Spotting: Communicating For No Mics.

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Hi! It’s a sad state in gaming in general that we are seeing more and more people playing the game without a mic. It also sucks that if you happen to be with a team that doesn’t communicate vs a team that does, you will more than likely get beaten down entirely, and it isn’t your fault.

Currently, we have a weird Spotting system that shows you, and only you, where the player that killed you last is located by placing a waypoint over the killer’s head. This does absolutely nothing if you don’t have your mic. Often times, I just flat out ignore using it over something much more useful.

Instead of keeping this useless feature, I’d propose a new mechanic for the Halo series: Spotting. Though used in the BF series, this one would act a little different. It is as easy as aiming and shooting. However, instead of having a waypoint over the target’s head, it would make a small circle appear for a brief 2 seconds. Players looking away from the circle would have some sort of alert to point in the direction where the teammate has spotted the enemy. A small cooldown would be in place to prevent players from spamming the feature.

For a visual reference, I’d recommend to click on this link HERE!!! (If you also happen to have a decent gaming computer, download the game for free. It’s a fun shooter.) In the video, it shows that the spotting feature helped teams communicate with each other, allowing for more coordinated attacks, and overall improve the enjoyment of the game. No one hardly talks, and typing can take too long to inform others. In a non-spammy, informative way, the teams communicate without harming the overall experience without making it so that players are unable to hide from their enemy.

On top of that, I would propose adding points for spotting enemy players. This would allow the feature to be used more often, and promote teamwork. If the same player that spotted the enemy kills that enemy, they would still get the normal kill.

This would deal with a few issues:

1- Allows players to communicate without a mic, especially in an online environment that seems to be hostile to anyone that lacks testosterone for a deeper voice.

2- Deals with Active Camo users by pointing out to players where the guy is at, making it much more important to attack smarter when using it.

3- Encourage teams to stay together to avoid being picked off when alone after being spotted.

4- If the Mute Ban is going to continue, or if you mute a player for whatever reason, players can still be able to communicate and contribute to their team when they are finally going to play right.

5- Allows players in Party Chat to continue to communicate to the players outside of their chat. No longer do you need to invite random players into your party, or disband the chat to communicate.

6- Potentially break the barrier between players as they fight along side each other, and encourage players to party up due to them being a really good team player, instead of just being a random dude that will be forgotten.

What do you guys think? Questions? Comments? Suggestions to maybe make the feature more feasible in a Halo game?

> PROPOSED MECHANICS FOR SPOTTING
>
> 1- Spotting shall NOT be a replacement to the RED X on Death feature that we have known since Halo 2. Spotting is there to allow more communication when paired up with players without mics, or when dealing with players in Party Chat.
>
> 2- Spotting available as a basic gameplay mechanic. You do NOT need a Tactical or Support Mod to utilize the feature, nor should you ever wait until a certain Spartan Rank to contribute to your team.
>
> 3- A RED circle will appear on the HUD and on the Motion Tracker/Radar when a friendly player uses the feature. If it is spotted outside your view, a RED arrow will prompt to let you know which direction the enemy is located on your Motion Tracker/Radar. The Red Circle and Red Arrow will only appear for a brief 2 seconds.
>
> 3A- A voice will also be used to alert players anything significant about the target. If the enemy is in a Scorpion tank, the spot feature will play a voice telling the others about the tank.
>
> 4- A small cooldown should be in place to prevent players from consistantly spamming. I am thinking of a minimum of 3-4 seconds (2 seconds will have the circle appear. 1-2 seconds of silence before using it again). It is still possible for multiple people to use it at one time.
>
> 5- NO WAYPOINTS shall be used to mark a player. This is due to us having a radar that tracks players when they move and shoot. This is to still allow players to hide when spotted.
>
> 5A- If a player spots directly on the target, the circle will appear on the target, but will not follow him.
>
> 6- An assist medal or a whole new medal should be used in place to encourage using the feature.
>
> 7- A Multiplayer-Only Achievement should be used to get the feature known and used.
> 7A- Must require players using it a good number of times to get the habit going. I suggest at least 4-5 games worth. Maybe 50-75 times of using it that results in assists could be sufficient. Numbers not final.
>
> 7B- Must have a clever name. Personally suggests “Big Brother is Watching”, or “I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE!”, but whatever works.
>
> 8- In Single Player Campaign, this could be used to help control Friendly AI into attack other targets, or to move into a spot. This feature can also be used to tell the AI where you want to go when taking the gunner seat of the warthog. This is optional.
>
> 9- You will not know if you are spotted by the enemy. This is to encourage players sticking together, and adds risk to Lone Wolf style of playing in Team-based gameplay.
>
> 10- When killed, the player can press a different button to call out anything important on himself, such as a Power Weapon. The usual button can also be used to call out an enemy player as they respawn like normal.
>
>
> MORE SHALL BE ADDED WHEN NEW IDEAS ARRIVE. MECHANICS SHALL CHANGE WHENEVER THE NEED ARISES.

