ppl watching tv, etc, etc)
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