Nothing irritates me more than a glaring problem that could easily be fixed, but hasn't been. And ambient dialogue definitely fits into that category. But it's not really much fun to sit in a corner paralyzed with rage, so during my time there I've given some thought as to why developers have left the problem largely unaddressed. I've come to the conclusion that, just like the dog situation at my house, there are two very different points of view contributing to this problem.
Point of View No. 1 - the Player
There's one thing you can say about a good videogame - it's immersive. The guy with the controller in his hand is so engrossed in the experience, so focused on the challenge he's facing on the screen that the house could be burning down around him and he wouldn't notice - let alone realize that some in-game noises might be annoying his roommates. If you haven't been on the receiving end of this, trust me: You've been on the giving end. Your girlfriend isn't just annoyed because you're paying more attention to the game than to her. That constant, repetitive, monotonous dialogue makes people who aren't immersed in the game want to throttle you.
Don't think I'm just in this for the sake of the innocent bystanders. Monotonous barks annoy players, too - just not to quite the same degree. And what's worse, those monotonous barks have become a tradition, a convention in videogames. Confront a gamer about it, and he'll usually respond with something like, "Sure it's annoying, but all videogames do it."
Players, I'm here to tell you not all traditions are worth holding on to - and to beg you to please, please, for the sake of the women and children, let this one go.
Sure, we all have fond memories of Breakout using bleeps and bloops to let you know when you hit a brick, but most videogames today are not made by a single programmer in his garage. We have the technology. We can make our characters feel more intelligent than a brick. Trust me players - it's possible. You don't have to sit there and take this kind of treatment just because this is the way it's always been. When you've got your own customized avatar running around a gorgeously rendered forest killing rats, surely it would be better if that avatar had more than one kind of grunt.
Are you with me? Can you feel the indignation swelling within you? Then let your own unique voices be heard. Developers can fix this; they just don't know how worn that one spot on your tympanic membrane really is. So tell them. You've been suffering in silence too long.
Trust me. Until I got into the videogame industry myself, I had no idea how easy this is to fix. They have no excuse!
Except that they do...
