Network Leadership required Change how communication systems in-game work.

Requires Network Leadership to review

What does this suggestion change/add/remove:

Change how communication works in regards to using externals such as TeamSpeak3, discord etc for ingame conversation, callouts and scenario response to use in game systems already established.

Add new frequency bands for leadership of departments / introduce new way of communication ingame similar but separate to radios.

Remove the requirement for any person on the server to have to use teamspeak3 [or any other external communications system outside the game] for communication about in game scenarios and general conversation.




Has something similar been suggested before?:

Not that I know of.



If so, why is your suggestion different?:

My suggestion is to have an official staff ruling on the use of TeamSpeak and preferably its removal as a REQUIREMENT from the server in ANY instance as well as discord and any other externals for in game communication or any communication in that area, obviously for OOC issues or discussion people can use discord and whatever else they wish. This is purely for the removal of external comms, mainly TS3, as a requirement that can be enforced for anyone on the server.



Possible Positives of the suggestion (At least 2):

As this technically isn't a server rule, I could not find it, however it being forced upon departments and MTF for "easier communications" by SA and FCOM this becomes a semi staff issue and I would staff to provide and official ruling for this please.

Additionally the lack of clear guidelines on what information from said 'Secondary comms' can be used in character leads to lots of moments that borderline on meta gaming, information being said such as SCP callouts for someone else to call out during combat, information you cant verify was communicated before or after death. Also the constant mixing of casual conversation and supposedly in character information makes it difficult to decypher.

This has time and time led to teamspeak being used as a platform to incite drama and division within the playerbase as people complain about departments out of character while interacting with them in character.

Teamspeak takes down the quality of roleplay substantially as people either cannot hear properly, are busy conversing or have it muted and miss out on this in/out of character callouts.

As well as these facts, teamspeak is harder to monitor and therefore moderate by staff due to the exclusivity of chats for obvious reasons however this means if someone says something that violates server rules it might not get reported which causes problems of its own.

Finally, from a roleplay perspective how does it make sense that for example someone like ISD/A1/O1 witness me do something and telepathically summon a small army to detain me without speaking a word text or vocally ingame. This is a metagaming issue which also falls into the monitoring issue as people wont incriminate their friends or department members over something small which I wouldn't be able to prove nor would staff.

Using radios would resolve every issue on this. It would also lead to it being able to be monitered by staff quickly and efficiently as well as meaning players can clip footage with more ease, and roleplay and conversation being improved drastically.




Possible Negatives of the suggestion:

Besides the slightest inconvenience of using a different key to PPT on the radio there are literally no negatives to this.


Based on the Positives & Negatives, why should this suggestion be accepted:


This suggestion should be accepted because it improves roleplay quality, transparency, fairness, and staff oversight. Removing the requirement for external communication platforms such as TeamSpeak3 and Discord would ensure that in-character communication occurs through in-game systems that can be witnessed, recorded, and moderated. It would reduce metagaming concerns, prevent off-platform coordination that cannot be properly monitored, improve accountability, and create more immersive interactions by encouraging players to rely on radios and proximity communication rather than third-party applications. While the change introduces a minor inconvenience in requiring players to use in-game radio systems, the benefits to immersion, evidence gathering, moderation, and overall server consistency significantly outweigh that drawback.



- Kind Regards
- Maksim "Enigma"


P.S

I just want to clarify I think people are mistaking my suggestion. I do NOT want/am pushing for TS3 Removal or even discord, I am instead pushing for it to not be a REQUIREMENT for IC Comms and therefore no punishment IC for not using it. Teamspeak is important for staff and higher clearance personnel to communicate easily but ultimately for the average player and combative departments it just opens the doorway to inappropriate conduct and conversation including metagaming etc and it's use as IC Comms shouldn't be enforced but rather a choice in the same way as sitting in discord vcs with your friends.
 
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Have ya'll considered using a system like Gspeak?

A large chunk of Arma 3 use Taskforce Radio to completely replace their ingame voice, and it works rather well.

