Separate Voice-Volume Sliders for Friends and Non-Friends
Ѕander
Background:
Public worlds have become an audio roulette: one stranger joins with a boosted microphone, another drops a full-volume music bot, and suddenly every conversation is drowned out. Users with tinnitus, hyperacusis, or simply low-cost headphones are forced to crank the master volume just to hear their friends—then get hit with ear-splitting peaks. My friend left a recent session in pain for exactly this reason.
Current Limitations:
- Master “Voice Volume” slider is global; turning it down punishes friends when strangers shout.
- Per-user volume is reactive; you can’t adjust a screamer until after the damage.
- Block/Mute removes all voice, not just excessive gain.
Nothing offers a proactive, persistent baseline difference between friends and everyone else.
Proposed Solution:
Add one extra control under Settings → Audio:
- Friends Voice Volume (existing control, default 100 %)
- Non-Friends Voice Volume (new control, default 100 %)
Users set the non-friends baseline once—say 40 %—and it persists across sessions.
How It Works:
- VRChat already tags each player as friend or non-friend. The new slider multiplies incoming voice gain for non-friends only.
- Manual per-user adjustments still stack on top of the baseline, so power users keep granular control.
- When someone becomes (or stops being) a friend, their voice automatically follows the correct baseline.
- If both sliders are equal, behaviour is identical to today: zero regression.
Edge Cases:
- Baseline range remains 0–100 % to avoid clipping or negative gain.
- Works the same in private, friends+, and public instances.
- Streamer mode could expose the non-friend slider to a hotkey for quick on-air balancing.
Impact:
- Accessibility: immediate protection for users with hearing difficulties or sensitive ears.
- Quality-of-Life: no more master-volume yo-yo when DJs join public lobbies.
- Content Creation: streamers keep friends audible while background chaos stays civil.
- Community Health: encourages better mic etiquette without forcing harsh mutes and blocks.
Conclusion
One additional slider leverages existing friend logic to deliver major accessibility and comfort gains with minimal development effort. Let us keep our friends loud and the random karaoke soft—before the next 110 dB jump-scare hits.
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Eliх
To be honest it's gonna be kind of game breaking since I am sure there will be toxic people who will mute everyone BUT their friends.
I do love your general idea however.
So if I were to add that to the game I would just put a new toggle to the earmuffs instead:
The toggle will do what earmuffs usually do, BUT it will not touch your friends. So if you activate the toggle, your friends will NOT be affected by the earmuffs.
Ѕander
Eliх
You raise a valid concern, but while the earmuff toggle is a creative idea, I believe it doesn't solve the core problem from the original post due to how it functions in critical situations.
My understanding of your proposal is:
Standard Earmuff Function: A spatial audio bubble dampens sound from far away people.
New "Friends Toggle": This exempts friends, so you always hear them clearly.
While clever for hearing distant friends, it doesn't change the behavior for nearby non-friends. Once they enter your personal space, the earmuffs stop affecting them, which is the main weakness.
The Core Problem: A Loud Stranger Nearby
The original post's issue is a loud user at close range. Here's how each feature handles that:
With Separate Sliders: A stranger with a maxed-out mic approaches. Their volume is already attenuated to your preset default (e.g., 40%). The audio jump-scare is prevented.
With Your Modified Earmuffs: You have the earmuffs on. The same loud stranger enters your "hearing bubble." The earmuff effect stops applying to them, and you're hit with their full, unmodified volume. The tool fails when it's needed most.
The "Game Breaking" Concern
Regarding the "game breaking" point: the game already offers a more extreme version of this. The Safety Settings let any player completely block audio and avatars from non-friends. The slider isn't a new tool for isolation; it's a more nuanced audio management feature than the existing block tools.
Your proposal is good for hearing distant friends, but it doesn't solve the core issue: protection from loud, nearby non-friends.
The separate volume sliders directly solve this with persistent, relational audio control (friend vs. non-friend) that works regardless of distance, offering a true fix for the "audio roulette" in public worlds.