You could always make a client availabl on the site that connects to the network and the channel... some people just don't like having to fire up seperate software.

We added one to our game at the weekend and IRC use has gone through the roof. But, I too tried to chat in there, I had one decent chat I think... most of the time no one else was on.

If you want a good Java applet IRC client I can recommend a very good one :-)