Our chat room got a minor overhaul today with several oft-requested features added to the service. First is the addition of country/state indicators to help with matchmaking; we all know how bad lag can be when playing across regions, so this should help you find suitable matches more easily. We also split the chat server into several rooms:

1. Matchmaking Chat: the default room, for finding other people who want to play online.
2. Social Chat: for general silliness and hanging out.
3. Tournament Chat (x3): three rooms for online tournament hosts to use as a way to organize matches without crowding the other rooms.

Finally, the chat room will now open in its own window so there's no risk of accidently clicking a menu link and leaving the room. Users with tab-enabled browsers can middle-click the "Chat" menu link to pull the chat room into a new tab instead of a new window if they prefer.

Check it out!

Edit: the server will also log you out if it doesn't hear from you for 30 seconds. You don't have to type in that time, your browser just has to send a request for updates (which it does automatically). This should fix the "already connected to chat server" errors that people sometimes saw when their browsers crashed or other similar problems.