To avoid so many duplicate threads, please place your ideas and thoughts on a live chat system here.
Initially, we weren't going to do a live chat, but enough users asked for it that Dan has agreed, and we'll add a live chat to the system AFTER we launch AG3. It will NOT be part of the AG3 launch.
Ideas that others have suggested: - custom channels - password-protected channels - kick/ban controls - moderation controls - report a user
We don't know yet if the chat will be Flash based, Java based, or something else.
If they approve of games with chatrooms, why not just implement them anyway?
I don't know, actually. AG's game devs have made their own games with chat rooms, but they haven't said if they'll make one for the site or not. I'd imagine so, but they'll probably get some of the other updates up and running first, because a chat room will probably take a while.
The reason is because we don't have the man-power to moderate the chatrooms right now. Game studios are required to moderate the chat themselves and if the chats get out of hand, we'll tell them to disable it from the game.
Another issue is server load. MMO servers are more optimized for chatrooms than traditional web servers. Even then, some of the MMOs that released with chatrooms weren't expecting the load we were about to unleash and it crashed their servers. Chat on a large scale, my friends, is not as easy to implement as you may think
With that said, it's still on the table thanks to community demands.
The reason is because we don't have the man-power to moderate the chatrooms right now.
What do you think about separating chat mods from forum mods? The idea would be that all the current mods would be able to mod both, but suitable people that frequent the chats but not so much forums would be chat mods, and vice versa. You could experiment this by adding a few chats (~5) and see how that works out.
For servers, are you saying that too many people = server crash? Well, you could add the chats on a separate page and only people that want to actually use the chat will, instead of having it on game pages and everyone who plays has it automatically open.
we don't have the man-power to moderate the chatrooms right now
I'm sure many people would willingly volunteer to do so. Say 2/3 mods per chat room, each from a different time zone. It would be difficult to find enough volunteers for this if you're going to have it restricted to 18+, though.
Another issue is server load
As Matrix said, you could always have an external page for chat, like it was when it originally came out.
You could experiment this by adding a few chats (~5)
You can always start off with 2 or 3, if necessary, just to see how it pans out.
This is a great idea, but i agree with everyone else. If they build this feature there would have to be many people from AG or some bots built to watch it. because if there wasnt the spam would be out of control and the feature rendered useless.
