When League of Legends launched, Barack Obama was in his first year as president, the Black Eyed Peas dominated the airwaves and the iPhone 3GS was cementing Apple's status as a smartphone leader. Through all the years since, the game went without team-wide voice chat. Now, after 17 years, Riot Games is finally adding it.

League of Legends is a game where split-second coordination can make all the difference. But up to this point, its built-in voice chat was limited to premade groups. Starting with Patch 26.20, players in North America and Oceania can talk with everyone matched onto their team. The company says other regions, including Korea, Latin America and Brazil, may follow if the early rollout goes well.

How well it goes will largely depend on how Riot handles moderation. The company's first safeguard is an Honor requirement. Players will need to be Honor level 3 or higher to speak; everyone else is limited to listening. Honor is League's behavior rating for players. The company says it will keep refining the system to "better reflect in-game behavior."

Also on the way are "voice skins," which let you modify how you sound in chat. The company claims the voice effects will remain understandable during chaotic fights. Riot hasn't specified which skins will be available, but the game's cast of characters would be a logical assumption. Riot says the patch also brings better noise cancellation, faster connections and improved stability. The announcement was met with cautious optimism from the community. One user posted, "I'm glad they are giving voice chat a try." Elsewhere, Riot says LoL's next act will lean into music, with the first reveal arriving tomorrow.