Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Private lobbies can take a long time to fill. While waiting, players can see the player list and rules, but they cannot use the quick-chat and emoji tools that are available once the game starts.
This makes it hard to tell the host that someone is ready, ask for a rule change, explain that another player is joining, or keep track of the group without moving everyone to Discord. The conversation also has no continuity between the waiting room and the match.
This request is only about predefined quick-chat messages and the existing emoji system. It does not include arbitrary text entry or free chat.
Describe the solution you'd like
Use one quick-chat and emoji system across the private lobby and the game that follows it.
- Let players send the existing quick-chat messages and emojis from the private lobby while they wait.
- Add lobby-specific quick-chat messages such as "Ready", "Please wait", "Check the rules", "Please change the map", "One more player is joining", and "Starting soon".
- "Ready" is only a player status or quick-chat message. It must not become a required confirmation, and the host must still be able to start without waiting for every player to mark themselves ready.
- Keep the same panel and recent conversation visible when the lobby moves into the match, instead of discarding everything at game start.
- Continue new quick-chat messages and emojis in the in-game feed, using the game's existing recipient rules once the match begins.
- Treat lobby messages as lobby-wide broadcasts. Direct or team recipients only become available when the match has enough game context to support them.
- Keep a short, bounded recent history so players can follow the conversation and new lobby arrivals can see the latest context without storing an unlimited log.
- Show sender names, a host marker where useful, timestamps, and an unread indicator when the panel is collapsed.
- Reuse the existing server validation, recipient checks, and rate limits where possible. Add equivalent checks for the lobby phase and give players a way to mute or hide messages and emojis from specific users.
- Clear the conversation when the game ends or the lobby is closed.
- Make it available for private lobbies first. Whether it should be enabled by default or controlled by a host setting can be decided during review.
The goal is for quick chat and emojis to feel like one social feature that starts in the lobby and continues into the game, with a few extra messages designed specifically for organizing a lobby.
Describe alternatives you've considered
- Continue using Discord. This works for organized groups but not for players who joined from a shared lobby link or the hosted lobby browser.
- A mandatory ready check. This is not desired because one inactive player could prevent the host from starting; ready should remain informational only.
Additional context
Related issue: #2490. Related unmerged PR: #2514.
The scope is limited to quick chat and emojis. The lobby additions should reuse the in-game system where practical instead of creating a separate social feature that has to be maintained twice.
Assignment
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Private lobbies can take a long time to fill. While waiting, players can see the player list and rules, but they cannot use the quick-chat and emoji tools that are available once the game starts.
This makes it hard to tell the host that someone is ready, ask for a rule change, explain that another player is joining, or keep track of the group without moving everyone to Discord. The conversation also has no continuity between the waiting room and the match.
This request is only about predefined quick-chat messages and the existing emoji system. It does not include arbitrary text entry or free chat.
Describe the solution you'd like
Use one quick-chat and emoji system across the private lobby and the game that follows it.
The goal is for quick chat and emojis to feel like one social feature that starts in the lobby and continues into the game, with a few extra messages designed specifically for organizing a lobby.
Describe alternatives you've considered
Additional context
Related issue: #2490. Related unmerged PR: #2514.
The scope is limited to quick chat and emojis. The lobby additions should reuse the in-game system where practical instead of creating a separate social feature that has to be maintained twice.
Assignment