well i haven't seen a thread about this on here, but this program has been going around the competitive community (cal/twl, etc) for a good number of months, and i just thought you guys might like to know about it ;)
  www.xfire.com) 
 its a small download, and updates are usually released every other week. 
 basically its a non-gay version of aim which lets you see where other people are playing and who they are plaing with.  
 user-defined display names (like msn)
 will not kick you out of a game when messaged
 automatically get server info, including ping, name, map, and who is playing
 low impact - very little bandwidth needed and small memory/cpu footprint
 friends of friends - if some of your friends aren't on, then you can see those that are playing and are on their friends lists, without them seeing/harassing you ;)  
 oh yeah its free. 
 anyway my username is rumor (display name mR.iLgNeR) if you wanna add me.