Toggle speech bubbles - Why speech bubbles are amazing and needs to be implemented.

I tried to find out information on this subject and the only thing I could find was a transcript of the February stream Q&A.

Q: Are there any plans for speech bubbles or other instruments (best solution optional, because some love them as me, but also some doesn’t like it) to the the local (say channel) written text above (or near) the character.
A: Not right now. When there’s a lot of people in one area it gets really messy.

I believe the lack of speech bubbles is to the detriment of players engaging with each other in an immersive and personal way. A lot of modern MMO's relegate all communication to a box in the corner of the screen. A decision that I believe creates a disconnect between players and characters. At times it can be difficult to even realize that someone is talking to you or who is saying what or where player engagement is taking place. Communication no longer happens in the world, it happens in a cluttered, disconnected box in the corner. The world feels a lot more alive if you can actually see interactions in the world, real life communication isn't relegated to a box. It is a part of the world, it happens at certain places, at certain times, between certain people. It is pretty jarring, at least to me, that a lively conversation between random people in a town manifests it self as an awkward staring contest in the actual world.

Role-players especially tends to favor this, but you don't have to RP to appreciate a living, interactive world. I know some people don't like speech bubbles, so the best compromise would be to enable the possibility to toggle this on and off. So that people who don't like it or people who want to hide their UI for screenshots or other things don't have to see it. But for me personally, if there is a crazy man shouting in the town square then I want to be able to identify that there is a crazy man shouting in the town square.

Since the developers have been quite adamant about not allowing addons that would fix this, then asking here is really the only option. Please don't relegate all communication to a box in the corner. The world feels so much more alive when you can see the person who is typing and it all becomes a lot more personal.

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Comments

Yuyukoyay

I like speech bubbles. Makes it easier to boot the 10 year old yelling the N word nonstop.

Moriawe

From an old SWG player, I LOVED the chatbubbles! Not just for RP even though it is my main reason (as my voice in a voicechat may not really fit with my characters voice) but to locate who is speaking to me.
In a crowded marketplace I might wish to turn them off though but it would be easier for me to locate the person actually talking than just seeing text spammed in textchat.

I respect that we have different feelings about this, so an option to be able to turn it on or off would of course be awesome.

Dreoh

Speech bubbles definitely help with immersion. Your eyes are drawn to the person "speaking" and you are aware of it immediately.

The alternative is someone types something, then everyone around them sees it the next time they glance at their chatlog, THEN they have to see who spoke and look for the person with the matching name (if they don't know the person), and then respond accordingly. And it's entirely possible they might not have noticed the message until after the speaker has left the area.

The idea that it needs to be disabled for everyone because it's sometimes detrimental is a bit ridiculous.
Having options is usually the better outcome for quality of life things like this.

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