Summary:

Users are incorrectly shown as offline to each other while actually being online and co-located. This results in failed instant messages and inability to initiate chat sessions.

Description:

Multiple users are experiencing an issue where avatars appear offline to each other despite being visibly present in the same region. This prevents IMs from being sent or received and causes chat session failures.

In some cases, sending an IM will suddenly update the avatar’s status from offline to online, suggesting a delay or failure in presence/status synchronisation.

Error Message Observed:

"Unable to start chat session with (AVATAR NAME)

The Session Initialisation has timed out"

Steps to Reproduce:

Two avatars log in and stand in the same region

Observe that one or both appear offline in the friends list

Attempt to initiate an IM

IM fails with session timeout error

In some cases, sending an IM updates status to online

Frequency:

Intermittent but frequent (reported by multiple users over several months)

Impact:

Prevents communication between users

Disrupts social interaction and events

Particularly problematic in live environments (e.g. clubs, roleplay, group coordination)

Additional Notes:

Issue occurs even between users on the same local network/IP

Reported by multiple unrelated users across different locations

Appears to be a server-side presence or messaging issue rather than client-specific

Request:

Please investigate presence synchronisation and IM session initialisation, as this issue significantly impacts core communication functionality.