Im with Karma on this one....sorta.
There are tons of FREE chat services out there...But there is a problem with these services though.....Not everybody uses the same IM service...so getting/keeping in touch with some one can be a pain.
Senshuk tried a chat...it flopped...so Quass added a trivia bot to the chat...it got more use...but was still not over whelmingly popular as a whole.
X-Force 2010 has a public chat...it aint a happenin' thing.
The only time it gets any use that I have seen. Is when I need to have a meeting with more than 1 person....We'd meet in the X-Force chat, since we all dont share the same IM service provider.
"Just chatting" isnt all that popular around here...because people chat for a bit..then fight a few rounds then chat for a bit,fight a few more rounds,chat,etc. etc. etc. most dont just come here to "chat"...they come for the fight as well as to chat.
However in my humble opinion..the "player enters/leave","player challenged by player" text should be displayed in a "thin" single line text block. That is located just above the main chat field.
This "kinda simple" change to the game chat. Would clean up the entire main chat field making it possible to actualy "chat", with out having to constantly be scrolling and "reading between the lines" in order to carry on a conversation.
Since TMy already put the "kabosh" on the "public chat" idea.(for now)
If people are coming to XvsSF just to chat...and not to fight,
Why dont ya come on over to X-Force 2010 and utilize it's FREE chat,and save TMy some band width.(kinda)
NOTE: If ya double click a users name in the chat...you can send them private messages with out the public seeing!( not like anyones in there anyways.
)
(There are some "game bots" for the chat...i "may" look into adding one of these some time next year.)
However I do have an idea about the chat that "might" help cut band width.( i use the term "might" VERY loosly).
IDEA:
Players hit the game page...
Load a "very" small portion of the game (just the stuff neccessary to operate/get you to the chat room.)
Change the "Quick Game" button to a "Load Game" button. Players that log into the chat room would then have the option to "chat" or "Load the game".
If they opt to "Load Game", THEN they would begin the process of D/L'ing the rest of the nessecary files to play the game. After they are finished loading the game. The "Load Game" button would convert into our current "Quick Game" button, and would then operate normaly.
Theres my 2 cents...what do ya think?
(If people would start playing the game off their cache, instead of D/L'ing the game everytime they visit XvsSF, or started using the down loadable version of the game instead. THAT would save TMy,Lefty,Zing,Quass,(who ever else I forgot) ALOT of bandwidth!)