Mummelmann said:
"First, we put a lot of effort into every inch of the online stages, so by playing them over and over again users can get a better feel for the terrain, giving the gameplay more breadth and depth. The characteristics of the weapons and the strategies for using them vary with each weapon, and of course these will vary depending on the stage you use them in and even what combination of equipment your teammates and opponents are using." And then the reason for leaving out voice chat: "We think there are two reasons for wanting to use it: to play strategically, and to know what you opponent is feeling. We designed the game so that it's still possible to play strategically, while also giving due consideration so that there is no extreme advantage one way or the other. In terms of knowing what your opponent is feeling, we really do understand the fun that can be had with this, but we hope that you will also understand that it can also have a negative effect too." So, they dose out the content so users can get familiar with it and develop and learn strategies, and then go on to say that voice chat would be desired as an additional strategic tool, so they didn't want to add it. They want people to play the maps over and over and get skilled with the various weapons but they don't want them to plan and communicate to improve strategy? If they had simply stated that; "We don't feel that the game would benefit from voice chat, so we didn't add it." it would be fine, but this reasoning is out of whack. |
What I took that to mean was "We don't think Splatoon would benefit from voice chat and at the same time believe it would give some players an unfair advantage".
I think they want to keep an even playing field and more importantly want to keep people from having to deal with dickishness. I don't really understand why you think that contradicts them bringing everyone into the game slowly to keep everyone even. In my mind it only reinforces it.
I personally don't mind the lack of voice chat, but I don't really enjoy playing online anyways. The lack of a true local multi has ruined all excitement I might have harbored for this game.