> EXTRAS
>
> 1 - Prior to the game starts, an overview of the map can be seen. Players can tell others where they plan to go at the start of the map, or which vehicles/power weapon they will control.
>
> 2 - Players can select from a menu of voices of characters in the Halo universe. If you are going to look like Master Chief, why not sound like him too?
>
> MORE SHALL BE ADDED AS NEW IDEAS ARISE!!!

2

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I like our Red X system as it is (but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved). =)

3

> If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I like our Red X system as it is (but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved). =)

And by no means I am not saying the Red X is broken. However, if I were to be on a team with no mics, or in party chat, I’d like to see more options to for them to communicate with the rest of the team instead of just dying and hope that is a big enough message. If you also noticed in the video, whenever a teammate dies, they also have a Red X indicating their death.

On top of that, if 343 is going to be persistent in using Active Camo as an Armor Ability, I’d like to be able to point out exactly where that guy is at, instead of hoping they’d shoot in the right direction with a wall of bullets.

In my time playing other games besides Halo, including the game demonstrated in the video, I see nothing that made the game less enjoyable as a result from it. Though I will admit that the video did have a bit of a 1-sided match(due to it being a BETA of a game), the game becomes more enjoyable when both teams are communicating and putting up a big fight, instead of wondering around clueless and dying.

If Microsoft is going to keep Party Chat, and the gaming community in general is opting out on mics because people can’t behave on the internet, why should the games we enjoy suffer?

4

> If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I like our Red X system as it is (but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved). =)

The Red X system shows where a teammate is downed, nothing else, it’s useful for when you got people using mics, and the killer is using a shotgun, sword, or melee, But what about other weapons like snipers.

Lets say you’re playing a game, and you don’t have a mic, or your mic is broken, and you see a sniper, and you’re close to death? What do you do? How do you convey to the rest of the time that there is a sniper on the other side of the map, camped up in a tree?

The Red X is great for knowing where people on your team die when you’re in a party and/or have no mics on the team. In short ranged combat it’s easy to know the general area of where the killer is, but long ranged combat, the red X is a death trap system.

5

My experience with mic’d up players is mixed. For every funny guy or helpful teammate there’s a rager or clown who does nothing but breathe into the mic. I can see the value in competitive team play, but beyond that I consider the mic to be completely optional.

But I agree, one or two simple additions could go a long way in promoting speechless teamwork.

I rely heavily on my teammate markers in the HUD to know if they’re under fire or just died. It provides you with decent situational awareness, but why not improve on that?

What would be even better is if each player could communicate their status via other players HUDs. Maybe use the D-pad… For example:

Up-Arrow - backup requested
Down-Arrow - enemy in sight
Right-Arrow - stay away, I’m looking down the barrel of a Scorpion
Left-Arrow - on-map equipment/weapon/powerup is available

These can be used optionally, but they can communicate a lot to your teammates. Throw in some better HUD visuals (to catch your eye) and this could be a really sweet addition

6

I love spotting in Battlefield, playing games without spotting makes me a sad man. When not even talking about people not using mics spotting has another great use. If a player isn’t that great they can take up a spotting role. Instead of constantly rushing into a situation with near certain death they can spot the enemies out and maybe get some team shooting in on the enemy. Spotting is the exact kind of feature that 343 should be implementing into the game to help the game out. Not things like sprint and AA’s.

7

> My experience with mic’d up players is mixed. For every funny guy or helpful teammate there’s a rager or clown who does nothing but breathe into the mic. I can see the value in competitive team play, but beyond that I consider the mic to be completely optional.
>
> But I agree, one or two simple additions could go a long way in promoting speechless teamwork.
>
> I rely heavily on my teammate markers in the HUD to know if they’re under fire or just died. It provides you with decent situational awareness, but why not improve on that?
>
> What would be even better is if each player could communicate their status via other players HUDs. Maybe use the D-pad… For example:
>
> Up-Arrow - backup requested
> Down-Arrow - enemy in sight
> Right-Arrow - stay away, I’m looking down the barrel of a Scorpion
> Left-Arrow - on-map equipment/weapon/powerup is available
>
> These can be used optionally, but they can communicate a lot to your teammates. Throw in some better HUD visuals (to catch your eye) and this could be a really sweet addition

I really like that idea as well. I can definitely agree with the addition to a back-me-up button. I can imagine a few scenarios where that can help.

