Global chat will go away sometime soon. I know there are some people who think that should never happen, but I don't think those people have a clear idea of what it will be like with 1,000 or 5,000 or 25,000 participants (it'll break your computer, for sure).
We are considering two alternatives:
Region Chat
A chat pane which everyone in the same area as you ("area" could be as narrow as the thing we have called "hubs" — Shimla Mirch or Ix, for example — or it could be small groupings, like all of Groddle Isle, all of the Firebog areas, etc).
Pros: easy to understand (natural grouping), easy to know when you are leaving
Cons: we Glitches change areas/zones pretty quickly compared to many games
"Random" Chat
A chat pane with a random selection of the people online, simulating the old Global Chat, which would stay with you for a whole session (spanning over multiple reloads).
Pros: consistent for a play session, so doesn't force you to make a choice between staying put and finishing a conversation
Cons: not easy to understand/not tied to anything in the world
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So, what do you think we should do? (If we had implemented the damn voting system already, we'd be using that ;)