[Jokab]

My friends are pretty much split up in a ratio of 1:1 for people who game and people who don't. What has come to baffle me in recent times however, is that even the people who game frequently, go to message boards and whatnot, don't know about or use IRC, ever. The few of my friends who actually know about it don't see the point in it: "socializing in chat with a bunch of strangers? why?". To me IRC has always been an integral part of internet life, but I've come to realize it's a very niche group of people who actually use it regularly. I just really like the notion of a drop-in chatroom where you after a while actually might recognize every single person.

So, question is in the title. Moreover, how many of you guys use it daily?

[Floex]

Da fuck is IRC?

[strafer]

MIRC?

[Sentry]

RPJ GAF

But it can be pretty quiet at times...

[Jasconius]

Yep, was pretty much my introduction to the Internet. Also how I made my way here eventually. It's a good way to stay in touch, too. I don't think any of my friends or coworkers in town use it, though.

[ThoseDeafMutes]

My ex used to spend a lot of time on a DeviantArt IRC channel.

[Songbird]

It's pretty weird how big a thing IRC has become for me, even with people I'll probably not meet face to face. It's even on my phone, how crazy is that?

I started using it just about a year ago, only ever IMed before, now it's IRC and Steam.

[maniac-kun]

Using IRC since 1999. Some friends know it others dont.

[Kabouter]

They definitely don't have a clue what IRC is.

I do use it daily, and thank god GAF's unofficial channel, #ga, is busier than RPJ IRC apparently is.

[LethaL ImpuLse]

Wait, do people seriously not know what IRC is?

[MIMIC]

I had exactly ONE friend who knew what IRC was.

....and he didn't use it just for chatting :)

[evlcookie]

I've used it for the past 15 years i guess? I'm guessing for most of those it's mainly been the same people on and off as the channel has gone through different stages.

I don't drop into random rooms anymore though, Not for a long ass time.

[alekth]

I got out of the loop of using IRC and I really miss it. Most fo the channels I used to hang around in are now gone. Back then a lot of my friends knew about it simply because they were friends I'd made over irc. IRL... it's probably a ratio of 1:10 of people knowing about it, and nobody using it.

[brianjones]

i havent used it since high school

used to be in the team fortress classic scene

clans and shit

[akira28]

Wait, do people seriously not know what IRC is?

most people don't know what IRC is. It used to be a lot more popular back when Eris Free, DAL, and undernet were king. Now there are like 1000 different networks and it's all become a lot more diluted in my opinion. Online chat went from AOL to the yahoo MSN messenger services and irc hardcores went on to other things. You still have niches, but most channels I've browsed seem to be really sporadic with activity. A bunch of my old college friends used to be on irc, but no one else I know seems to be aware of it. And no one really uses it anymore. I used to hang out on EFnet #startrek way back when, a bit after they split off to create Dalnet. ...I wouldn't be surprised if some other GAFfers were on the other popular EFnet channel I won't mention.

[Darryl]

i can't find any decent rooms to join anymore, so i haven't been using it

pretty sure nobody i know about knows it exists, to answer your question. not even the ones who spend excessive internet time.

[Nibel]

Is there any "official" GAF IRC channel?

[WoodenLung]

At least one friend does, he's a programmer so that isn't very surprising. Don't think anyone else does though, maybe a few gamers that has seen it mentioned on forums.

[Kabouter]

Is there any "official" GAF IRC channel?

Not official, but #ga (studio64.yi.org) is as close as you are going to get.

[Kandrick]

I stopped using it a few years ago. And i don't know anyone who still uses it, although most if not all of my friends know what IRC is.

[Nibel]

Not official, but #ga (studio64.yi.org) is as close as you are going to get.

Thanks!

[gooey kablooie]

I've always known about it, but never used it. Was never into chatrooms.

[Peru]

Every single same-age aquaintance used IRC in our early days of internet use. Not so much anymore.

[Lissar]

RPJ GAF But it can be pretty quiet at times...

Apparently I need to get on and stir things up. :<

[MIMIC]

I remember hanging around the IGN channels when they actually had channels dedicated to specific games.

Wow, that was so long ago.....

