Local communication is a small yet vital part in mmo's. It conveys immediate information and messages from other players standing near you and allows you to react most of the time without looking into a chatbox letting you be immersed in the game while interacting with other players. In different MMO's and MMORPG's one can notice different ways in which local communication is portrayed:
In World Of Warcraft a dark, semi-transparent bubble with bright text does the job and is mostly easy to read in a crowd.

In oldschool Runescape variously coloured text appears above players potentially making it less coherent but does not cover a lot of the screen with bubble background.

In Maplestory white bubble background with dark text may cause to completely cover up a screen but you probably won't miss a message.

In Neverwinter Nights white text with slightly dark outline appears above characters for a brief moment, making it more immersive and does not obscure screen with background.

What type is your favourite ? Which one would you like to see in AoC ? Are there any that you think would work better ?