That seems pricey for just chat service you must have deep pockets
Considering the headaches I've had with it over the past 15 years whether in a FPS like Quake/Quake 2/UT or MMO's like EQ, EQ2, VG, Eve Online, etc. it'd be worth it for me.
Yeah 10 USD would be on the high side. But that just exemplifies how much I think it's worth to be able to have universal voice that anyone and everyone can easily drop in and drop out of.
The quantity isn't what matters as Billy Idol thought I meant (not his fault since I focused on the MMO voice chat experience), but the convenience.
Being able to have something universal that people can drop into and drop out of at anytime without ever having to...
1. Ask them to pop into our voice chat.
2. Determine if they have Ventrilo (what we usually use)
3. If they have Ventrilo go to step 7, otherwise continue.
4. If they don't have Ventrilo, instruct them how to get it an install it.
5. If they don't know how to configure it, instruct them on how to configure it.
6. If their mic isn't properly calibrated, instruct them on how to configure it.
7. Tell them what the Ventrilo server address and connection info is.
7a. Tell them again if they don't get it right.
8. Pray that they don't have a wonkey setup where you get "helicopter noises" while they are talking, or too low/too high volume, or any other problems.
9. Finally get to play.
It's annoying in general after you've gone through this a few hundred times. It's even more annoying if you want to do it in a team based FPS where by the time you get some people setup, the match is over and you may never see that person again.
So while 10 USD a month would be on the high side (I know Guild leaders who pay upwards of 50 USD or more a month for a quality voice chat server host), it would be worth it to me just not to ever have to deal with the above ever again.
Don't even get me started on problems that come up for games that have native voice chat support. Grrrr.
Regards,
SB