WoW/Teamspeak shyness

I know this is a wierd topic, but I joined a guild on WoW (still a bit of a noob) and today I installed and setup teamspeak. Thing is I feel too shy to talk to other members. Has anyone else had this or have any advice?

Breathe really loudly in the microphone to let them know you're alpha.

@Chris_53:

I never found talking through headsets appealing, especially with random people.

However, i found it easier to talk to guildies that i already typed to on a regular basis. Still, i never really socialized with them because if I'm investing that much effort to get to know someone I'd rather do it with real people. I mainly listened and spouted out the occasional "low mana" etc. Only in raids. Never talked on headsets just because.

Just let it happen naturally bby. We had a few shy peeps in my pvp crew back in vanilla, but they started speaking up when they noticed it was more efficient during games.

It did feel sort of weird and very distracting at first (I play shooters). Also, I needed to speak English the whole time which was a bit of a drag. I guess I was a little shy, too, but I got used to it after, hmm, 3 days? They only talked about the game, anyway, and through time I met some people on team speak that I became good friends with (well, FB friends).

thanks you made my day

I always had this problem too but mainly because I played on US servers when I played WoW and EQ and Americans find it hard to understand my Yorkshire accent.

find out what some guild members are into. early on its good to just sit back and listen to your guild members and just see how they are. Get a feel on how one would react to certain jokes or comments and then just slowly start talking to one of them.

Just dont be rude

Only real advice I'd give to someone with any sort of social anxiety in a group situation is don't feel forced to talk a bunch unless you really have something to say and it's a good time to say it. Some people will say just about anything to break the ice and bring levity - you're a lot better off if you don't try to warm up to people by accidentally saying something awkward/weird because you feel the need to talk just as much as everyone else the first time you meet people. Just be yourself.

I feel you man, I am shy too. When I first joined my guild I barely talked and I still barely talk except when it's raid time.

Protip right there lol :P

You don't have to engage in small talk. For starters, just talk when the game requires you to(notify your teammates about your state etc). Maybe you'll start opening up naturally after a while. If not, just keep it to the bare minimum, no harm done.

@Chris_53: I am going to be honest, this is one of the main reasons I have a hard time really getting into most MMO games. I feel like participating in guild activities but at the same time I do not really want to talk to random people. I end up having to join what are basically noob clans that do not require the teamspeak/vent. Still though not participating in those voice chat servers limits your ability to work together so I understand why most require it.

To summarize, I do not think your weird and I totally get where your coming from on this topic.

Get a Samuel L Jackson soundboard.

Be yourself. And, don't try too hard. You'll be fine, lad.

No it's not a weird question at all.

If you're new to comms, that's kinda normal, especially if it's a smaller guild that runs a Teamspeak channel of 3-7ish people, since a smaller group can come across as a clique at first.

There's some good advice here already. Especially from lawlessx. But sometimes you may not have found the wrong people.

it could be that you've just mixed in with a group of people that you cant really associate with much. The diversity of people that play MMO's seem quite large and consist of different cultures and attitudes - there's bound to be a group that may fit your personality alot more out there.

I may not be on your end either and it's just the people lack proper mannerisms. eg. I find the more welcoming communities almost always say "Welcome" or "hey what's up" once you log into a channel, prompting you to natually talk and be yourself.

Just talk. Like you would to anybody that was right next to you.

I don't play games with people who don't use mics. To me someone who doesn't use a mic doesn't have the capability to work with everybody else that I'm playing with.

I found this to be the case in Payday 2 a lot. I have two buddies that play that game with me and we'd always get a random who didn't use a mic. 9 times out of 10 that rando would die, do something stupid, or not be able to communicate via text quick enough to alert us to things.

Voice comms are here to stay. Get used to them.