There's been an Uprising of game voice chatting recently. So many options I hardly know which ones are really worth using and which ones I should just dump. So this thread has been born. I've selected a few voice chatting software that are made for gaming (or oftenly used for such), and I'd love it if you'd tell me which ones you use (if any)!

Also, if you'd like to leave a comment telling me why you use the one you do, it'd be much appreciated.

VoIP's in no particular order (from 1 to 13):

  1. Skype
  2. RaidCall
  3. Mumble
  4. Evolve
  5. Razer Comms
  6. Discord
  7. Curse Voice (beta)
  8. Teamspeak !
  9. Ventrilo !
  10. Steam Voice Chat !
  11. Dolby Axon !!
  12. Gamevox !!!
  13. Google Hangouts !

Well, the gA ends in 3 days!

! Forgot to add these on the poll! My bad.
!! Didn't even know this one existed! Good call, Dragoneit!
!!! Thanks, Korrd!

Comments poll:

Based off of preferences in the comment section for the things I forgot to add (hopefully I will update regularly)

Other VoIPs Number of Votes
Teamspeak IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Ventrilo IIIIIIIIIIII
Steam VoIP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Steam Chat IIIIIIIIII
Dolby Axon IIIIII
Gamevox II
Google Hangouts III
Xfire I
Non-VoIP & Joke Material Number of Votes
LAN IIIII
The Phone II
Carrier Pigeons and/or Owls II
Morse Code I
Trash Talk II
The Mind III
A Cup With Strings I
Walkie Talkie I
Smoke Signals I

Bonus:

If you wanna add any others on the comment section, feel free to :P

Cheesy Mood Music:
The Heights - How Do You Talk To An Angel (thanks, Chinkara!)
Cat Stevens - Another Saturday Night
Simon and Garfunkle - The Sound of Silence (Thanks, LittleBibo1!)
Electric Light Orchestra - Mr Blue Sky thanks for all the suggestions, leonidas56!
Eagles Of Death Metal - Complexity ^
The Monkees - What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round ^
Sly & The Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) ^

9 years ago*

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So, through which do you talk with you gaming companions?

View Results
Skype
RaidCall
Mumble
Evolve
Razer Comms
Discord
Curse Voice
Other (please tell me in the comments!)
I use any in game communication mechanics available
I don't communicate with them, we just play together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djU4Lq_5EaM

TS and GameVox...
GameVox is like TS but simpler UI and gives you 6 slot server for free, and if u are lucky or long time user you get unlimited slots for free ;)

9 years ago
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Awesome! I had no idea. That's so useful. Thanks for letting me know (:

9 years ago
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Steam, unless it's being wonky, then we'll sometimes use Skype or TS.

9 years ago
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Skype is pretty wonky by itself too, sometimes! Thanks :D

9 years ago
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It so is. That's why it's not our first choice. I'm looking into some of the other ones, though... the Razer one looks promising, as do the Dolby one and GameVox, but it depends on what I can convince everyone else to use. Thanks for posting about them, though, I'd never heard of them before!

9 years ago
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the Razer one looks promising, as do the Dolby one and GameVox

A lot of people in the comments here have been speaking highly of those!

it depends on what I can convince everyone else to use

Same here. I guess we both should go with a balance of ease of use with quality. The most feature filled ones also seem to be the hardest to set up - and therefore the hardest to convince friends to use.

Thanks for posting about them, though, I'd never heard of them before!

I hadn't heard of several myself! The pleasure of sharing is all mine, and I'm glad this thread is being of use! (:

9 years ago
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I know Razer makes good stuff (love my Chroma mouse! and my husband loves his mouse and stupidly loud mechanical keyboard!), so that's why I'm leaning that way, but I shared all the relevant links with my gaming group for the techies to check out. Ease of use will be a big one, but quality might be more important to us, not sure. I like that a lot of them don't require personal server space, and since my gaming group is pretty small, we don't have to worry about having hundreds of people in the chat.

This thread is definitely of use. Glad I clicked! :)

9 years ago
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I've never bought anything from Razer's, but I'll take your word for it! I'm so glad to know the links came to be of use for you and your team. I hope you guys can pick one that suits you all well - as I'm sure one will.

Cheers! :D

9 years ago
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Steam voice chat, because Skype sometimes causes ingame lags.

9 years ago
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That's due to its bad habit of chewing on our poor RAM.

9 years ago
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Skype cause...I didnt know back then about the others and now Im lazy to uninstall it

9 years ago
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No need to uninstall it, but perhaps you can use this thread to find an alternative? (;

9 years ago
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I heard good things about Raidcall, I'll give it a try maybe :)

9 years ago
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I use the in-game voice when available, with Steam voice as a backup. I have also been forced to install Mumble,Ventrilo, TeamsSpeak, Dolby Axon,and Skype by "friends" who seem to care only about their own convenience.

You might want to mention that the GA is hidden.

9 years ago
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"friends"

Aren't we all sadly full of those? I feel you.

You might want to mention that the GA is hidden.

