hehe If you have a chatbox (And I know now this for a fact) the forums and IRC will both become a LOT less active, people will ask their problems in the chatbox and then become frustrated when they aren't answered immediately
1.) Did this happen yet? 2.) Some people probably know about XAT, it's a simple chat room that you can get for free. It's what I use in other forums. Of someone want to set one of those up, that'd work. You can create multiple rooms in one page too.
Hasn't happened yet and when it happens it'll be based on our IRC channel. We're looking to upgrade our forum software first though.