IM gaming.

[Shinizak]

So a friend of mine moved away across the country, we didn't really want to quit gaming so we've decided to try and find an IM system, but my Google fu sucks.

Can you think of any good ones?

[PopcornMage]

Do you want to work with one of the "big" ones, where you can find a bunch of people, or do you want something that you can connect with directly, and not have to worry about the big networks?

[Shinizak]

Do you want to work with one of the "big" ones, where you can find a bunch of people, or do you want something that you can connect with directly, and not have to worry about the big networks?

Either one is good, as long as my friends & I can play with one another.

[WarKitty]

Personally I've used skype with decent results. Particularly since free videoconferencing means if only one person's left you can videoconference them in and let them play from the computer screen.

[PopcornMage]

Either one is good, as long as my friends & I can play with one another.

Well, I'll just suggest Google Wave. A lot of people have had good success with it.

But really, it depends on what you're comfortable with and want to do. There's still folks using simple chat software with dice rollers on IRC.