'Second Life' to integrate voice chat

That's because, starting next week, Linden Lab, the publisher of Second Life, plans to unveil a small trial beta initiative in which, for the first time, users will have access to integrated voice chatting.

The company plans to roll the beta out to all users by the end of March, it said.

Until now, Second Life users wanting to communicate with each other have had two basic choices: text chat -- either personal or in a group setting -- or employing a third-party voice application like Skype.

But starting on 6 March, a limited number of users will be able to try out the new integrated voice chat, either in group mode -- in which anyone with the feature enabled will be able to hear voice conversations in their immediate proximity -- personal voice chat, or group voice chat.

The latter two options don't require users to be near each other to have a voice conversation.

And because Second Life is a virtual world in which almost all land is privately owned, Linden Lab plans to give land owners the power to decide whether to turn on voice on their property.

For many Second Life users, integrated voice has been one of the most-wanted in a long list of sought-after features. That's because it could allow them to have conversations that are more natural and free-flowing than text is capable of, and potentially more reliable than a third-party option.

"I will be using it a lot, an incredible amount," said Terry Beaubois, the director of the Creative Research Lab in the College of Arts and Architecture at Montana State University. "It can actually extend your functional use of Second Life. When I'm in Second Life talking to someone with a headset, I can go longer periods of time before I feel like I have to take a break."

To be sure, Second Life isn't the first virtual world to integrate voice chatting. In fact, There has had that feature since late 2003.

By comparison, many Second Life residents have been clamouring for voice since its launch in 2003, and especially since There rolled out the feature.

And until now, Linden Lab has been vague about when or if it would incorporate voice directly into the Second Life client software.

But with the proliferation of Skype and other applications such as TeamSpeak or Ventrilo -- which users often pipe into Second Life and into online games such as World of Warcraft -- the technology has appeared more possible, and it seemed more like a matter of when -- not if -- Linden Lab would get on board.

"We've been working on this for quite a while," said Joe Miller, Linden Lab's vice president of platform and technology development. "I think there was some scepticism that we'd be putting something out this soon. It's been in the works for eight to ten months in earnest. Voice has been viewed as a key missing piece to the overall solution."

Of course, as any Second Life user who has been around for a while knows, new features are often buggy or their implementation breaks some other feature.

But that's why Linden Lab plans to beta test voice with a small group of users for several weeks before making it available in a grid-wide beta in late March.

The technology is being provided by two Linden Lab partners: Vivox and DiamondWare.

Miller said voice would be available free of charge to all users during the beta period, and would work on any computer that can currently run Second Life. Afterwards, owners of mainland property as well as island owners who pay the current $295 (£150) monthly maintenance fee will continue to be able to utilise the feature on their property for free.

But he added that those residents who own older islands with lower fees may be required to upgrade to current pricing in order to enable voice on their land.

"It is a significant added value, and we thought long and hard about offering it to [those with lower] pricing," Miller said. "But, as I say, we may change our thinking around this based on the beta phase. So I would be reluctant to say that that is a hard and fast decision."