Glad you are enjoying the forum. Yes a chat box is technically possible - how many others would find it useful?
It does have the advantage of catering for chit-chatting, but I wouldn't want useful discussions to get lost there (the chat would not get saved), those are best kept for the forum.
I'd have to see what is available, something which isn't too resource intensive on the server etc. An easy solution is the Wibiya toolbar (go to
www.wibiya.com to see it in action), which has a communal chat feature built into it. Only drawback is that you cannot use your VE login credentials with it, rather your Facebook or Twitter account. But this is not something which would be implemented quickly either - too many time constraints currently. Also, this site is due for a major software overhaul early next year (plus gets a new look) so don't want to introduce anything new before that.