Though I was thinking that we should keep the Weapon indicators(and probably have them disabled for competitive gameplay if they so desire), I guess having that can help.

As for vehicles, I like for it to keep it to 1 button, similar to how Battlefield does it. If he sees a hostile enemy player, they say it. If they see a tank, they’ll say that too. Keeps it simple, and easy to use.

> I love spotting in Battlefield, playing games without spotting makes me a sad man. When not even talking about people not using mics spotting has another great use. If a player isn’t that great they can take up a spotting role. Instead of constantly rushing into a situation with near certain death they can spot the enemies out and maybe get some team shooting in on the enemy. Spotting is the exact kind of feature that 343 should be implementing into the game to help the game out. Not things like sprint and AA’s.

Definitely agree! I am not as good of a shot in the Battlefield series, and often times find myself picking the Recon class for the MAV just because I felt there are too many guns shooting and not enough fingers pointing. Thanks to that small feature, it made me enjoy the game more since I can contribute to the team in a different way, and in something that can benefit the whole team instead of just myself.

While I don’t want something similar to a player crouching behind a corner of a base and playing on a little control pad, and make enemies detected for several seconds when outside of cover, I do agree that players who may not be so great in combat can definitely be a useful asset if they can spot and simply be the guy who knows where the enemy is and lets everyone know about it.

I’m glad to see such support about this little idea. I know this may not be original, but Halo wasn’t exactly 100% original. If we are going to borrow a few things from other franchises, why not something that can make it less painful for players to go into MM alone? Heck, they could find great teammates with each other, and maybe actually plug in that mic. :smiley: Or not…their choice. Let others know, and maybe 343 could put it in. :slight_smile:

8

Spotting should be added with a little voice cue from your Spartan whether male/female. The hud system and futuristic setting make voice cues unnecessary but it would add a little to the immersion in Multiplayer.

“Enemy Spotted”
“Hostile”
“Take em out”

9

> Spotting should be added with a little voice cue from your Spartan whether male/female. The hud system and futuristic setting make voice cues unnecessary but it would add a little to the immersion in Multiplayer.
>
> “Enemy Spotted”
> “Hostile”
> “Take em out”

Definitely!

Also, while we are on the subject of this, do you think this could go into the Campaign as well? Having the Chief being able to command and make better use of AI by telling them where to go(or DRIVE) could be a cool feature, and help make the Marines look like trained soldiers, instead of cannon fodder, or people that would never pass a driver’s exam.

Gonna add a list of suggestion ideas of how the thing works at the OP. Keep them coming guys!

10

HELLO
XBOX ONE IS COMMING WITH KINECT,
AND FOR THOSE WHO DONT KNOW, IT HAS A SPECIAL FEATURE CALLED AN INTERGRATED MIC
IT DOES NOT HAVE PREVIOUS BACKGROUND VOICE ERRORS AND VOICE IS CRYSTAL CLEAR
SO NO NEED FOR MIC

11

> HELLO
> XBOX ONE IS COMMING WITH KINECT,
> AND FOR THOSE WHO DONT KNOW, IT HAS A SPECIAL FEATURE CALLED AN INTERGRATED MIC
> IT DOES NOT HAVE PREVIOUS BACKGROUND VOICE ERRORS AND VOICE IS CRYSTAL CLEAR
> SO NO NEED FOR MIC

And a good chunk of players are more likely to turn it off, since it no longer needs to be plugged into the console in order for the console to function.

Plus, that doesn’t change the current situation where players are more likely to not have their mics plugged in.

On top of that, they are more likely to be muted due to the ambiance from the Mic becoming a distraction.

Thank you for giving me another point to add as to why the feature is needed though. :slight_smile:

12

Spotting would be useful to good teams that can work together but in a typical random team in matchmaking it would be misused to the point that everyone would ignore it.

13

> Spotting would be useful to good teams that can work together but in a typical random team in matchmaking it would be misused to the point that everyone would ignore it.

How would that be different than a person that would purposely lie to his teammates? Or would play music into the mic to as a distraction?

Another way is that they could require the player to aim in the general area of where the enemy player is at in order to prevent spamming the feature. However, I am not a fan of actually preventing the player from telling the team that the enemy is, say, going around the Blue Hallway towards the Sniper, due to there being a wall in the way.

