Hey, tired of the old style chat programs? You know, the kind where you watch scrolling lines of text and try to figure out who is speaking to who -- all at the same time! (I mean, who likes to sit and watch the credits roll by at the end of a movie?) It was because of these text-only programs, that people had to come up with abbreviations to represent emotions: <S> for smile, <G> for grin, LOL for Laugh out loud, etc..

But then Comic Chat (later renamed Microsoft Chat) came along. Now just pick a character, to represent you in a comic strip-style screen, and you can:

	Click on the person (or persons) you want to talk to -- and their character(s) appear in the same frame as your's. Everybody can see, at a glance, who is talking to who.

	There's an Emotion Wheel, on the screen, which allows you to choose the facial expression and body language you want your character to display when interacting with others. It has 8 basic emotions and has the capacity for several intensities (poses) for each emotion.

	You can even choose your own background; everything from cartoon type scenes to incredible photographic ones. Plus, if you are the host of a room, you can set the background that will be seen by everybody who enters your room.

	With the Microsoft Chat Editor program you can create your own custom characters! Either make one from scratch, using the Editor's own graphics tools, or "paste" the images in from scans or another graphics program (Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, etc.).

	One of the best things about Microsoft Chat and the Chat Editor is that they are !

	Download Microsoft Chat 2.5 Download Microsoft Chat Character Editor

Give it a try -- see the difference! Or if you're new to Chats; this is the way to go. In either case, if you do try it, drop in (I hang out on the chat.annexcafe.com chat server) and let me know how you like it. Just click on the User List button and do a Search for the Nickname: Jammer. Or you may find me under Jammer- (note the addition of the "-" at the end), since this program is used by people all over the world (and comes in several different languages), more than one person may occasionally have the same nickname.

NOTE: Microsoft has stopped further production on this product (although, it is still fully functional) and are no longer providing chat servers for it. So if you try to connect, with Microsoft Chat Servers in the Server box, it will attempt to connect and then time out with the error message "Could not connect to server or network: Microsoft Chat Servers". But don't despair! The legions of Comic Chat fans have grabbed the torch and are maintaining their own servers dedicated to Comic Chat. Below is a short list, of some of the ones I've found so far, and I'll add more as I find them:

chat.annexcafe.com - This one is devoted solely to Comic Chat and is a very popular one.

(Updated) These are the addresses for the IRCX-City Chat Services, which is another great host dedicated to Comic Chat:

ircx-city.sytes.net
ircx-city.homeip.net
ircx-city.dtdns.net

koach.com:6667- This one is not devoted soley to Comic Chat, but it is welcome there.

More Characters -- Available for Download!