This is an overview of what we expect from our members in voice communications on Discord and elsewhere. You will learn about our rules and practices:

• Communicate effectively with other members
• Respect the group that you are interacting with
• Know when to use push-to-talk
• Understand Voice Comms Etiquette

Joining a Voice Room (Event & Freeplay)

Finding a Voice Chat

Choose from any number of voice channels in the GII segment of the Discord server, or in other voice channels if you would like to play with other players. Please respect private rooms, training rooms, and others that may be focusing on something particular. Use the text chat connected to the voice channel to request permission to join if you are interested.

Joining a Voice Chat

To join a channel, simply click on it. If you have permission to join you will be added to the group. Upon entering the room, wait for a lull in communication to avoid interrupting an ongoing discussion. Pay attention to the tone of the room, and avoid disrupting ongoing discussion or gameplay. If members are playing or taking part in another activity, DO NOT attempt to change the topic of their conversations unless they’ve expressed interest.

If you are joining an activity, voice comms will be relatively open, but you should read the room before speaking. If you join a mission or operation, both of these may have more strict comms and be hosted on Guilded. For more about how to use this platform, follow the link.

Voice Room Etiquette

Consider Your Background Noise

Unfortunately, most of us have been in a discord channel where the situation is untenable for a number of reasons, (a person won’t stop talking, barking dogs in the background, ringing telephones, or clacking keyboards). When we use Guilded comms we are doing so because we need clear and organized communication, so it is imperative that we do what we can to avoid lousy comms etiquette.

Clear and Concise

• Avoid long periods of off-topic conversation
• Avoid talking over other players
• We are all here to have fun, but part of participating in org events is that sometimes we have to put the experience of our fellow players above our own.

Utilize in-Game Chat to Your Advantage

• Keep Star Citizen in-game chat open at all times.
• Utilize party chat to communicate with the team whenever voice comms are not necessary
  • To utilize party chat, open a chat window with ‘enter’ and press the ‘tab’ repeatedly until the party chat indicator appears.
• Suggested party chat communication includes:
  • Command updating current alert level (covered in the last section of this document)
  • Updating the group on your fuel or munitions levels when not at a critical level

Clean PTT Or Voice Activation

In smaller events, voice activation should work just fine. However, in larger activities (10+ players), missions, etc. While not popular with everyone, it is highly recommended that all participants in larger events, missions, etc… use Push To Talk (PTT) rather than voice-activated comms. This will cut down on unnecessary communications. Depending on the event, mission, or operation the event organizer may REQUIRE all members to use PTT.

As such, prior to the start of the mission/operation, each participant will need to set PTT Hotkeys on their controllers and/or keyboards according to their channel and position in the mission/operation.

Avoiding Background Noise! 

• Carefully place your microphone
• Shut the door
• Turn your cell phone ringer down
• If using voice activation, carefully adjust your voice activation slider in your settings to avoid most background noise (keyboards, pets, children)
• If you can’t do one or all of these, turn on Push to Talk
• You will be asked to mute yourself if your audio is distracting.
• Respect Alert Levels outlined below:

Communicating within your channel

During gameplay variations of clear communication will be needed. The following can depend on whehter you are communicating with somebody in the same room, or on a different planet. Keep context in-mind while practicing better communication.

Clear Communication

• Listen to ensure the channel is clear for you.
• Press the PTT key bind.
• Say “[your call sign]” to/for “[their call sign]”.
• Wait for the recipient to acknowledge or give you the go ahead.
• Convey your message.
• The recipient confirms the message and ends the transmission.

Example Of Communication Within Channels

• StoicMako: “StoicMako to Lord Skippy.”
• Lord Skippy responds: “Lord Skippy. Go Ahead”
• StoicMako: “We are moving to the second floor and setting up there.”
• Lord Skippy: “Copy/Roger (you are moving to the second floor).”

Examples Common Communications Lingo

• Go Ahead – Resume transmission
• Say Again – Re-transmit your message
• Stand-by – Transmission has been acknowledged, but I am unable to respond now.
• Roger – Message received and understood.
• Affirmative – Yes – Avoid yup, nope, etc.
• Negative – No
• Break – Pause communication, still transmitting more.
• Over – Transmission finished.
• Out – Communication is over and the channel is available for others.

Disclaimer

1. These are the most basic rules regarding communication in GII. Additional communication guides are available for more specialized situations such as on Guilded.
2. Members from the Full Member rank and higher are expected to understand these rules thoroughly.
3. Our priority is to foster an enjoyable and predictable voice communication experience for our members, so they can feel at ease as they go about their daily activities.

---

Thank you for considering others while using your coms!

GII will consider your remaining presence in the org as acceptance of these guidelines.