PsychoScrum League Season 17: Season Mode

[get some]

if the V's server is tried and true then lets get it in the rotation. never hurts to have choices.

[fishtank]

Voicechat possibly causing lag is good enough reason for me not to use it, nor want others to use it. TB and co. were chatting and were wicked blinky. Also some of the worst server performance I've experienced in a while, regardless of hoster. Coincidence?

Switching colors in between games will totally disrupt flow and cause color-confusion. Works for TBML, but definitely not PSL. If there is any possible spawn advantage, you still have a 50/50 chance of being the benefiting color.

[BerthaCampaDiva]

If that voice chat is causing that lag.. I'm up for seeing an end to it.

[Cloud]

Voicechat possibly causing lag is good enough reason for me not to use it, nor want others to use it. TB and co. were chatting and were wicked blinky. Also some of the worst server performance I've experienced in a while, regardless of hoster. Coincidence?

Switching colors in between games will totally disrupt flow and cause color-confusion. Works for TBML, but definitely not PSL. If there is any possible spawn advantage, you still have a 50/50 chance of being the benefiting color.

Skype has minimal effect if any on the server. It was the server itself. Before we even began skype, it was laggy. It was the same throughout the time I was there.

How can that be explained? W00t, Jay, Tb, RX, supra, kane, prof, have all talked at the same time in servers and there was no lag. Skype takes up a decent amount of memory but doesn't affect the server. It may affect your specific game if you are running skype due to graphics card, memory ect.

[Jay]

^ Agreed

This whole issue with skype affecting servers is all psychological. It is all down to your computer, and the server itself. The fact you know that people are using skype is making it a prime target for your lag complaints, when in reality, many of us use skype for almost all TT games, and no lag issues come up.

Our game with getsome ran as smooth as any past PSL match, even with most, if not all of us using skype. Therefore your issues are with the servers you were playing on.

[Baba]

It's not my intent to "stir something up" for the sake of it.
That said, I have not seen anything posted that is anything more than an opinion (including my own).
I would like to see some more authoritative / scientific analysis of it.

Saying others have done it for a while doesn't make me feel any better - as I have had poor fire rate and lag in servers for a while.
As a west coaster I am maybe more sensitive than some about that as historically most servers have been east coast / mid west based, with fire rate and ping advantages enjoyed by those closer to them.
Even if it only affects the individual involved using it with sub optimum computer hardware, connection (as Cloud states) doesn't the weakest link affect all in the server?

[Blind Cide]

Weakest link, yes. My rule of thumb is if you are using Skype on a different computer than the one you're playing TT on, it won't make lag for anyone. To run TT and Skype on the same computer, you need to make sure TT isn't already using 95% of your processor.

My connection has been flaky and if there are better alternatives, we should probably only consider it for backup until it clears up.

[The Professor]

As Baba indicated - is there some way to perform a more scientific analysis? I imagine there are articles/other on the internet that address this. In addition, we could always run some tests in various servers.

I for one enjoy using Skype while playing very much. While I assume Vent uses less resources, Skype is free and IMO allows for better team communication.

(Disclaimer: I'ver never used Vent in TT, but in other games.)

[xKane]

Yea, our game ran amazingly smooth while using voice chat. I did however use one computer to play and one computer to host the call.

[BerthaCampaDiva]

I googled a couple of links that seem to give kudos to Ventrilo for voice chat in online multi-player gaming when lag is of concern.

http://worldplayonline.com/article-Vent ... Skype.html
excerpt: "These three programs each have something different to offer to the voice communication world. Ventrilo is the best for online gaming if you’re a casual to hardcore PC gamer. TeamSpeak comes in handy when you do not have a high performance computer and need to save on memory and reduce lag possibilities. Skype is best for one on one conversations and meetings because of its great sound quality."

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 309AAurlqZ
excerpt: Ventrilo gives excellent voice quality and doesn't seem to tax your internet connection as much as skype does."

I can't vouch for opinions on these websites.. their validity is as good as a wiki I guess.

EDIT: BTW BC was blinking like a christmas light lol.