Make it easier to know where chat is going

[Creeksider]

This happens all the time. People are chatting away while playing or kibitzing and send a message intended to be private that goes out to all, or vice versa. Yes, there's an indicator to the left of the box where you type your comment indicating who will get the message, but it isn't very prominent and people make this mistake frequently, with results that vary from mildly irksome to highly embarrassing.

 

My suggestion: do something that makes it more visually obvious where the message is going. For example, besides having a little indicator to the left of the typing box, have the typing box itself change color, such as a pale green background for private messages rather than pale gray for public messages.

[mgoetze]

Also, you could reset that chat target if no chat messages have been sent for, say, 2 minutes.