Maybe there could be a toggle feature to Mute the player’s mic, and if the player abuses the feature, could turn off his spots by the menu. Either way, I’ve yet to run across players in Hawken, the game showcased in the video in the original post, that would intentionally Spot spam and cost them the match.

I do understand that there are jerks on the internet. However, I doubt that simply because there are a few bad apples that it shouldn’t be dead on arrival as a result. If we are given guns to shoot players with, and have them behave, we can handle a spot feature.

14

> HELLO
> XBOX ONE IS COMMING WITH KINECT,
> AND FOR THOSE WHO DONT KNOW, IT HAS A SPECIAL FEATURE CALLED AN INTERGRATED MIC
> IT DOES NOT HAVE PREVIOUS BACKGROUND VOICE ERRORS AND VOICE IS CRYSTAL CLEAR
> SO NO NEED FOR MIC

And do you know what!?

I and others will most likely have that integrated mic DISABLED.
Errors or no, the last thing I need, is a stupid “integrated” mic that picks up EVERYTHING, plus like PainRelief pointed out, some if not most of the people who would use the integrated mic would most likely be muted.

Do you know what I do when I start hearing my voice through someone else’s speaker? I MUTE THEM, nothing worse that hearing an echo.

Some people don’t use mics because they just don’t want to talk to anyone.
Some people don’t want to use mics because they don’t want to become a target for someone else.
Some people only want to talk to their friends, not random people around the world, who may or may not speak the same language, and/or have the same respect.

It doesn’t matter if the Kinect is coming with or without a built in mic, it’s still not going to get more people to actually talk in game.

15

…Let’s get back on topic.

Spotting is something I’ve wanted since Reach. Why? Because of the Falcon.

If NOTHING else, I’d love for the Falcon pilot to be able to mark enemies for it’s gunners to take out, should the Falcon return or any other similar UNSC / Covenant flying vehicle.

It’s a fun feature in Battlefield, and I love grabbing assists that way. I’d really like something like this in Halo.

What I would be concerned about are the arrows on my screen. They’d be a bit distracting. I’d rather it be line-of-sight, and maybe ping them on the motion sensor, too.

16

> …Let’s get back on topic.
>
> Spotting is something I’ve wanted since Reach. Why? Because of the Falcon.
>
> If NOTHING else, I’d love for the Falcon pilot to be able to mark enemies for it’s gunners to take out, should the Falcon return or any other similar UNSC / Covenant flying vehicle.
>
> It’s a fun feature in Battlefield, and I love grabbing assists that way. I’d really like something like this in Halo.
>
> What I would be concerned about are the arrows on my screen. They’d be a bit distracting. I’d rather it be line-of-sight, and maybe ping them on the motion sensor, too.

That would definitely be helpful for both gunner and pilot in that game. Sometimes I feel the pilot is ignoring me whenever I’m shooting somebody in it. At the same time, I feel like they may not be shooting at the guy they should be shooting at whenever I’m driving it.

I’m also kinda feeling the same way for the HUD arrows. There’s enough stuff on the HUD as it is, and adding a Pop-Up arrow to it could be a little too much. What would you think about a red arrow on the Radar, whenever toggled on, whenever an enemy is out of range of the player’s radar?

17

> …Let’s get back on topic.
>
> Spotting is something I’ve wanted since Reach. Why? Because of the Falcon.
>
> If NOTHING else, I’d love for the Falcon pilot to be able to mark enemies for it’s gunners to take out, should the Falcon return or any other similar UNSC / Covenant flying vehicle.
>
> It’s a fun feature in Battlefield, and I love grabbing assists that way. I’d really like something like this in Halo.
>
> What I would be concerned about are the arrows on my screen. They’d be a bit distracting. I’d rather it be line-of-sight, and maybe ping them on the motion sensor, too.

Yes, this! Gunning on the Falcon was never as much fun as it could have been because of the poor lines of sight and always changing viewpoints. Surely that was intended to keep the Falcon from becoming OP, and that’s totally fair. But some callout options could easily be countered by reductions in speed, or shielding, or durability, etc.

18

Put your mic in and remember what it is like to talk to a human! People over the last 10 years and forgotten how to interact if it’s not via a text or email. Heck, even calling people on the phone is gone to the way side.

You want a better gaming experience, PUT IN THE MIC AND USE IT. Stop trying to come up with ideas to not interact with people. Adding a feature that takes MORE EFFORT than talking…Who the hell is going to use that? Also, they already account for just about every button sequence in the game, what are they going to use for this?

