I'm fairly certain that it will be possible to lower the volume of voice chat all the way down to zero, temporarily mute it, or just not have it enabled at all. Which means- all the people freaking out over being forced to hear every 11 year old on Runescape's moans and grunts can calm down. Also, to the people saying that TS/vent/etc's features are better than the RS voice system's freatures (how something can be better better than something that currently doesn't exist, and as such whose features are not currently known, is a concept I'm not sure I can fully understand, but that's another issue) I'm pretty sure that there will be some degree of customization by the user. Perhaps disabled(muted) during combat? During movement? Certain skills, activities, or areas? I'm also pretty sure that if there were to be privateish channels, similar to clan chats or TS/Vent channels that, like CCs, the leader would be able to grant certain ranks and administer settings about the channel. Why could they do it in CC but not in a VC channeL? In the end, who knows. We can't make judgment about something we know nothing about. Plus, as someone before me has pointed out, a RS based voice chat would eliminate issues of external software compatibility. BRB downloading a certain program because I want to VC with someone for a few minutes Not only would it remove compatibility issues, but it would also (as someone pointed earlier as well) remove issues such as sharing other personal information or private channel information, which could be abused by someone with malicious intents. Also, those saying that it's a bad idea because users would be forced to abide by Jagex's rules, aren't you having to abide by their rules in playing runescape in the first place? If it would be problematic to follow their guidelines for VC (whatever they may be) then you are just as free to pick up a third party voice program. RS voice chat and third party voice programs are not mutually exclusive. I personally think it would be fun to be able to speak with anyone in the area also willing to speak. Here are some of the pros and cons that I've come up with, anyone can be free to come up with their own list Pros: no software issues, no private information shared, new avenue for forming friendships Cons: possibility of increasing lag, Jagex could be putting effort into more arguably important content (quests, skills, etc) I'd be very wary of including speculation about certain features, or lack thereof, into a list of pros and cons, as they are only speculation.