There are a lot of features that can come together to make a great game, but it's really the chat feature that puts the "multiplayer" into "massively multiplayer."

In UXO, you'll be able to easily use the chat feature to connect with friends, set up duels and wagers, display your wares for sale, chat with your hunting party, plan your guild's next adventure, and carry on a private conversation with someone on the other side of the world, all at the same time!

See the world, not your chat box
Chat boxes can make it easy to keep track of conversations by storing all chat in one place. However, staring at the same ten lines of text when you're not currently chatting can get pretty old. The UXO chat box solves this problem by automatically expanding as you receive new chat messages, making it easy to see when you're being spoken to, and then slowly contracting as the older messages fade away, leaving your screen free when you're not actively engaged in a conversation.

There's no need to worry about losing the text, though; your older text messages are still stored, and you'll still be able to scroll through them by using the Page Up and Page Down keys. And if you prefer to keep your chat visible longer, you'll also be able to use the options menu to set how long the chat remains on the screen, as well as how large the chat box can become before text begins to scroll.

The UXO chat system will feature several chat channels, each of which will allow you to chat with different players or groups of players. Switching between the various chat channels will be done through a row of chat channel buttons directly above the chat box.

While in a specific chat channel, you'll only see the messages sent by members of that particular channel, making it easier to keep your conversations separate. For example, if you're making a deal with another player to buy a new sword, while your guild is immersed in a lengthy debate on the best hunting location, you can use the "Private Tell" chat channel with that one other player and arrange your sale without having to sift through the other conversation. Of course, if you prefer to carry on both conversations in one chat window, you can do that. UXO will allow you to see as many different chat channels simultaneously as you choose, so you can keep them all separate, or have them all visible at all times - it's up to you.

The chat system has seven main chat channels:

• General Chat - Used when you just want to talk to the people in your general vicinity. Only players standing near you in the world will see this chat.
• Party Chat - This sends messages only to those currently in your party. Party members will see this chat regardless of where they are in the world.
• Guild Chat - This sends messages only to members of your guild. Guild members will see this chat regardless of where they are in the world.
• Chat Group - Players can create their own custom chat groups, allowing different groups of characters (such as two parties adventuring together) to communicate with each other easily. Chat group members will see this chat regardless of where they are in the world.
• Private Tell - This sends a message only to the character you specify. The player you are messaging will see this chat regardless of where they are in the world.
• PvP Chat - Perfect for finding other players who want to duel! Only characters who are set as available for challenges can chat in this channel, and players will be limited to one message per minute to reduce spam. Anyone who posts in this channel will have their level, Path and PvP rating displayed before their name, making it easy to decide whose challenges you want to accept. The PvP chat channel is useful regardless of where players are in the world, since players can teleport directly to you for a duel, then teleport back again once you're finished.
• Market Chat - This channel will be used for displaying wares for sale and arranging purchases from other players. Players will be limited to one message per minute to reduce spam. This chat channel is only available to players in town regions.

Sending text to the right person
As with the chat box, we don't want to keep anything blocking your screen longer than necessary, which is why the chat bar, where you'll enter your text, will only be visible when you're in chat mode (the "Enter" key will put you in chat mode). Once you're finished typing, you can hit the "Enter" key again to send your message and remove the chat bar from view.

Directly to the left of the chat bar will be a rotating dial showing where you're sending your messages. You can use the dial to scroll through the various chat channels, as well as the last five characters you sent a private tell message, making it easy to switch chat channels and carry on multiple conversations without having to use slash commands or open a separate interface.

In addition to eliminating clutter from your screen and your chat box, we've introduced several ways to limit the amount of typing needed, making communicating easier and faster than ever before.

First, we've turned character names in the chat window into hyperlinks that players can click on to either access more information or execute an action, such as inviting them to your party or challenging them to a duel. This means that when someone says something in chat, you can right-click on that character's name and choose from several options, including:

• Party - Invites or removes a player from your party
• Guild - Invites or removes a player from your guild
• Trade - Opens a trade window with that character if they are close enough
• Duel - Sends a challenge for a duel (this means you can use the PvP chat channel to send challenges directly to other players!)
• Ignore - Ignores all further communication from that player
• Chat group - Invites or removes a player from a custom chat group
• Tell - Sends the next thing you type as a private tell message to that player
• Character Sheet - Displays that character's information, such as Path, level, Virtue levels, statistics, items, etc.
• Friends List - Adds or removes that player from your Friends List
• Teleport - sends an invitation to a player to teleport directly to you

Item Hyperlinks
You can also drag items into your chat bar, creating a hyperlink that displays all relevant information about that item to anyone who clicks on it. For example, let's say you're selling an intelligent great axe, and you want to explain its properties to a potential buyer. You could type out the following:

• Selling intelligent great axe, does 24-33 damage (40% enhanced), has 2.2 attack delay with damage types of 40% fire and 60% physical. Also grants 12% fire resist, +9 to strength, and 35% minimum poison resistance! Axe is currently level 19 of a possible 40. Level requirement to use is 42. Is capable of being imbued with Virtue points, although its maximum number of Spirituality circles are already used up."

Describing that axe would take a lot of work if you had to do it all by hand! In UXO, we've made it easy to display that axe to a potential buyer - just drag the axe icon onto your chat box and let go! You'll see the words "Great Axe" listed as a clickable hyperlink in the chat box, and anyone who clicks the link will see all of the axe's stats and properties, no explanation necessary.

You can even use this function with characters as well. For example, you can click on a player character and drag their name onto the "chat group" chat channel button above your chat box, which will automatically invite that player into your chat group. You can even click and drag a character's name onto your chat bar, which will immediately set the next text you enter to go directly to that player as a tell message.

Chat made easy
We know that easy and effective communication is essential for playing any multiplayer online game, and we've worked to create the most helpful and convenient functionality available in any chat system ever designed for an MMORPG. By combining the simplicity of a single chat box with a wide array of options, we've taken the focus off of the typing, and put it back onto the playing - right where it should be!