Oh yeah, that sounds great, until we get a million:
1) "I just bought a game but it doesn't work. I know nothing about electronics, have never held a screwdriver, and haven't even bother looking at it, but can someone tell me how to fix it for my party tonight?"
2) "My monitor doesn't work. What's wrong with it?" (no other info)
3) "I don't have a key. How do I get into my game?
4) "I moved my game and now it doesn't work."
There is a reason why we have a search function.
Trust me, as soon as a chat area comes online, forum content will go away. A lot of people who like coming here now will stop. Another forum started up with a chat feature, and a lot of people went over there for it, but content stayed low and I've heard it's like a ghost town now.
Besides, a lot of the "helpful" people have jobs and families, and don't have time to sit around for a few hours trying to explain to somebody how to check B+ on a monitor, or how to tap into the AC lines so they can hook up their switcher in their home-built 60-in-1.
I know I seem to be here a lot, but there is often quite a few hours when i'm not, and the person needing help might not be here when I am. While there are often others here who can help, I see plenty of "it's the flyback" answers to monitor problems that are caused by many more common issues than the flyback. If I (or the other more knowledgeable folks) don't see it in time to correct it, it can cause major problems for the person looking for help.
I don't disagree that chat would be nice. it would certainly give the political and sports people a place to argue in real-time. i don't think it would be the best answer for tech help though....