Don’t say, it does it automatically when you hit someone, otherwise I’ve lost all hope for humanity, stop expecting everything to baby you.

Put a mic is or face the fact you won’t have very good team work. 1 player talking among 3 mutes is still better than 4 mutes. The 1 player might even get the other 3 talking just by talking…

19

> Put your mic in and remember what it is like to talk to a human! People over the last 10 years and forgotten how to interact if it’s not via a text or email. Heck, even calling people on the phone is gone to the way side.
>
> You want a better gaming experience, PUT IN THE MIC AND USE IT. Stop trying to come up with ideas to not interact with people. Adding a feature that takes MORE EFFORT than talking…Who the hell is going to use that? Also, they already account for just about every button sequence in the game, what are they going to use for this?
>
> Don’t say, it does it automatically when you hit someone, otherwise I’ve lost all hope for humanity, stop expecting everything to baby you.
>
> Put a mic is or face the fact you won’t have very good team work. 1 player talking among 3 mutes is still better than 4 mutes. The 1 player might even get the other 3 talking just by talking…

There can be over 100 problems as to why a person does not want to talk. The guy probably had a bad time doing so, or simply isn’t the guy that doesn’t want to talk to players outside their friend list and stay in party chat.

I agree that players should plug in their mics. But face it: Not too many people want to talk outside their circle of friends. The internet has enough bad apples to even enforce not plugging one in, and simply keep it to themselves. The spotting feature can be used to break the ice, and can add the potential of making friends due to them at least acknowledging that they can be a good teammate.

Even with the mic, this feature can help improve the game in general. Spotting has been seen in many games to help combat the lack of communication. Battlefield does it to keep the chatter down to you and 4 teammates. GoW 3 does it. Hawken, the game showcased in the video in the first post does it because they acknowledge the fact their players do not talk most of the time. Why not Halo? The microphone alone is not enough to get players together, and if the trend continues, we might as well do something about it to combat against a growing issue.

Then maybe, they’ll start partying up, use their mics, and the game becomes fun again. Yes, a mic is easier to communicate. But getting the person to talk is a whole different story. If pushing buttons is all they can do, let’s utilize it.

> Yes, this! Gunning on the Falcon was never as much fun as it could have been because of the poor lines of sight and always changing viewpoints. Surely that was intended to keep the Falcon from becoming OP, and that’s totally fair. But some callout options could easily be countered by reductions in speed, or shielding, or durability, etc.

I think the near-pointless Radar is fine enough. Whenever I stepped in, the radar’s range becomes gigantic. While a good thing to have, the player can’t exactly tell where they are at. :S

But yeah, I do agree. Falcons could be alot of fun if we can point out where the enemy is. :stuck_out_tongue:

20

> Put your mic in and remember what it is like to talk to a human! People over the last 10 years and forgotten how to interact if it’s not via a text or email. Heck, even calling people on the phone is gone to the way side.
>
> You want a better gaming experience, PUT IN THE MIC AND USE IT. Stop trying to come up with ideas to not interact with people. Adding a feature that takes MORE EFFORT than talking…Who the hell is going to use that? Also, they already account for just about every button sequence in the game, what are they going to use for this?

Have you ever play… wait, never mind, YOU’VE NEVER PLAYED BATTLEFIELD.
So you have no clue. Mic or no, this feature is more useful than the Red X.

Also, 1 person using a mic isn’t always better than 4 mutes. One person trash talking creates 4 mutes, no one wants to be in a game, and have to put up with some guy who trash talks, it’s annoying, it’s stupid, it’s toxic, and it’s not needed, EVER. YES, there’s a mute button, but guess what! that’s where the 4th mute comes in, so what’s the point of forcing someone to plug in a mic if he/she doesn’t want to listen to some low life trash talker, only to end up muting the person?

I stopped using my mic in game chat because I hate listening to trash talkers, I hate hearing little kids playing the game, when they shouldn’t, I hate hearing the echoes, I hate hearing the game from someone else’s mic, and I loathe people with loud background noises. Most of the time I play online Xbox games, I’m in party chat, because I’m either with friends, or everyone else is muted.

I’m a PC gamer, always have been, always will be, and my way of communicating in PC games is by typing, not using a mic, not by voice chat.

You Emag, have no clue, hell, you’re most likely one of those people who say “It’s a rated M game, people should have thicker skin”, welcome to reality, there will always be people who find what trash talkers say offensive, and it’s not going to change.