Well we have had this on IRC before but I was thinking of trying it again but making it a little different and more suited to our needs.
Before it was a system where you would join the list of players wanting to play and once there were 4 people the players would be messaged. This didn't relay work because there wasn't always 4 players and you had to keep a eye on irc to see when a new player joined. The main thing I like about having a pickup system is that you don't have to watch irc to get a game. You can join the list and wait till there are players and your be messaged. And thats imo how it should be.
So how I think the system should be is there should be a list of players wanting to play. If you want to play and are waiting to play with someone you just join this list and all the users who are on this list get messaged that you also want to play - so then and there you can play with someone or wait for more players. The main difference is that each time a player joins the waiting list anyone who is also waiting will be informed.
What ya think? Gaming is sometimes a problem on IRC, waiting around etc, so anything we an do to improve this situation would be good. Suggestions please.