[CiSTM]

Pretty much all my friends use IRC or has used. I used to hang around CS channels when I played in clans but that's ages ago. These days I have pretty much given up on IRC.

[akira28]

#********
#talkaboutli****

lol.

edit: haha one of those is blocked. you crazy irc guyz...

[Anteater]

I don't use IRC much, I know of it.

None of the people I know uses IRC, none of them play video games either.

My brother used IRC back in the days in college but that's pretty much the only person I know that uses it.

[MadraptorMan]

Been using IRC since 1999. Started with frequenting IGN Chat...and since then I've known the same group of chatters and I've even met some (well ok just one) in person and it's always been the source of a great sense of community/home-away-from-home for me. Sad to see people disappear from it over the years though, especially with the advent of Facebook.

[ajim]

My mates and I were huge IRC users back 'in the day' lol. I even has a semi-popular (over 500k downloads) mIRC script I made (an entire mIRC package with custom scripts etc), that is still on the net, but hasn't been updated. Funnily enough, 2002 was my last iteration and I was receiving emails about it up until 2010 asking if I was going to make a new version, tho, I did lose the email which was connected to the website, so, I may have received more.

[MrHicks]

only used it to download packages

"/xdfdkjlkdj get lsdjfksdjlfj #1" and shit like that

i dunno if it predatess kazaa/gnutella etc but it certainly wasn't "user friendly"

[Tashbrooke]

If I have understood this correctly then I use Skype

[Famicom]

A friend and I discovered IRC in 1999. He stopped using it around mid-2000s, but I'm still on it daily. Only one other person in my circle of friends even knows what it is.

[NIN90]

I use it to find CoD2 clanbase matches. o_o

5v5 cb.eu server on 1500+
5v5 cb.eu server on 1500+ 2
5v5 cb.eu server on 1500+ 3

[UnblessedSoul]

Used it a lot back in the day, friends had mod/game bots on there

[Phantast2k]

Those same ppl. who used it back in the day with me (in clans & shit) are now using teamspeak.


Also:
/[nick] xdcc list
/get [nick] [filename]
:O

[Lissar]

#******** #talkaboutlissar lol. edit: haha one of those is blocked. you crazy irc guyz...

Nooo, don't tell everyone about that one! I don't need people going there to say nothing about someone they don't know. :|

#talkaboutbillie? is better anyway.

[Gintoki]

Only used it a couple of times. And I'm pretty sure no one that I know even heard of it.

[Yaska]

Been on irc for years. Still use it actively. Irssi is the best client btw.

As for friends, all my friends know what it is. Most of them use it.

[SyNapSe]

no

[Alex Anderson]

My first experience with IRC was on the Dreamcast, hehe. A DC site I frequented had a chat room and instructions on how to load it via the PlanetWeb browser. ChuChu Rocket had just come out and I was 16 and didn't have a PC in my room so that was fun to go on at night.

Used IRC pretty much daily ever since

[Death Dealer]

I used IRC a little back in the 90's.

But the last time was probably a decade ago.

[Ratchet]

No one that I know in real life knows about IRC. It's always been a niche form of online communication, and even today, the people who used to use it have moved on to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. IRC certainly isn't as popular as it used to be back in the 90s/early 2000s. I still use IRC, but there isn't a whole lot of activity at the channels I go to.

[Foliorum Viridum]

People still use IRC?

O.o

[Zeouterlimits]

One or two, but only those in a College Computer Society. Most know "of" it, but never really use it.

[Ratchet]

The only forms of online communication I use are instant message, IRC, and forums.

[Krelian]

My friends and I used to hang out in various channels on Quakenet. It's been years since I've used IRC now, though. I kind of miss it.

[HomShaBom]

Not official, but #ga (studio64.yi.org) is as close as you are going to get.

Back in the day we didn't tell people our secrets. Gaf goin soft.

[BosSin]

They definitely don't have a clue what IRC is. I do use it daily, and thank god GAF's unofficial channel, #ga, is busier than RPJ IRC apparently is.

Hmm this is the first time I'm hearing of a GAF channel, will have to visit now

[Misterinenja]

IRC was the shit back in the day. :)

I kinda miss it. Probably should start it again!