On one had I agree with you, Crossbow...chat room(s) would be cool.
On the other I worry that I would not be able to remember what was said in chat vs. forum and then spend hours (days, years, ages of magic, hehe) searching the forums for that one bit of information that would help settle an issue from my live game only to realize that it was talked about in chat (or worse yet, never realize it, hehe). So the old grumpy man that I am says, "no! force'em to keep records!"
But yeah, would be cool to chat and there is the IM options in the profiles. There's several instant-wall type applications but it's been years since I researched it.