world chat?

The search function wasn't working for me so if I'm bringing up an old subject please redirect me.
What I'm wondering is why doesn't SL have a global chat channel or at least a Sim wide one? I see that groups can chat together on their own private channel, but they seem to be quite small and not very useful for talking to people you haven't met. I thought it might be useful, however I must be missing something about SL that makes something like this less so.

IRC, on Efnet, channel #secondlife.

LF

Because there would be no escape. You can choose not to join groups to avoid the spam - a sim wide (or worse world wide) channel would be a nightmare.

Try Live Help.

It couldn't be that difficult to make it opt-in/out when you wanted? Anyway thanks for the suggestions, maybe you'll see me in IRC - thanks.

This is an interesting idea.

Would people like to see a new kind of Group in SL...one that works like IRC where you could list current "channels" that anyone could create (using topic-related names) and then join them if you're interested in chatting via the IM interface?

I'd say hold off. I have been waiting for the next level of object/object communications to implement virtual global chat rooms. It could be done now, but the email server load would be ugly.

Yes that's what I'm for - though I starting to realize some features like this may well benefit the creating public if they're able to develop functions seperately of LL - how long would it take to see this happen?
When I first entered SL frankly I was quite amazed when I realized how restricted world-wide communications were, this might contribute to an active forum community though it's at best a small percentage of the overall public.

I think the inclusion of global chat channels in SL would be a great idea, especially if people could then also form their own channels. I like the global channels in World of Warcraft and Everquest 2, and the fact that you can opt in and out of them at will. Certainly they are not for everyone, but they would be a nice option to have. The IRC is a bit too technical and offputting for the average user to venture into to check out #secondlife. Something integrated right into SL would be nice - especially if you could easily chat in the channel right from the chat line.

I'm going to run down the way up and see how the pigeons break wings. Here's a scattershot:

I was thinking of ham radio enthusiasts, tuning into frequencies and talking to strangers across the distance. And even older than this, making penpals via sending a message in a bottle or using carrier pigeons to send deliveries. The technological means of doing that still has its charm in the face of VOIP, and to the specific extent that SL encompasses, public chatspaces on here that can be entered easily. The SL Forums is great for more elaborate discussions, but for quick, dirty, jotty things, speed of realtime chat is more spontaneous.

It also occurred to me that text input in SL, if possible, could be prioritized more. We have heard focuses on improving the state of fancy 3D graphics, but why is it text lags so badly when graphics do too? Could not a buffer be set aside so one can still type smoothly within a sim when the rest of things go slowly? This way, you could still communicate and let other people know you're having difficulties without having to use IM (as is sometimes the case when a simcrash is imminent, "OMG I'LL BRB GONNA RELOG" or even 3rd-party programs outside of SL. I think this points to several enhancements on the very basic, fundamental text level that need to be improved greatly.

Tangentially, I was thinking of Live Help, and it also seems inevitable to me that growing inworld businesses and other groups will need their own personal, customized Live Help desks for service and support and soforth. That signifying, whatever future rearchitecting of the groups system will include this—meaning that this is another useful tool which is currently Linden-only (in the volunteer context), but could be given to Resident hands to manage things better. It's also likely whatever advances are made here go hand-in-hand with the modularity of what this thread's about, the "world chat" and being able to tap into "pools" of textual affinity across the other side of the gridverse.

In a funny, very ironic way, our avatars may be given primitive text terminal representations to talk on, communication spaces within communication spaces. Maybe there'll even be a mindmap or some sort of graphical structure to denote how these "metarooms" are branched. Perhaps some of them are tied to actual inworld locations, much like how operators work in a call center, or a channel for the HQ of a given organization. I've seen some scripted objects modelled after "cell phones" and the aforementioned radio that've done this at a pace limited by the current system. Once this is faster and done within an upgraded Instant Messaging interface, we will be like steam engines to bullet trains. And from there on, the eponymous flying locomotive from Galaxy Express 999.

I'd like to connect with more Resis I haven't met inworld yet too.


keywords: instant messaging, textual contextual, chat rooms, chat channels, global communication, improvements to text input