We've all got various systems for keeping track of our guildmates and chatting to them out-of-game, but here's one you might not have heard of. Xfire is a nifty little application which combines instant messenger-style friends lists and chat with cross-game communication, allowing you to talk to people regardless of which game they're playing. It also keeps track of how many hours you've spent in-game, for those situations when /played just doesn't suffice.

The downside: like other IM clients, you'll have to sign up for an account and get your friends to sign up too, but it has a handy Friends of Friends feature that shows you who else is playing in your extended friends network. You might just increase your addiction by trying to log more hours than your guildmates, though -- and leaving it running overnight doesn't count.
 

Filed under: Tips