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[[File:Bnet-chat-1.jpg|left|thumb|Chat Channel button.]]
Chat Channels were a big part of the [[Battle.net]] experience for Diablo 1 and Diablo 2. They will return to Battle.net in Diablo III, in public and private form.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/the-great-chat-controversy/] Chat channels were added to first enabled in the [[Diablo III beta ]] in [[patch 13 in ]] on February 18, 2012, and when they received a largely negative fan reaction[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-chat-channel-screenshots] due to the tiny window size and the general lack of text formatting communication-friendly features. The system was actually robust in function, but it seemed to have been designed purely as a way for quick chat and game creation; not as a system for socializing or usability featuresonline communication, which is what most fans were hopin for.
Aside from Battle.net chat channels, players can use their Battle.net [[Friends List]] for communication, but only with people already on their list; it's not a tool to meet new people online. Official and fan forums are also useful tools for advertising item sales or meeting new friends to play with, and there are unofficial means of live chat, such as the [http://diablo.incgamers.com/diablo-3-irc live IRC chat] run by fansite Diablo.IncGamers.com.
==Chat Channels for Diablo III==
Blizzard intended to phase chat channels out of B.net with their newer games, starting with Starcraft 2. [http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/270/blizzards-frank-pearce-interview] They did not include chat channels in the design, and resisted adding them until continuous player requests wore them down. Chat channels were not supported during the betafinally implemented into Starcraft 2 in January 2011, but [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/starcraft-2-finally-has-chat-channels] 7 months after huge fan complaints the developers agreed game's release. After the long wait, their function proved highly-unpopular with players,[http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/4015344810?page=1] due to include thema lack of essential chat channel functions such as public chat rooms, private channels with mod support, guild support in chat, and more. They With that precedent, Diablo players were not ready apprehensive, yet still hopeful for good chat support in Diablo III. The fact that chat channels would exist in Diablo III was first confirmed by [[Bashiok]] in October 2010, while the feature was under construction for the game's launch, but several months after recently-released Starcraft 2's release they were added in.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/d3-will-have-chat-channels-on-battle-net] <blue>Regarding chat channels, they weren’t a launch feature but are indeed coming, and the tech will be there and waiting for Diablo III, I’m sure.net</blue> As mentioned above, chat channels with a minimal feature set debuted in Starcraft 2 in January 2011.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/starcraft-2-finally-has-chat-channels]Fans accepted their initial form, though many fans strongly dislike their implementationexpecting improvements over time. The fact that no such improvements were made during the next year is what brought fan dissatisfaction to a boil.[http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/4015344810?page=1]
The next news about Diablo III's chat channels came in September, 2011, via a Bashiok forum post.[[Filehttp:Chat//diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-iii-chat-channels-and-channelguild-largesupport] <blue>Chat channels are in, and working.jpg|thumb|450px|See that little box in They’re more like the lower right corner?]]During comments on Diablo II IRC style than the Starcraft 2 individual chat channel controversy, [[Bashiok]] said they would be included in Diablo III as wellwindows like StarCraft II has. </blue> This guarantee promise seemed to be in doubt in early February 2012a few months later, when [[Bashiok ]] said that only private chat channels would be presentin Diablo III,[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/chat-channels-remain-in-diablo-3] and that they would function much as they are in Starcraft 2's did.
<blue>They’re in there right now. Unless people are expecting general open channels? We’ve consistently said we won’t have those.</blue>
Immediate fan pushback spurred Bashiok to further explain why this feature was removedthe Diablo III developers felt that public chat channels were a bad idea. [http://blues.incgamers.com/Posts/10/1/40/819/147519/the-lack-of-a-general-chat-just-sucks#postId_399627]
<blue>As far as having open public channels, there’s far more negative to them than positive and we maintain a stance that creating an open chat environment without a social structure behind it is an invitation for moderation and support disasters. Most people that want chat channels though are referring to guild channels, or otherwise channels they themselves can operate and choose to invite others to, and we see those as completely valid forms of chat (there’s a social structure backing the channel). As I said, back in September, it’s unlikely to be anything we attain for ship, but the social group-type chat features are still very much a desire for the future. </blue>
This policy decision prompted massive fan outcry, with fifty-page comment threads sprouting on Battle.net and angry perplexed editorials[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/the-great-chat-controversy/] on fansites. After several days of this, Bashiok announced that there were public chat channels after all, and that he'd been in error when he said they had been removed from the game. [http://blues.incgamers.com/Posts/10/1/40/819/147849/the-lack-of-general-chat-just-sucks-contx2#postId_400451]
<blue>Soooooo... hey everyone. How’s it going? Good? Weather ok? Great… so, right… You know how sometimes you say something that’s stupid and wrong and then people very reasonably get upset and create a lot of threads and discussions and demands with some pretty reasonable reasons for the thing you said wouldn’t happen but then it turns out that you’re stupid and wrong and the things you said are completely the opposite of what’s actually true?
Yeah. So that happened. Public chat channels will be in Diablo III, barring any catastrophe that requires we remove them, because they’re already implemented. In fact they’ll be in an upcoming beta patch so you’ll get to see and play around with them yourselves.</blue>
While most fans were happy about this news, quite a few people suspected that Bashiok was being ordered to fall on his sword to cover for a policy change, and that his first comment, and later explanation, had been 100% correct at the time. that Blizzard's previous efforts was not planning to force mandatory [[Real ID]] and the removal of Chat Channels from SC2, both decisions that were reversed after thousands of fan complaintsinclude public chat in Diablo III, were referenced just as support for the conspiracy theorythey do not in Starcraft 2.
Sample images of the chat channel function, showing off the features and options, can be seen below.
File:Chat-options4.jpg
</gallery>
There's even a short video that documents the D3 chat channel features.
<youtube>Rs2YYYaqlRw</youtube>
