Playing With Friends, Groups, and Teams: Text Chat

Text Chat
(this is a new section and is a work in progress)

Chat Keys
The default keys for group chat is "y" and global chat is "t". Be careful to not send something to global chat that you meant to send to team chat. Giving your plans to the opposing team is generally not a good idea. You have been warned, and, yes I have done this. =(

bugs/annoyances: once you press a chat key the only way to get out of it is to press enter and send a message or press exit and then exit again which will get you back into the game.

Reasons to use text chat:
There are a few reasons that people may prefer text chat or not using voice chat:


 * not enough bandwith to support both game and voice chat
 * do not have the software or headphones and/or do not want to deal with it
 * cannot be in voice chat due to reasons such as familial issues like mine (computer is in bedroom and the wife and kid are sleeping)
 * generally anti-social
 * self-conscious about being a non-native English speaker

Text Chat Pointers
Please try to pay attention and notice what ends up in the text chat window. It can be hard to do this especially in the heat of battle, but information is one of your greatest weapons.

All of the messages that you would normally send via voice comms you can also send via text chat. The shorter the better since it will be easier to read and type. There is a lot to keep track of so short is sweet. Take a look at the Tactical Speak section above so you can get a feel for the sort of info that is valuable and the level of brevity that you can use.

At some point down the line PGI will add more powerful chat functionality.

Text Chat While Using a Voice Client
Please keep in mind that you can also text chat within voice comms too. You can also join a voice voice chat group and these products have a text chat too, so even if you cannot speak you will still benefit from knowing what is going on from hearing the chat from your group, and still be able to communicate via text chat if you need to. I use it at night, which is the only time I can I play, and the wife is sleeping. We have several people in our group that work this way, including some non-native English speakers.