Ale

Hello Everyone,

Firstly, thank you all for making tacticalgamer a great place to play. I've been popping on when I've had the time for about 6 months or so, but infrequently and at early hourse due to my european timetable, so you probably don't recognize my name. I've also familiarized myself with you all through reading your forums which is fun and educational in itself, (but it does leave me feeling like an 'e-stalker') so you don't need to ask me to read your rules and s.o.p.'s!

Enough with introduction though, on to the main point of the post:

How to Encourage Communications?

It is self-evident that communication within a squad is hugely beneficial. Both in terms of game performance: planning and executing tactics etc, and in terms of enjoyment: having a socially rewarding and fun shared experience. I'm sure I need not list the ways in which communication can improve an individual's/squad's/team's game.

The trouble I find is in promoting communication within a squad (that is, squad which a full of people new to tactical behaviour). Many player's have microphones but don't use them. This can obviously be for many reasons, but I feel that in many cases it is a hangover from public servers where there is no chat at all. We all have habits/instincts in game, be it going prone when engaging or spotting, but unfortunately for many people, using voip is not one of them. Some people may actually lack the skill, one of my friends only chats when he is dead for instance, because he has to concentrate so much on the game when he is alive, but this is something he has to work on if he wants to engage in a team. Whatever the reason, I see lack of communication a problem.

To solve this problem, I try do the following when in a squad.
1. Always greet new members as soon as possible after they join, to break the ice.
2. When medic, encourage squaddies to alert me to their deaths and indicate the means of their death or direction of the threat. I find that some players are most likely to communicate when it gets them revived. Not great, but its a start.
3. Generally saying what's going on - to help situational awareness and keeping chat going during lulls.

I'll cut to the point here: the question I'd like to ask you all is, when faced with a silent squad, how do you encourage communication?

There are many players who simply won't adopt to this way of playing the game, for sure, but there are many (myself included sometimes) who need provocation to come out of their shells and engage fully with the rest of the team.

Looking forward to learning from the veterans here, see you on the battlefield.

Ale

(ingame nick: Ale06)

Some caveats:
The s.o.p. are great and in the ideal world, everyone follows them. This is not such a world.
Comms need not be limited to VOIP participation - yes I have had the pleasure of playing with Robocop.

Red

Good points! I try to always talk about situation awarness even if everybody else is silent. Sometimes you get people to talk a little which makes you feel good, but sometimes you just feel so lonely. I guess thats a side effect of playing alot with TG people specially the 33rd which talks both in the game and on teamspeak at the same time.

BaneII

The majority of the playing population is not used to interacting personally when playing online games. Usually most folks are reserved since there is a lot of immature and uncouth behavior on the Internet. I make it a note to say hello and the person's name when they join my squad. One, it shows good manners. Two, it shows that at least someone is communicating in the squad. Three things can happen. One, no response. Two, get a reply in chat. Three, get a voice reply. No response is a bad sign and I keep a closer eye to see if the person is a lone wolfer and only joined to keep from being kicked. A return response is a good sign and indicates the person is willing to interact.

If I'm squad leading, I give a lot of orders and tactics by voice. Usually if this communication goes on constantly, a person will start to interact in return. I also have the habit of giving praise specifically by a person's name. One, it tells them I'm paying attention to what they are doing. Two, it encourages teamwork and camaraderie. On top of that, I normally have a running dialogue while playing. It's not uncommon to hear me saying something humorous which, hopefully, creates a laid back environment. When I'm running with my 33rd bethren, it is usually non-stop extraneous chit chat.

While everyone is not in a position to communicate (unconducive environment, not native language, etc), I think does a good job to TG promotes it. Hell, I'm happy if I can get folks to use the commo rose.

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-33rd- BaneII
Smokers & Jokers

Backlash-7

I never hear any of this... all I ever hear is "damnit Back! What the heck were you thinking?!"

*laugh*

Back to the topic I also speak to the squad members and call them by name. Sometimes it takes a while to get them to open up bunt once they do you can be sure they'll stay in the squad and keep talking.

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Wimpinator

Wow Ale great 1st post. First of all welcome to the TG forums.

One thing I have learned from others while squad leading is to keep the squad informed. If we are defending a flag I will let them know why. If I get stuck I will ask for suggestions. I also will use names. Telling the squad why they are sitting on a particular flag will usually make them feel involved and it is more fun for everyone.

I often encounter players that don't have mics. Usually it works out fine as long as they are following orders. I have also come across players that didn't have mics that would use the team chat to give info.

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|TG-6th|Wimpinator

[TGU Staff]

BaneII

Sorry, my fault. From now on it will be, "Backlash, that was a fine death. I really thought your 23rd death was good, but this 41st death had more poignancy."

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-33rd- BaneII
Smokers & Jokers

B. Clawhammer

Yeah great post Ale. Communication is key in a game like BF2. When I SL, which is pretty rare, and when I'm just a squaddie, I usually give a greeting to whoever joins up. I'm always on the VOIP letting my squads know what direction I'm taking fire, if I'm on a flag, or for them to check their mini-map. Sometimes people are pretty shy about these things at first, but throughout the game my squad will generally get a feel for how much I suck, and thus, will communicate it to me lol. Seriously, after a few minutes, the communication level skyrockets, either in chat or on the mic. And if you happen in on the 33rd squad, you never know what kind of crap gets put in your ears lol.

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|TG-33rd|Clawhammer
[squadl] [sniper][unit]


BF2 Rules & SOPs

Backlash-7

Ouch.

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derdmeh

lol, nice

*tips hat*

Ale

'Hey, thanks!' for the welcome and the response fellas.

It doesn't look as if anyone in the 33rd needs encouragment to communicate!

This is really only an issue for those new to the tg way. But then again, being clear and concise in (serious) communications is a something that needs to be paid attention too no matter how good a (team) player one is.

e.g. the other night, i was capping a flag with a squad when someone called out "in the corner by the wall!". I took this to mean there was an enemy there, moved into position and lit up the area in question, duly wasting my SL in the process. Of course, this would've been averted if i was more used to POE and the different uniforms, but is still an example where using the standard operating procedure for spotting hostiles would've helped.