This came out of a discussion in discord about advice for new players. We were discussing how to help teach new players to play, and one of the biggies was that we simply can't do that if they don't open chat. As a new player, though, I understand that it's not easy to know that chat is there. You start playing the game, and you see this closed chat handle on the side. Maybe you open it, but there's nothing there. Then you change maps and it closes again. If it was changed so that it starts out open, and remembers its state (opened or closed), it would be easier for new players to start talking with other players. They'd go into a battle, and they'd see some text in chat! And that would start them down the road towards becoming better players, working together better with their faction, and in general having a good time with the game. On a related note, if the chat tabs had some very distinctive indicator that there was chat happening in their tab, it would also help people coordinate better.
I agree. Chat would be more effective for new players if it defaulted to open every time you entered sector, and if the flashing color indicating that new messages were available to be read in chat was a brighter color like green or red instead of the current blue.
