GameDev.net wants to provide its visitors with real chat resources. If you look long and hard enough, you'll be able to find a bunch of people willing to listen to someone banter about game dev. While we've got nothing against casual chat (believe me), we do think that chats have a lot of potential as direct communication and educational tools. Chat rooms can be more than places to "hear yourself speak."
So, here's the deal. We're a registered channel - #gamedev - on the AfterNET IRC network. You can also pick up the excellent IRC client mIRC for Windows. (For Linux, we recommend either ircii or bitchx).
Our channel is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (on the Gregorian calendar, anyway...). In other words, it is never not open. If you feel particularly lonely or just incredibly bored, you might delude yourself into thinking the chat is more fun than watching paint dry, find a friend, go in, and try to see if you can get AfterNET's bot [X2] to pass the Turing test.
Regular conferences and discussions are hosted on #gamedev during convenient timeslots. Interested in orating? Fine, but please spare us. Interested in teaching, perhaps helping some people out? Give us an e-mail and we'll schedule an official time for you to do so!
In addition to periodic chats, we occasionally host chats with well-known developers, in which you will get to pick their brains as they teach a minicourse or sell vacuum cleaners or do whatever they feel like. Bottom line, you get to talk with a game dude!
Oh, right, and...we also host a chat on Saturday nights. The Regulars usually show up, and we all have some good laughs and a good time. Be forewarned: This chat is...er...not really about game programming, as it turns out.
Rules
There are several rules that comprise our chat policy:
We like to have fun, but if you cross the line between having fun and bothering us, you will be removed from our channel immediately (by the op with the fastest trigger finger) and possibly banned. Banning will occur at the staffs' uniform or majority discretion. You may be unbanned from our channel if and only if you post a single (1) message stating public apology to our message board and we actually buy it.
GameDev.net does not and will not make any committment to moderation of conferences, meetings, scheduled events, lectures, ballgames, Hanson concerts, or discos. Speakers will not be given status as channel operators, but they will be protected by any present channel operators. We are simply saying that we do not obligate ourselves to show up to your chat.
We reserve all rights relating to the enforcement of our policy.