There are AI programs out there beging developed and although i haven't really taken a look at the code or anything, my assumption is that it could do some sort of primitive problem solving. This probably could be implimented into whatever masking stuff fquist was talking about, along with some system of finding out where players are, and then the bot can make simple decisions, like shoot at someone until he runs away, and either chase him, get a carrot, or do whatever he needs to do.

That's oversimplifying things, but if this ever picks up, taking a look at freshmeat or sourceforge might help out with the AI.

As for chatting, the coding is ridiculously simple, and i have some simple little programs around on my computer.

-cheeze