Most people here know how this works and it's pretty easy to find the GA. Plus, if more than 100 people have already entered, I'm sure others can too. I choose, arbitrarily, not to make it too clear how to find the GA. I'll leave it as is (;

9 years ago
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Depends on the friend from skype to teamspeak and steam chat or steam voice.

9 years ago
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Nice! Friends really count when choosing our means of communication.

No wonder I don't send letters ):

9 years ago
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If they are close friends I usually go for skype. Otherwise teamspeak or steam chat is just fine.

9 years ago
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I have noticed a pattern between close friends and skype and less known people and other alternatives. I guess that's the way most people roll! (:

9 years ago
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Used TS for donkies now. Mainly cause the plugins you can make for it can enhance comms in game considerably. Most notably is TFAR with Arma 3 which lets you setup radio frequencys so you can potentially have thousands of comms channels while in one comm tab. Useful for coordinating larger battlegroups.

9 years ago
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Very interesting! No one had mentioned this workaround here before. It's always good to learn new things. (:

9 years ago
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It's the main reason I keep with TS to be honest, while mumble does have better voice quality, there is a lot more you can do with TS, and TS is much better for when you got larger amounts of people on (like 500).

9 years ago
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Well, I don't have that many people to play with, so perhaps I'll value Mumble's quality over TS' quantity when I have the opportunity to try them (:

9 years ago
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It really is down to preferences. There was this chart somewhere I've been looking for that highlights the pro's and cons of each but cannot find it unfortuantely. Here's my best recollection of these programmes for what it is worth.

Skype is only used cause everyone has it honestly. It is not that good for gaming mainly due to the memory usage (it's rather heavy as a program for VOIP and can be a drain on your system's performance which in turn effects your game). If you are going to be gaming and wanting to chat with friends I highly recommend using one of the programmes below or the game's inbuilt VOIP.

Teamspeak 3 is generally the lower qualities (still good quality) of the VOIP software but balances this by being relatively simple with options for great customizations and is a low drain on the system. It can be a bit distracting on the screen without older skins/themes for it though.

Ventrillo is best described as TS3 lite, really simple and easy to use and not a lot of clutter.

Mumble is considered to have the best quality for voice, encryption capable, low memory usage, low bandwidth, and highly customizable. However it can be a pain in the ass to setup I have found, especially in getting your voice right and echo reduction correct. I also found it interfered with my voice settings for other programmes and audio settings which I didn't like as it meant I had to recalibate my settings for each program everytime I went into them.

9 years ago*
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Thanks for your recollection! I always find that nothing is better to evaluate a product than a customer's own experience and opinion about it.

Skype is only used cause everyone has it honestly.

Exactly! People need to go out a bit and realize life has more to it than Sky. Its memory usage is really a hassle too.

I've already discarded Mumble as an option, even it being as great as you've all accounted, because several of my friends (as I know them well) wouldn't want to bother setting it up. They've given up with trying for a lot less, honestly, so I know Mumble is a no-no.

Even so, I appreciate all you had to say about both Ventrilo and TS3 and I'll surely keep the good and the bad in mind (:

9 years ago
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I'm usually happy with TeamSpeak, but once in a while I use Skype too.

9 years ago
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I guess we all have Skype as a backup plan! Thanks for sharing :3

9 years ago
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Steam VoIP, it has become better over the years plus I have come to dislike Skype lately.

9 years ago
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I have come to dislike Skype lately

Just lately? ):

But I'm glad to know at least some people have good things to say about Steam's VoIP (:

9 years ago
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Well it has been getting worse (mainly because of privacy issues, not performance) since MS bought it.

Steam's service is good especially because you do not have to open extra apps that might affect your gaming performance. And when you have a crappy laptop like my gaming buddy, this matters a lot! :P

9 years ago
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Well it has been getting worse [...] since MS bought it.

Plus all those annoying ads! >:

Glad you and your gaming pal were able to find a workaround! :D

9 years ago
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9 years ago
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You spend a lot of time on 9gag, don't you?

9 years ago
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small village + old laptop that cant run games = gg

9 years ago
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we either dont play at all, or when we do we dont communicate
well, maybe steam messages in between games

9 years ago
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Oh well, I guess not everyone likes to talk all the time like I do :P

Thanks for the info (:

9 years ago
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Depends on the game i use Raidcall or Curse Voice, also Skype sometimes.

9 years ago
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Nice! Thanks for letting me know :3

9 years ago
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I have Skype, teamspeak, ventrilo and mumble install on my pc and my laptop. For work we mostly use sky to communicate. I use other program depends on guild requirements. I start see people prefer mumble over ts or ventrilo nowadays. I think mumble is the cheapest to rent among of those three.

9 years ago
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For work we mostly use sky to communicate.

That was my expectation: that people would use Sky for professional use due to its ease of work, but nor for gaming (as it seems to be vastly the case)!

I start see people prefer mumble over ts or ventrilo nowadays.

I've noticed several different preferences here, but I guess you're right!

Thanks for sharing (:

9 years ago
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curse voice !

9 years ago
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Nice! Several people here do too! Thanks for sharing (:

9 years ago
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