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To send messages to other players, press the [Enter] key. A small window will appear under the chat window displaying the channel name where your message will be sent. To change the outgoing channel, press the [Tab] key to cycle through the available channels or select a channel from the "send to" list in your Chat pull-down menu. Once you select the channel you want, type your message, and press the [Enter] key again to send it.
To chat privately with another player, press the [/] key followed by [tell] [player name] [message]. For example, "/tell Johndoe Let's group" will result in the following message in Johndoe's chat window: Soandso tells you "Let's group." You can also send a Private message to another player by targeting the player and then clicking on the speech-balloon icon, by clicking their character portrait, or by pressing the [J] key.
If you belong to a Group, you can send your groupmates a message by pressing the [L] key.
Similarly, if you belong to a Guild, you can send a message to your Guild channel by pressing the [;] key.
To send a Radio message (a message to a Private channel you currently belong to) press the ['] key.
There is a thin line separating the chat window into two panels. The top panel is for game messages; the lower panel is for the chat system. You can resize each panel by left-clicking and dragging on the double arrow icon located in the lower right corner of each panel. Right-clicking on the double arrow icon will return the panel to its default configuration.
You may also change the layout of the window. In the upper right-hand corner of the top panel is a small window icon. Left-click on the window icon to cycle through the three available views, which are: top and bottom panels (default); combined panels in which both chat and game messages are displayed in one window; and side-by-side panels, where the chat channel is on the left, and the game messages are on the right. Right-clicking on the window icon will hide/unhide the chat window.
You can use the mouse wheel to scroll either the chat or message panel, depending on which panel your mouse cursor is touching.
Players can customize the text color of each type of message they receive in chat. A different color can be assigned to the various types of messages. Chat is customized using the RGB color system. Color variants can be assigned with any number between 0 and 1.0.
The command for text customization is:
/setcolor [type] [red channel] [green channel] [blue channel]
For example:
/setcolor guild 0 1 0 - sets guild text as the color green
/setcolor tell 0.5 0.5 0.5 - sets /tell messages you receive to a gray color.
To reset the colors to default values, type:
/resetcolor
To see your current color selections, type:
/seecolor [type]
The Chat menu is separated into two sections by a dashed line. The top portion of the menu contains several options you can use to configure the Chat system; currently-subscribed channels are listed below the dashed line. The chat configuration options are explained below.
Selecting this item from the Chat menu will open the "Set Channels To Monitor" window. From here you can select which channels you would like to monitor in your chat. Two types of channels are selectable: Chat Channels and Global Channels.
There are several Global Channels you can also monitor. These include General Chat, Out of Context (non-game topics), Market, New Players, and separate channels for each race and class.
Selecting this item from the drop-down menu will open the "Set Message Filters" window. From here you can filter which game-generated messages you would like to receive. To filter out unwanted messages, simply un-check the box for the item you do not wish to monitor.
Selecting this item from the Chat menu opens the "Ignore Players" window, where you can filter out messages from players you choose to ignore.
Selecting this item from the Chat menu will open a list of players who are chatting directly with you through the /tell command. From this list, you can select which player you would like to reply to. You can also reply to the last person who sent you a message by typing /reply or /r.
Private channels are player-created chat channels. They can be public or private (password protected). When you first select this item from the Chat menu, the "Private Channels" window opens, asking which channel you wish to join. Two buttons are available to you:
After choosing one of the above options, the next time you select the Private Channel item from the Chat menu, a window will open stating which channel you are currently monitoring. Three new buttons are available:
If you are the channel's creator you will have several buttons you can use to manage your channel, including Gag, Ungag, Ban, Kick, and Transfer.
You can also change the size and spacing of your chat text by clicking Options on the Chat interface and then choosing Chat Font. Experiment with these settings to see which configuration suits you best.
The Help menu has four areas to assist your gameplay.
Emotes: Drop-down list of available ship or avatar emotes (depending upon whether you are in your ship or in a starbase). Emotes can also be done using /slash commands; the full list of ship and avatar actions is detailed on the Commands page.
