Okay... voice chat in games is probably the STUPIDEST ideas ever. CnC3, C-S, UT3 and a bunch of other games really exemplify this. Why?
First of all, do you know what the point of voice chat is? To help your teamates better communicate with you? Hell no. Sure it is annoying to type, but it is also annoying to be forced to press and hold a button to speak. Also, games are pretty much the main reason why people can't spell today. Who the hell says "Watch out, they are in the woods coming to gank you" when you can type "care bot" and get out the same meaning? I can easily type "b" faster than I can hold K and say "They are going to bombsite B," in C-S. Maybe I can shave off a couple of seconds if I bound the button to my middle mouse button, but I find typing "b" much more convenient. So what the hell is voice chat for? So 12 year olds can swear at you in all their high-pitched glory. Seriously, no joke. Have you ever even played a game where voice chat is used effectively when it is provided? I never have, and usually mute people if I can. I don't need to ever use the function, which brings me to my second point.
Why the hell do you need voice chat when you have Ventrilo and Team-Speak? Not because you are too poor, for it isn't hard to invade someone else's vent and bring your friends along for some late night action (>.>). Hell, there are public channels for your convenience. Sure you have to deal with a couple of idiots who need a hobby here or there, but it sure as hell beats the in game function, where kids learn how to swear and call you a n00b before they learn their alphabet, or how to play the game for that matter. I don't even need to reach down and hold a button to speak, I just talk. I have never played a game where convenience like that has been offered to me. Sure I can't talk to my teammates in a Pub, but I'm getting to that on my third point.
No on in pubs want to hear you speak. It's as annoying as hell when some smartass cranks up his microphone and starts shouting into it like he is playing in the WCGs or something. I have a hard time deciding which is more annoying, the smartass or the 10 year old. It's a goddamn pub for God's sake. No one gives a crap that you need help. Helping you won't increase their k/dr and they won't care beyond that. Yes, winning in a public game might give you whatever incentive you get that makes you go crazy on your teammates, but this is only their 3rd time playing and they don't know what the hell you are saying when you tell them that they should run. "Run? Whuzzat? Why is there words coming on my screen? I thought I was playing single player."
Bottom line is, in game voice chat is a gimmick, and completely unnecessary. I rather SD and GPG waste their time on something else than voice chat in game.
The point of voicechat is to have people listen.
While it is true that you can type B faster than holding down a button and saying Bombsite B (Why not just saying "B" instead? i digress), the team might not pay attention to a small text that appears on the left when things heat up! It's a fact, more people listen to a voice than listen to a text.
Also, play style. In this game, you have to take your hand off your mouse, type enter (shift+enter for smack talk) and then your message, and then reposition your hand. Essentially, to put a Wrestling spin on this, you are going from a good athletic stance for a base and then standing straight up. Why leave yourself so exposed?
Voicechat is one button that gives you access to an infinite number of messages, and you can put it around your 1-4 ASWD key for easier access.
You might say "Well, rebind your chat key to something that is near 1-4/ASWD then!" and you would be sorely mistaken. I am still taking my right hand off my mouse to type in a message- rendering what key i must press to gimp myself irrelevant.
ITT: VOICECHAT NOA!
