Part of the problem of finding a multiplayer game is that the only way to get together with people is to just make a game and wait.

If the game had a chat service that you can log into the moment the client launches, and you can stay on in any screen or whatever.

The main use would be to find people who want to play a multiplayer game and keep in touch with people only for ES.



Imagine:

I'm playing single player, but just sitting in english chat, I see 3 guys saying they want to find one more for a 4v4, player vs AI game

I chime in and say "Let me save my game I'll come play!"

They respond that they want it to be a low military vs AI game and want to win by social means.

I then tell them I'm not up for that. Someone else chimes in and says they wanna try that out. They all get together and play their game.

I then get a private message from someone else offering a military game, I say OK, save my game, add him as steam friend and join his game.



8 people are now playing the multiplayer games they want to play amongst random other people they haven't met.

The same situation will only happen on the forums or through steam group chat via overlay (which no one ever uses).

Currently, almost all multiplayer games are amongst people who already know eachother, or someone starting a random public game and waiting for people to hop in.



I understand that this requires opening up either another server to handle the chat, or adding a virtual server to the one you guys have, not to mention the coding.

Actually, if you can integrate the steam group chat in the game by adding an in game button that joins you into the chat and an in game module for the text reading and input, that wouldn't even require you opening your own server.

Or connect to IRC. Anything works.



But essentially, yes a (global) chat in-game would be helpful. Equally, veterans could answer questions from new players directly in-game while playing with minimum effort.



As long as we can 'hide' the chat tab, everyone wins.