There, of course, would be a list of players online and currently in chat. One of the problems with the current message system for new players is that they have to know to either go to the messages section in game or go back to where all their characters are listed to see if they have new messages. I'm not proposing we change the current message system, merely that we have the instant messaging system (on newb island) so that they don't send out a message, wait one hour, don't see any new messages because they don't know to go back to their user page, then rage quit.