This would, of course, mean that TS3 would pretty much become a requirement to play the server, and I'm not sure if your average Gmod player would want to go through the hassle of downloading an external program just to play the server. Whereas it is an accepted norm on Arma 3, and a vast majority of Arma players have TS3 already.
if they make a requirement TS3 to play the server... yeah no thanks

i already hate it that they require it IC stuff on MTFs instead of using working ingame stuff
 
I'm wondering. What is the radio lacking?
Nothing, its got voice, and its got its own text channel.

You also have like 50 specfic /c's you can use, for departments and specfic groupings of departments and people. eg MTF, SOP, SEF etc.

It might need some quality of life imrpovements, like its volume changes randomly and stuff like that.
 
Nothing, its got voice, and its got its own text channel.

You also have like 50 specfic /c's you can use, for departments and specfic groupings of departments and people. eg MTF, SOP, SEF etc.

It might need some quality of life imrpovements, like its volume changes randomly and stuff like that.
The radio is a good and well rounded tool on the server and it serves the purpose of being a communication system in character.
 
I'm wondering. What is the radio lacking?
I am going to answer this based off my own experience and opinion using both - reliability of the radio. If the server is suffering performance issues or your lagging - the radio is basically useless.

TS3, while not being immune to issues, is generally really reliable, allowing communication to go across without issues.

I don't believe making TS3 fully OOC and for General Banter/staff is the right way to go. I do believe pushing more for radio use where possible is a good idea, but I don't believe outlawing TS3 is the way to go.

-Support
 
I am going to answer this based off my own experience and opinion using both - reliability of the radio. If the server is suffering performance issues or your lagging - the radio is basically useless.

TS3, while not being immune to issues, is generally really reliable, allowing communication to go across without issues.

I don't believe making TS3 fully OOC and for General Banter/staff is the right way to go. I do believe pushing more for radio use where possible is a good idea, but I don't believe outlawing TS3 is the way to go.

-Support


Reliability of radio:

• Radio has both a voice and text option to communicate, and as per literally anything in the game, relies on server status but if you're lagging so badly to where radio vocal isn't feasible just use text the same as if TS was lagging.

• Radio is literally implemented for IC communication so how is it useless compared to ts since if you can't communicate due to lag you shouldn't be communicating as you are not actively in rp due to external problems.

The issue with Teamspeak communication:

• Teamspeak is commonly used for both IC and OOC discussion in the same channels with the same people at the same time and in the same situation because it's not monitored by staff and there are 0 clarifications as to what people can and can't say. The main reason behind this is the lack of accountability, most channels are locked to people of certain departments, ranks etc with password and role limits. This means these groups can converse about whatever ooc stuff they want without admins present whilst simultaneously sat next to 10 people ingame then giving IC callouts about things going on before returning to ooc conversation which is literally just mixing/metagaming.

I myself from use of TS3 in all 4 current MTFs, GSD, DEA, CI and UNGOC experience (2022-24) have used TS3 to give callouts that could be argued as meta, as well as 100% seeing multiple fellow department members clearly metagame and mixing but done nothing about it because it's never been clarified as to what can and can't be said plus at the time I didn't have external software to clip issues. As well as this I didn't want to snitch on my own team for assisting us in combat even though it broke the rules.

This is a common thing and I've seen it happen still now because there's no clarification on this whatsoever.

The main issue with TS3 is that it opens a poorly controlled gateway to metagame and mixing due to a lack of accountability from people as well as another issue I forgot to mention which is not being aware of your teams situation.

Think if I gave callouts like "I'm being kidnapped by CI" or "SCP-076 is doing this" but I have already been kidnapped and Comms stripped/killed however my team don't know that. CI don't know when I called them out and it raises that issue of accountability again whereas in-game it's clear when things are said.

Finally my last point in response to this, there is a new feature now where if you are gagged, before you are stripped, you cannot use comms. But there is no rule implying you cannot use TS3 to call it out. Common sense dictates that you don't give callouts if you can't in-game but as there are no rules against this, it will be abused and probably already is being abused.