If you play multiplayer games, you probably use voice chat. Voice chat is the devil’s work for so many reasons, but it’s especially bad if you forget to turn it off when you’re done.
I was playing The Darwin Project yesterday, a battle royale where voice chat plays a big role in the game’s strategy and tone. I died, and as I was flipping through surviving players to spectate, I came across someone who didn’t seem to know, or maybe just didn’t care, that they’d left their voice chat open. I eavesdropped on them talking to someone else in the room about a friend who had been fired from their job. I wasn’t able to communicate with them, so I couldn’t warn them that any other spectator or any other player near them in the match could hear the gory details of their friend’s very bad day. It was excruciating, but then again, who doesn’t like gossip?
I constantly forget whether or not my voice chat is on when I’m playing games. This leads to me either shouting to teammates who can’t hear me or—far more often—forcing people to listen to me grunt and mutter to myself until someone reminds me to mute. I’m especially prone to forgetting to hang up Discord’s voice chat when I’m done with it. More than one friend has texted to tell me they can hear me cooking or getting ready for bed after we’re done playing games. I talk to myself pretty much constantly, and while I’ve managed to avoid saying anything particularly embarrassing on voice chat, it feels like it’s only a matter of time.
Have you ever forgotten your mic was on, or neglected to turn it off? I’m sure you have some cringe-worthy stories to share.