Recently we quietly introduced a new chat room feature to our Poker tables. This new chat can be found on the right side of the Poker tables by clicking on the “Chat” table on the top right. This allows you to chat with other players at the Poker table, and anybody watching the game. While chatting, you can freely switch back and forth between your Profile view or view the profiles of other players. If somebody enters a message while you are playing and the chat window is hidden, the Chat tab will flash at the top right to let you know to switch to chat.
We’ve designed a full chat that shows you the pictures of the people you’re chatting with and supports smilies. You can view a list of options while chatting by typing /? in the chat window.

So far, we don’t see very many people using this feature. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s not visible all the time or if people really don’t like to chat while they play. Please give the chat a try and let me know if there is anything we can do to make it easier for you to chat. Do you think Chat should be visible when you first enter the Poker table? Should it beep when people are chatting?

As a basis for this chat, I used AjaxChat from http://www.ajaxchat.org.  I had to heavily modify it to work with the poker accounts and avatars from Poker Underworld, and to auto-log players in and to create chat rooms for each Poker table.  None of that would have been possible if AjaxChat weren’t such a great product, and I highly recommend anybody looking to integrate AJAX chat rooms into their website to give AjaxChat a try.  Also if anybody needs help or has questions about AjaxChat, feel free to write me!

Have fun with it!

Ryan
Poker Underworld

Update: We were approved on Yahoo today after removing dollar signs from our balance totals.

I thought today I’d blog about one of the biggest issues I face in running Poker Underworld - negative connotations with gambling. Since I first started trying to promote Poker Underworld in February, I’ve faced adversity with every advertising channel I’ve attempted to use. Every company has seen the word Poker and (at least initially) denied our application to advertise on their network.

Poker Underworld is a free Poker game. No wagers take place here. We do not accept memberships for enhanced features or paid entry into tournaments - we don’t even accept donations. We do not run advertisements for pay-for-play Poker games, even though that would logically be a profitable upsell to our customers. In fact, the original concept behind Poker Underworld has always been to stand as an alternative to online gambling, and to use a mixture of web 2.0 style social networking features, and a community based competition, to create an alternative that is fun to play and challenging without the need for real wagering.

Read more »