The old school players out there may already be familiar with the concept of MUDs, or MultiUser Dungeons.
MUDs are text-based environments one can telnet into and play around in.
They generally have chat 'channels,' news boards, direct talk and room say commands, etc. In fact, some people make characters to do nothing but chat. Your average modern gamer demands graphics, 3D acceleration, and sour cream. Luckily, Asheron's Call provides two of the three. It is true that conversations are still held via text in general, but even still, you're conversing with people whose graphical representations you can see.