How can I use voice chat or just chat where there are no games?

Arcade enables you to create and join chat rooms that aren't affiliated with specific games or Websites on our network. To get started with a non-game chat, simply click on the "Chat" button in the upper left-hand area of the Arcade software (in the section right above the GameSpy Sites / My Games / Parlor Games toolbar). This should take you to a page that lists all of the various categories of chat that the Arcade community has to offer. Looking for a little friendly conversation? Pick a category from under the "General" heading. Looking for love? Try one of our saucy "Romance" rooms. Want to gab about last night's episode of Dark Angel or the Yankees game? The "Entertainment" section is for you. Just pick the category that seems to best suit your interests, click the link, and biggety-BAM! You're ready to chat. Once you've entered the lobby for one of the chat categories, you have a number of conversation options. You can either hang out in the main lobby and yak with the folks who've gathered there, or you can opt for something a little more intimate and choose to join or create a smaller chat room.

When you enter a non-game chat lobby, you'll see a list of available chat rooms that you can choose to join.

• Joining a chat room: Joining user-created chat rooms in Arcade is a piece of cake. Just scan through the list of rooms in the upper window of the Arcade software until you find a room you'd like to join, select the listing with your mouse, then either double-click the listing or hit the "Join Room" button at the top of the screen. This will take you into the chat room -- just start typing to join in the conversation! If you're looking for a specific chat room in the lobby you've entered, try using Arcade's filters at the top of the room listing window to track it down.
• Creating a chat room: Not happy with the current selection chat rooms in the lobby you've entered? Why not create your own room? Arcade makes it stunningly simple. Simply click the "Create Room" button at the top of the screen. Arcade will ask you to define the room's parameters -- the room's name, a brief description, the maximum number of people that can join the room at any one time, and whether or not you want to enable voice chat. Once you've plugged in this information, hit the "Create Room" button. Arcade will immediately launch the room and drop you into it. Now you're ready to start your gab-fest. Use PlayerSpy to message your buddies and invite them to join in the conversation. Voice Chat
  
  GameSpy Arcade enables users to voice-chat in non-game chat lobbies and in peer-to-peer and parlor game staging rooms (the rooms you create or enter just prior to launching a game). Subscribers can continue voice-chatting even after their game has launched (an ideal feature for both team gaming and smack talking!).
  
  Using voice chat in Arcade is just about as easy as chatting with the keyboard. All you need to get set up is a microphone and some speakers (though, in order to avoid feedback and really harsh annoying noises, we strongly recommend using headphones). Make sure everything is plugged in to the proper jacks in the back of your PC, then follow the instructions above to head into a chat lobby.
  
  While in a room with voice chat enabled, you will see controls like these.
  
  Joining A Room With Voice Chat
  
  When joining someone else's chat room, you'll only be able to chat if they've enabled voice chat function. If they've enabled it, you should see a few buttons at the bottom right-hand corner of the software upon entering the chat room. The "Talk" button should be pretty self-explanatory. Click it with your mouse, and Arcade will broadcast whatever you say into your microphone to everyone else in the chat room who is listening. The "?" button will allow you to configure your microphone to make your voice sound a little better. No, you can't make yourself artificially sound like Barry White or pitch correct your crooning like Britney, but you can reduce some distortion, lower your microphone or headphone volume, and reduce the amount of RAM that the voice-chat system uses (although this will decrease sound quality) to improve your PCs performance. The button on the far right isn't really a button -- it simply indicates how much "talk time" you've got. The chat room host can put a limit on how long people will be able to broadcast sound whenever they hit the "Talk" button. If they set the limit to 20 seconds, for example, you'll only have 20 seconds in which to say what you've got to say before being cut off. Want another 20 seconds? You'll have to hit "Talk" again. Why would somebody do this? To reduce the audio clutter in a crowded chat room, so everyone isn't constantly being bombarded by voices.
  
  To set up a chat room with voice chat, select the "Enable Voice Chat" box in the "Create Room" dialog box.
  
  Creating Your Own Voice Chat Room
  
  To set up a room with voice chat, you'll initially follow the same steps as you would to set up a regular, non-voiced chat room. There's one teeny, tiny extra step. In the dialogue window that appears when you hit the "Create Room" button, you'll need to check the "Enable Voice Chat" box, determine whether or not you want to allow simultaneous talking, and, if you so chose, set a talk time limit (see above). That's it. You're ready to begin subverting the long distance companies! Hit "Create Room" and make with the talking.
  
  Configuring Options
  
  This section covers in detail the configuration of your voice chat options. If you haven't done so already, be sure to configure your microphone To access the Voice Chat Options, click on the "?" icon at the bottom of the panel, as shown previously. This is a very important step, so be sure to follow carefully. It should look like this:
  
  First and foremost, click on the Sound Setup Wizard.. button at the bottom. This is a crucial step, as it configures most of the options for you. Make sure that any applications that use your SoundCard are CLOSED. This includes programs like MSN Messenger, AIM, Yahoo IM, ICQ, etc, games and music programs like Winamp, Windows Media Player, etc. It may also be wise to head over to GameSpy > Options > Sounds and CHECKING the "Mute ALL Sounds" option. Click here for a guide to customizing GameSpy Arcade's Sound Options if you aren't sure where this is.
  
  Clicking now on the "Sound Setup Wizard" will bring up a screen asking you if you want to Test your SoundCard. Hit "Next". Once the Wizard configuration is complete, your basic options should be configured, though you can easily still change them if need be from the menu shown above. If you're familiar with Roger Wilco, the configuration should be fairly obvious from here on.
  
  There are two methods of transmitting your voice when in game. Voice Activated engages the transmission as soon as you speak into your microphone. This is particularly useful if you don't want to have to touch your keyboard when voice-chatting, but is subject to many unwanted transmissions, e.g., if you swear when you're shot! There is a sensitivity slider that allows you to adjust at exactly what voice level the transmission starts. You can also choose to transmit via a keypress (Button Activated), and can specify a custom keyboard key. Holding down this key in game begins your transmission.
  
  You can also adjust how voices are played back by changing the playback device. There are two types, Wave Playback and DirectSound. Wave is compatible with more soundcards, while DirectSound might offer certain users a higher degree of performance if their SoundCard supports it. The same applies for Capturing (Recording).
  
  Specifying Recording/Playback devices is up to you, as it is dependent of your card. Selecting your Primary Sound Driver uses your computer's default configuration. Some users report better performance when using their SoundCard's Hardware device: you'll have to fiddle with these for yourself.