Virtual Voices

The virtual world of Second Life is about to get a bit more real, with the addition of voice communication for online avatars.

While Linden Lab’s Second Life allows folks to send avatars around its virtual world, they’ve been essentially stuck typing things out via chat and instant message, but not for much longer. The company is going to beta test the voice system next week, and add it overall afterwards.

Apparently it will also use a 3D “proximity-based” system that takes distance and direction into account, for a more realistic “in-world” voice experience. It will also animate the avatars based on how loud they speak.

All of which is well and good for communicating in the virtual world, but I still thought folks went there to get away from having to deal with real people yakking in your ear all day long. Oh well, almost as good as real life I suppose.