One of the most enjoyable aspects of Sero is getting to know other Sero community members who share your interests. You can sit back and relax with your friends in the Sero Cafe, play games in the Game Room, or even let your geek side show in the Tech Room.
Sero’s chat feature is supported both by your desktop and laptop computers, as well as iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android device, or Amazon Fire tablet.
Before accessing the Voice Chat area of Sero with your computer, you should adjust your microphone and your headset or speakers to an appropriate level. You will want to make sure you can comfortably be heard, as well as hear others.
On any recent version of Windows, you can access your volume controls as follows:
Open the Run dialog with Windows+R.
Type, "mmsys.cpl" without the quotes and press Enter.
In this dialog, you'll want to alter your recording settings. To do this:
Press Control+Tab until the system announces: "Recording tab."
Press Tab to find the list of microphones currently on your system.
Use your arrow keys to select the microphone whose settings you want to adjust.
Press Alt+P to open the Properties dialog.
Once inside the Properties Dialog, press Control+Tab until you find the tab called Levels. Within this tab, you'll see a slider which you can adjust with your Up or Down Arrow keys for making small changes, or your Page Up or Page Down keys for larger adjustments.
A good place to start is around 80%. If you have tested your microphone with people in the chat room, and it is not loud enough to hear even at 100%, Tab to the Advanced button in the Volume Adjustment dialog and check the box to boost your microphone levels by 20DB.
Now that your microphone has been configured correctly, you are ready to chat.
To access chat rooms, choose the Voice Chat option from the Sero home screen, and then choose the room you'd like to join by pressing Enter on it.
Note that in rooms which already have participants, you will see the room name followed by the number of people chatting in it.
Two of the listings, Community Chat Server Directory and Public TeamTalk Server Directory, are servers located outside Sero’s family of chat rooms. Both directories host their own suite of servers containing even more chat rooms which you can access.
On Windows, you can also enter a chat room by looking in the Sero Socializer, which will show all chat rooms that currently have participants. Just press Enter on the chat room you wish to enter.
On Windows and Mac, the voice chat feature offers an optional full-duplex mode, meaning that you can both hear those speaking in the chat room as well as keeping your own microphone transmitting continuously without having to press Enter each time you speak.
Each time you enter a room, you will be prompted whether you would like to enter in full-duplex mode or in the traditional mode where you press the Enter key to speak.
If you choose to enter the room in full-duplex mode, it is extremely important that you wear headphones. If you listen to the chat room through your speakers and your microphone is continuously transmitting, each person who speaks will hear a delayed echo of themselves.
For this reason, if you are not wearing headphones, please enter all rooms in push-to-talk mode, and use your Enter key to transmit.
To choose how you'd like to enter a full-duplex room, begin by reading the dialog which pops up before you can enter the room. This dialog asks if you are wearing headphones.
If you are wearing headphones and wish to enter the room in full duplex, answer yes to this dialog.
If you are not wearing headphones, or you just prefer not to have your microphone transmitting continuously in the room, answer No in the dialog.
The chat room only has a few items in it. Press the Tab key to move through them.
Mute microphone checkbox: If you enter the chat room in full-duplex mode, you will automatically be put on a checkbox to mute your microphone if you wish. Press the Space bar to check and uncheck this box. It is unchecked by default.
Talk button: If you enter the chat room in push-to-talk mode, you will automatically be put on a button that you can press and hold to talk. While the focus is on this button, you can press and hold the Space bar to talk. Alternatively, when the focus is anywhere except the text field for entering a text chat message, you can press and hold the Enter key to talk.
Checkbox to announce people entering the room: This checkbox toggles if you are notified when people enter or leave the room. It is checked by default. This setting is stored separately for each computer or device. Press the Space bar to check and uncheck it.
Checkbox to announce text chat messages: Sero allows you to text chat rather than voice chat. This checkbox allows you to be notified if a message was entered by someone. It is checked by default. This setting is stored separately for each computer or device. Press the Space bar to check or uncheck it.
