Ventrilo

Probably the most popular VOIP application out today among gaming Clans, due to it’s superior voice quality and multitude of features. Current version is 3.0.

Ventrilo Interface

Pros

• Sound Quality is second to none due to the Speex Codec (GSM is also available).
• Easy to use interface.
• Client supports both PC and Mac.
• Text to Talk feature. If you can type it, Ventrilo can say it.

Cons

• Text to Talk feature. Some find it annoying and turn it off.
• No Linux Client Support.
• Admin Interface is not web based like TeamSpeak’s.
• If you wish to host a server with more than 8 connections, you’ll need to rent a server from a hosting provider.

You can download Ventrilo from their website.

A wide range of companies host professional Ventrilo servers on server grade hardware, ensuring that your server is always available. My personal favorite is GameServers.

TeamSpeak

Without a doubt the most scalable solution. TeamSpeak can host hundreds (if not thousands) of users simultaneously. Most notable of TeamSpeak’s features is it’s Web based Admin interface and loads of options and permissions. Current Stable Version: 2.0

TeamSpeak 2 Interface

Pros

• Access the Admin interface via your web browser from anywhere in the world.
• Tons of permission settings and options.
• Extremely scalable thanks to a built-in SQLite Database.
• PC and Linux Clients available.

Cons

• Sound Quality is not quite as good as Ventrilo.
• No Text to Speech Capabilities (Some might consider this a Pro).
• Slow development speed. TeamSpeak 3.0 has been in development for several years.

You can download TeamSpeak from their website here.

AdminCP -> User Profile Fields -> Add New User Profile Field

Profile Field Type: Single-Line Text Field

This is an example, so feel free to change any of the following values when creating your User Profile:

Title: Can you spell?
Description: Enter the first letter of the word “Soccer”
Default Value: Z
(Anything but the valid answer will suffice)
Field Required: Yes, at registration and profile updating
Field Editable by User: Only at registration
Private Field: Yes
Field Searchable on Members List: No
Show on Members List: No
Regular Expression: ^[sS]$
(This expression only allows an ’s’ or ‘S’ as valid answers, adjust accordingly to your question)

Hopefully by taking the above steps the amount of automated registrations and spam on your vBulletin forum should decrease.

Quick Update: Since implementing this on my Forum, I have yet to see a single automated registration bot make it through the registration process.