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TeamSpeak

What Are Teamspeak Servers?

If you participate in MMORPGs or perform detailed software work with multiple users on different computers in various locations, you already know the importance of a reliable voice chat connection to ensure clear, timely communication. Whether you need more flexible control over who can enter your group’s chat, or a system with more dependability and stability than what you’re currently using, TeamSpeak servers are a great option for WOW players, other MMORPG gamers, and anyone who relies on voice over IP chat for their work-related or gaming needs.

A TeamSpeak server allows you to customize and control who you chat with, with full administrative functions that allow you to add or delete users at your discretion. At any time, you have the ability to add slots and manage all aspects of your group’s online communications. With your own TeamSpeak server, you’ll enjoy crystal-clear audio, web-based administration control, and a fully adjustable and scalable user permissions system.

With this solution, you’ll have the ultimate control over how you and your friends connect online. All you need is a microphone and headset to start enjoying the benefits of your own TeamSpeak server. Finally – a cost-effective way to have ultimate control over your group’s voice chat, with instant set up, live support, unlimited bandwidth, and other premium services. Please visit our website for more information.

You can purchase a server from one of the hosts on TeamSpeak.com or go through the headache of installing the server software yourself. This is not recommended.

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TeamSpeak

Online Gaming – 10 Tips On How To Keep Your Clan Active

Causes of inactivity

“Know your enemy” as an old saying goes. If you want to use the right tool to counter inactivity, you will first have to find out what causes the inactivity and in which area. An example: if your clan members barely visit your clan website and forums, countering this with organising an internal ladder is not the best option: they won’t read the announcement for it. Better it would be to contact a few randomly selected members on an instant chat programme, i.e. MSN, ICQ and the like, and see what his or her personal interests are. With that knowledge, you will be able to group your clan members based on common interests. Thus starting a few forum topics which are related to their common interests usually cures the forum inactivity. Fact is: you will have to be creative to find the cause of an inactivity. Chances are slim a member will come to you with the message: “hi, you can cure my inactivity by installing a blog for me.” If it would only be so easy… 😉

10 tips to keep your clan active

This is probably the part of the text you are actually looking for. However, I would suggest reading this entire article as I cannot guarantee the following 10 tips will work if you simply use them as misguided missiles.

1. Host internal tournaments or ladders

Usually a never-ending, member-only ladder can be used as a preventive measure against inactivity. It keeps both the clan activity in-game and on-site — i.e. clan website — stable. This because members will play ladder games whenever they please, they will upload the result of the match as a recorded game, and they will comment on each others performances, strategies and the like.

2. Have weekly meetings with members

Many clan leaders underestimate the power of common conversation. Having a weekly or bi-weekly meeting with your clan members in a chatroom can do a lot of good to the morale — not to mention the sense of unity — amongst the participating members. Of course, you ought to invite your clan members on a voluntary basis. Try publishing the invitation for such a meeting on a place which your clan members visit often. I.e. if they do not check forums often, use word-of-mouth instead: tell one member you organise a meeting, and he will spread the word to fellow clan members he encounters. Have such a meeting in a chat program or teamspeak, I personally prefer teamspeak above a chat window with my clan members as it raises the “sense of communicating with another human being” rather than reading some text off a chat window from a complete stranger.

3. Have on-going topics in your forums, i.e. “forum games”

Having one or, if you like, a few on-going topics in your clan forums usually causes both site visitors and clan members to return. Just Google for the words “forum games” and you should be finding yourself an ocean of examples. Just to pick one for the lazy ones out there: the never-ending story. One person posts a few lines of a made-up story, the next poster continues the story with his own few lines. This goes on and on. Not only this measure is considered fun by forum junkies and spammers — i.e. people who post awfully much — it also gets your clan members an opportunity to work together on something.

4. Have surveys and discussions

Not every clan leader is as talkative as your aunt is. For those who have no clue on how to start a conversation on a chat programme with your fellow clan members, a survey can be the solution. You could use a survey or a poll to find out what your members like, dislike, adore, hate and the like. All you have to do is create the poll, and design the voting options. If you are not familiar with creating an effective poll, then I would suggest to keep it basic. Give your voters three options: black, grey and white. Black being the hate or disliking something, grey being neutral about the issue, and white being a fan or in agreement of the matter at hand respectively. With polls you can usually launch a discussion to sort out why someone voted on a certain option. This deepens out the poll and can get you valuable information as a clan leader on the likes and dislikes of your clan members. Just make sure the discussion does not go off-topic, though!

5. Encourage the creation of interesting articles

This one sounds harder than it looks like. What it basically comes to is that you reward the members which are active in the game the clan is involved in. Active clan members have their own play-style: they have considerable knowledge of the game they play, they know strategies, tricks and the like. Why not design a system which rewards those members by sharing their knowledge with their fellow clan members. The reward can be a small token of appreciation — usually this already is enough. Its kind of hard to describe, so you will basically have to see for yourself. For Legio Romana, I have such modest award system in place. I combined the Guild Roster with it. A member gets a “medal” next to his name for forum posts, articles written and other in-game achievements depending on the game your clan caters to.

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TeamSpeak

Ventrilo vs. Teamspeak Servers for Voice Communication

Ventrilo and Teamspeak are inherently two very similar applications. In their purest form, both utilize a Voice over IP technology in a client-server layout to allow gamers to communicate online. In other words, many users can install the software on their home computer (the “client”), which is organized through one central hub (the “server”) placed ideally in a well-connected data center in the local region as to minimize latency.

Teamspeak and Ventrilo are most often used with a computer headset, however both will work fine with simply a microphone and speakers. Some popular games that use these technologies include World of Warcraft, Everquest, Counterstrike, America’s Army, and virtually any other online game where gamers can utilize teamwork to accomplish the game’s objectives. Client-side applications for either voice utility have been successfully implemented for Windows, Apple OS X, and a wide variety of unix-based operating systems.

Ventrilo Servers

Ventrilo’s first release was let out on August 3, 2002 which replaced outdated predecessor Roger Wilco released in October of 1999. Although it has not completely overtaken the market, Ventrilo has expanded its market share heavily over the multi-user VoIP industry in recent years. Ventrilo communicates primarily over TCP, and depending on the level of active codecs, tends to be more bandwidth-intensive. Users of Ventrilo’s client interface tend to prefer its simple and light-weight display.

TeamSpeak Servers

Teamspeak was initially released on August 29, 2003 by Ralf Ludwig and Niels Werensteijn in Germany. The current release of Teamspeak is Teamspeak 3. Teamspeak communicates its packets primarily over UDP and is a processor-intensive application due to a reliance on SQL database queries server-side. Teamspeak 3’s client interface is very feature-rich, however slightly bulkier than Ventrilo.

Future Development

The Alpha release of Teamspeak 3 contains a number of new features such as tabbed server participation, revised instant messaging similar to IRC and AIM and is expected to be released before the end of 2007. Little has been said about the next release of Ventrilo, however a new Ventrilo release is also expected soon which should remain very competitive with Teamspeak as well as any other entries to the voice industry in the foreseeable future.

As online voice communication evolves, one thing is for certain- with the fiercely competitive development of either application, users need not let their hopes down for the future of online gaming.