We should implement into this server a voice counter for overtime periods. When I play without it, I often lose a period because I misjudge how many seconds are left, and play right after time expires. Looking over at the time will break my reading concentration. I much prefer a voice to count out the last 10 seconds.

This feature exists elsewhere, but in limited form. We can make it better. First, both genders should be represented. This way everyone is comfortable. Second, we can playback in many languages. Our strong community can create the different languages, for kaya's use. This will open up the server for worldwide usage.

I am not skilled enough to say the best way to implement this. It may be best to have an option in kaya to select the voice type you want, and download the files to the user's computer from off site. This combines the ease of use for people who don't understand computers well, but also allows the community to contribute the voice paks to a repository. Otherwise, too much bandwidth is used to send the file repeatedly to many consumers.

Its not about the techinical solution, but about finding the correct audio files. I dont think many languages is a practical solution. The voice has to be clear and as professional as possible, and if its amateur produced it won't.

Even for non-english speakers, an english voice is 99% a solution, the same way you get used to korean clocks after a few games.


That said, adding this byoyomi voice is not difficult at all. If someone wants to provide the audio, we can put it in the server soon. I think girls voice is much more preferred. We know there arent many girls playing go, but we might as well kid ourselves that there are .

Regards,

_________________
Founder of Kaya.gs

kaya.gs would probably benefit though from having multiple langues. English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese should suffice. But getting as big a piece of a cake of those markets should be very beneficial.

To get good audio does not require too many equipment, thanks to the digital age. I have the capability to record professional sound as do many people I know. I would assume similar rates throughout the community here. You guys are recording the stone noises, right? If a couple of computer programmers can do it, then I feel like people who are involved in the audio business shouldn't have a problem

Of course many people know English. I can count to ten in French, German, Chinese, and Japanese as well. Its one of the first things you learn in a language. But it isn't about understanding. It is about welcoming. If someone from an underrepresented baduk area has counting in his own language, he will think "Wow! These guys really care about me." And there is no additional work for you.

I feel strongly that both genders should be represented. To say that the girls voice is preferred is very misogynistic. It is disappointing to hear from someone who will be providing services to the community in the future.

If necessary I could do English Hebrew (and maybe Spanish but with a horrible accent).

I have always like the way the Japanese do it on NHK during the tournaments. (They also have nice voices).

When there are 10 seconds remaining, they say 10 seconds (in Japanese of course)
Then, they count down from 5 seconds and also tell when the player enters byo-yomi or how many periods are left.

I think during the tournaments, they do not actually see a play clock, so it is important to keep the players informed. I am not sure, though. There might be a clock somewhere they can see. Anyway, I think it is a good idea. Although I would be fine with English, I like the way the Japanese sounds.

Most people have terrible voices, so even if it's a good quality recording, the voice will irritate very quickly. They're nasally, whiny, uneven, accented, stressed, mumbly, etc. There's a reason voice actors are well paid to do audio books. Presumably getting a professional will be difficult, but at least try and find (for English) a British, or less ideally an American person, who has a mild accent. Definitely do not choose someone for whom English is a second language.

You might have some joy looking on the internet, after all you just need someone counting up to or down from 10, but I must admit I struggled. It was very difficult to find anything by a British person, but I did find some decent American recordings, e.g. this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYh7Ujh7 ... er&list=UL but it had some faint background music. Perhaps someone with better google-fu can do better.