Second Life Instant Messenger?

It might sound stupid, but sometimes I want to talk to my SL friends but I don't feel like logging in or I can't log in or something.
So I think it might be a fun idea to have like an instant messenger outside of second life made just like Yahoo Messenger, Windows Messenger, AIM, or Skype or whatever. And maybe they can even throw in a mobile feature, so we could talk while we're out or away from our computers.
(Not sure if anybody has said this idea yet, I searched for it and didn't find anything)
Thanks!

Well, you can communicate with friends who are inworld by using zonkster (www.zonkster.com). There are a few other webpage-to-SL clients as well.

Really, if you want to IM with friends, why not just create a Yahoo/Gmail/MSN whatever ID for your AV?

I have yahoo, msn, skype AND aol, but sometimes I dont like giving that info out to everyone. (I dont just talk to friends in SL, I own a shop)

That is the beauty of Yahoo- You can make your avitar name work with that, All you do is pick your screen name from here, I have done this but have not used it yet. Just leave a sign in your shop for the coustomers to IM you if there is a problem.

I think it would work out rather well. But that is just a thought. It would be nice if there was a IM for SL .. - we can already get messages off world through our emails.
Just one more step in the right direction I guess.

i like this idea, or at least upgrade the SL im where we can seperate people by custom groups

WE need to be able to choose whether we want all uploads to automatically open. Reason being.....
I sometimes up load 30 textures at a time, and it pops me out of chat, and IM, so basically I cant do anything while uploading. This will drive ya nuts....anyway, that is something that would make Second Life more efficient for me at least!


Thanks
Digit

I was just thinking about this idea myself this evening, and while many of my friends are on one or more IM services, there isn't complete overlap between SL friends and IM contacts by a fair margin. And I'm thinking of getting a laptop for basic web browsing and communication while I'm away from home but there's no reason to spend the money for a good one *just* to run SL. The idea of an offline IM client is very attractive in this case.

Zonkster is a handy tool, but if you want to have anything like a conversation you need to have it open and offline messages sent to email to get responses. To verify which friends are online you'd also need the SL website open in front of you. A simple client with very limited functionality would do the trick, something that allowed you to send and receive messages and see who's online, maybe even temporarily disable the 'send offline messages to email' feature while it's running so you don't get a ton of spam.

uhm...I just had a UK friend message me and got this lil inworld message link about it being via SL Instant Messenger...no emails..it was instant.

~Lana Tomba

cant someone "just" strip down the opensource SL viewer to just a friendslist?
unless someone already done that ?

There is the SLeek Client. It's text based, so it doesn't use much resources. You can do limited things like IM, view profiles, and pay lindens. Just be aware your Avatar is standing there in world when you use it, so you may want to be sure you are somewhere that won't be in the way of others.

http://delta.slinked.net/second-life/sleek/

I have been thinking about an SL IM as well...for the same reasons as stated above. Sometimes I simply do not want to log in to SL, or I can't, but I do want to be able to send IMs to certain people. The idea of having to download a program to do this seems overkill. How about just having the option of looking at your FL on this website, link the names of everyone in SL to their own miniature profile page that shows their picture, name, and a button that says IM, and then click on the IM button and enter a message. Any return messages can still be sent to your private email account and you can reply through there.

As it is, unless you have a player's personal email address, there is no way to get initiate contact with someone unless you log into the game. I travel a lot and end up using internet cafes to communicate with my staff. UNless they IM me when I am offline first, there is no way for me to get a hold of them. I can't download anything on computers that aren't mine, so I think this kind of feature would be exceptionally welcome and useful to those who find themselves in need of contact with someone in their FL but don't have access to SL.

Meets your specifications as well as is possible (:
Make sure you use the 'log out' button though... I forgot it once and just closed the window, and it just kept my account logged in. Maybe fixed by now.

The most comfortable feature would be a web interface on the SL webpage. No need to install anything. You can access the web from anywhere. Besides that it is the most secure option, because the messages stay on the SL servers. No email adresses needed, no IP addresses visible.

i agree fully with this topic, it would be quite handy! BUT i think i'm going to wait and see if LL comes out with anything of their own. I'm not really sure about accessing my account with my password over a thirdparty client. just doest seem too good of an idea to me.

web-sim.com

It's a Web Instant Messenger, you only need a browser. No SL Password needed!

P.S.: It's not free at the moment, but it's starting with only 1L$/Month

Nice idea but I can't login. Tried both firefox and IE.