FEEDBACK: Should we add Chat / Instant Messenger on Chess.com?

For the many times I have wanted to chat in real-time with other players who I can see are online, while still playing a game with another opponent. Great option, one users can use or not, depending on how social they feel.

This site isn't just focused on the GAME.

It is a social site that is centered around the game and offers a much richer experience for it.  Given the number of members of this site who are new to chess I'd say that this site does a lot for the game precisely by focusing on more than just the game.

Yes!!  That sounds great!

I think it will drive away a lot of people who do not want the bar and the ads. This site seems to be doing nothing but growing, so I think you should save this kind of thing for later when you can cut a deal without making such a compromise.

Its a great idea.  I like it.  I have a chat room in my groups now but it's limited to the group only.  This would expand it immensely.   Thanks.

perhaps we could do a test drive for a week?

As long as the chat can be cleaned up and monitored properly im all for it.  But if its just going to be another tool for the immature, childish, and ignorant then no chat.

Well, I installed a chat room in my groups for us to talk over moves in vote chess and individual games with each other.  It's not a feature I would use outside chess.com.  But as long as I have the option of turning it off then I say go for it.  There will be those that like having it.  Thanks for adding another feature that will be enjoyed.  You are the best at making this the best site on the web.

Facebook allows you to go "offline", so Friends won't contact you if you don't want them to. I assume this would be the same.

I could see the usefullness, analysing games with a friend would be possible and it would make it easier to have a 'conversation' without giving away more personal IM details (i.e. you could only be contactable whilst in "Chess.com" mode, no whenever you're online) 

Personally I don't really care, I'd disable it immediately to be honest. I never use Facebook IM, just Skype. 

That would be interesting but, maybe everyone should have the option to remove it. Another way to do it would be to make it collapseable. Most probably wouldn't use IM and the bar would take away valuable screen realestate. Those people would consider chess.com bloated, glitzy and annoying if they couldn't remove it. As Google showed, simplicity is the key. Plus, those that want to use IM already have screen names on Yahoo!, Google, Jabber, MSN, ICQ, AIM, and the myriad of other services. It seems a bit outside of chess.com's scope as a website and even chess community/portal. Still, I vote a mixed and conditional yes as a trial. Reevaluate it in a month.

BTW: Isn't there a cleaner solution without reinventing the wheel? Why not allow people to enter their IM account details and have a status indication in their profile. That way people would be able to socialize more easily and on any IM service they please.

This is a great idea. Plus, if it was the other way around, it would make it seem like the feature is undesirable (just like ads). People will think, oh so I have to pay to disable this crap! Now, they will think, oh, if I pay a little extra, I get this cool feature. Moreover, it would serve as a sort of beta test.

It's a shame that Meebo doesn't accept either of the above ideas. If this really can't be renegotiated, I vote no.

BTW: Would it be possible to have ONLY chess.com members on the IM bar? I wouldn't want it to include my Yahoo!, AIM, etc. friends because I use a dedicated messenger for that (Adium and Pidgin). The dedicated messenger is better than anything that the bar could provide and I wouldn't want the bar to be redundant and bloated.

a yes from me as well and i don't even use im...

I vote "no". In Chess.com we already have notes, messages, e-mail, trophies, online chat, live chat, forums posts, photo albums, articles, news, and blogs... It's enough!

Do you know a website that uses this already so we can see it in action?

I'm afraid it'd feel totally out of place and annoying, like one of those adware toolbars in your browser.

In general an IM system sounds sort-of OK, but it's weird to have that AND have the existing chess.com's system of friends, seeing who is online, and being able to send people messages. You could make an extremely simple chat screen yourself and you'd have all the functionality. Isn't Live 2 going to have chat functionality already?

Multiple ways to do the same thing are annoying, and chess.com already has some of that (think of all the different menus).

EDIT: I just realized that this is 2009, the height of my IM-use is ten years behind us, and none of my friends nowadays use IM. I would never use this.

I've seen this kind of thing on places such as facebook, and I think it's a good idea. However, it should be optional to the ones that don't like it. There must be a way to do that. 

Edit: motion to vote.

" Or, you could just ignore the bar and it does nothing but show tiny ads on occassion."

Well, how tiny is tiny??

Not something I would be interested in or use. If it is annoying and can't be turned off/blocked then it would degrade the chess.com experience (which is mostly clean and easy to deal with).

I think its cool and alot of people would not have difficulty in using it as its similar to facebook chat. 

I would rather see staff energy put into making the chess aspects of the site better. I think we have enough ways to communicate with each other around here.