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A major part of the Diablo experience is the chat that runs along with the game. Battle.net's servers not only allow people to connect to each other for gaming but also for arranging games via Blizzard's chat interface. The chat interface is like most IRC chats with a few twists. Not only can you join random channels to chat but you can create your own private channel, join random games, or set up your own game with or without a password. As battle.net grows in leaps and bounds with the addition of Starcraft and the upcoming Diablo II & Warcraft III the chat interface takes on new dimensions but always remains the same in its ease of use and compatibility. To log onto the chat interface you need only connect to battle.net via your game. Even those with spawned versions or the chat only version can enjoy the many facets of Blizzard's online community and seek out new friends.
When chatting on the battle.net servers there will be many things that might confuse a newbie (beyond the typical gaming acronyms) newly arrived to the chat interface. The basic window and icons that are represented within it are straightforward as each describes a particular event or instance.
While chatting you will see many acronyms used by other people. Most are common to all chatting circles and are handy when wanting to say much without having to type it all the time. |
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Initiates | Tristram |
Inventory | Magic | Spells | Shrines |
Minions | Uniques | Wisdom |
Clicking on the channel icon allows you to either join one of the preset channels that Blizzard has set up for chatting or create your own private channel. If a person doesn't know the name of your private channel then they won't be able to get into it since private channel names aren't made public. This is perfect when a group of friends want to chat without the disturbance of others around them.
The create icon allows you to create your own game, be it a public game which anyone can enter or a private game that is password protected. When you are creating your game you will be given the option of the three gaming modes; normal, nightmare, or hell. You level of character is dependant on which mode you can enter or create. Those under level 20 can not enter nightmare mode and those under 30 can not enter hell mode.
The join button allows you join public games or a private game that has already been set up by someone else which you know the password to. When joining public games always be aware that not everyone you meet will be your friend. There are many Pkers (player killers) and hackers which use the public format to disrupt another gamers enjoyment, hence the channels which allows people to get to know each other and ultimately game together.
The quit icon is as it sounds, this enables you to quit out of b.net's servers but enable you to stay within the game's shell interface. To fully quit out of the game you need to not only disconnect from the servers but also go back to Diablo's opening menu to leave the game. Either that or the ever handy ALT-F4 will do the trick nicely.
In the chat interface a gamer's status is revealed by an icon containing your character type, level, and how many dots you have. The dots that hover over your character's level indicate that you have successfully killed Diablo in one of the various modes. Zero dots mean you have not killed Diablo yet, one dot indicates he was killed in normal mode, two dots in nightmare mode, and three dots in hell mode. With the ultimate being hell mode, you are rewarded with a status of becoming golden.
The coloured bars to the right of everyone's names indicates a person's latency towards you. Latency refers to the ability for two people to successfully communicate with each other when both are on the servers. A green bar indicates that the person is not lagging to you and you both are receiving each other very quickly. A yellow bar indicates that there is a slight delay when communicating but it is not enough to cause any problems when chatting or in games. A red bar however indicates that there is a severe problem with that person's connection and thus lag in a chat or game should be expected to happen often. The plug indicates that the person can not connect properly to the servers and can only chat, they can not enter any games due to their bad connection.
The little red X that can found by a person's name indicates that you have chosen to squelch any comments of theirs from coming up on your screen. This is handy when someone is flooding a chat (placing large groups of information over and over again to be disruptive) or says something offensive that you don't want to see. To squelch someone you just have to type '/squelch [person's name]' and the X should show up by their name. You will no longer see any of their comments until you unsquelch them by doing the same thing except typing in '/unsquelch [person's name]'.
The SC icon relates to a player who has joined the channel while they are playing Starcraft. B.Net's servers allow Diablo and SC players to intermingle on the common channels but keeps them separate from entering the game specific channels.
The chat icon refers to someone who is using SC and has the same bad connection that someone with a plug would have. They are restricted to chatting only. It can also refer to a 'bot' that someone has programmed to allow them to enter the chat and stay there without actually being active within it. The bot acts like a sitter within the chat room and does nothing but take up space.
The gavel can only be found within a private channel. This is reserved usually for the person who created the channel but can be passed onto the next person in line or designated to someone when the original gavel holder leaves the chat. With the gavel you have the ability to kick or ban disruptive people from your channel giving you some power over what type of chat you wish to have.