List of other people in the chat room. This list shows the names of the other people in the chat room, if any. Arrow up and down to review them.
List of text chats messages: This area shows all the text messages which have arrived while you have been in the room. Arrow up and down to review the person and their messages.
Text message field: This is where you type your text message to the room. When you’ve typed your message, press Enter and it will post to the room.
If you entered a room in full-duplex mode, your microphone is live, and you are ready to chat.
If you are not in full-duplex mode, and ready to speak in a chat room, you may hold down the Enter key on your keyboard and begin speaking. When finished speaking, release the Enter key. Note that this does not work while the focus is in the text field for entering a text chat message.
The system will play a beep with a higher tone when you are transmitting, and a beep with a lower tone when you are no longer transmitting your voice.
If you would like to know who is in the room with you, just Tab to the list of names in the room, and arrow up and down to see a list of roommates.
Whenever you're ready to leave a Sero chat room, simply press the Escape key to close the window.
To enter a chat room, activate the Voice Chat link on the Sero home screen. Sero will present a list of chat rooms. Next to the name of each room, Sero will tell you how many other people are currently in the room, or if the room is currently empty. To enter a chat room, double-tap on the link.
Two of the listings, Community Chat Server Directory and Public TeamTalk Server Directory, are servers located outside Sero’s family of chat rooms. Both directories host their own suite of servers containing even more chat rooms which you can access.
The first time you enter a chat room using your mobile device, you are prompted to allow Sero to access your microphone. Using your device's gestures, accept this option to allow others to hear you when chatting. Not accepting this option will prevent others from hearing you.
Once you are connected and in the room, you will begin to hear people chatting, and they will be able to hear you.
It is courteous to others to chat from a reasonably quiet environment. If you have a radio on, are in a room of other people talking, or are in a loud environment, others will hear that as well.
If you are using a phone with both a speaker and an earpiece, and you are not currently using a headset, then holding the phone away from your ear will cause the phone to enter speaker-phone mode. Bringing the phone to your ear will automatically allow you to chat just as if you were on the phone. This can help reduce, but not eliminate, others hearing background noise around you.
Inside the chat room you will find:
The Back button will take you back to the list of chat rooms. Note: Activating the Back button will remove you from the chat room.
The name of the room you are currently chatting in is located as a heading at the top of the screen.
If you are using a headset with your device, or if you are using a device without an earpiece such as a tablet, you will see a Mute button. When you press this button, your microphone will stop transmitting, so you can remain in the room without being heard, until you press the Unmute button.
If you are using a phone with an earpiece and are not currently using a headset, you will see a Monitor button. When you press this button, your microphone will stop transmitting, so you can remain in the room without being heard, until you either press the Stop Monitoring button or lift the device to your ear.
The remaining chat controls are organized into these three tabs:
When you are in a chat room, you will automatically enter under the Users tab. This will show you a list of people’s names that are in the chat room. It will not display your own name.
In this tab you will still see the Mute or Monitor button, but you’ll also see an edit field. Focusing on the edit field will bring up your device's keyboard. You can use it to type in a message instead of voice chatting in the room. When finished with your message, at the bottom-right of the screen is a Send button. Activate the Send button and your message will immediately post to the room above the edit field.
Note: Using the Dictate feature on your iOS device to speak a text message will take you out of the room. This is a known issue, which we plan to fix soon.
If you activate the Settings tab, you will see the settings available for chat rooms.
The first toggle switch turns off or on whether you hear people entering or leaving a room. This is turned on by default. This setting is stored separately for each device. To turn it off, simply activate the toggle using your device's appropriate gesture.
The second switch enables you to turn off and on whether you hear when text messages are posted to the room. This setting is stored separately for each device. Turn this switch on and off in the same manner by activating the toggle switch.
This information should give you everything you need to start enjoying chats with your fellow Sero community members.
Last modified September 16, 2016
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