[Shadbase]

Wanted to sit and think on this for a hot minute...
I think that there's three things that could actually be good in the case of RP Pinging: A proper 'ping' button in the right-click menu, the ability to set a Madness Mantra-type 'ping' word, and the option to set a 'status'.

A proper ping button could put out a small message, perhaps similar to Iahsus:
System: [character alias] has pinged you!
That would light up the SL2 window like a trade does. This gives visibility to the system, and so you know who's pinged you as well, and you're not accidently accepting a trade. An optional functionality could also be to add a reason, which could look like either of these potentially:
System: [character alias] has pinged you! Reason: I'd like to RP!
System: [character alias] has pinged you! (I'd like to RP!)
I think this could be an elegant replacement for the band-aid trade ping. Of course, I think that regardless, this type of ping should have a cooldown on it. I mean, anybody who's lived through MSN and violently heard the "bada-BUM", vibrating window, and taskbar flash at a rate of 90 PPM knows why it should. (I would know. I did this because I was 12. Very funni.)

The second is a built-upon one that also relates to what's been suggested before: having just a specific ping word.
I'd think the ping word could be enacted in all the IC verbs, as well as LOOC, and can be set to at minimum one phrase. So if I had a character named "Throckmorton", and my alias was "Watermelon Maniac", I could set either my name, the two words in my alias, or even just a topic I enjoy as my phrase, and whenever it's said in any channel, I would get a Madness Mantra-like highlight of the word and my window would beep. Obviously something like this should have an on/off button, and personally I'd put it on the bar above the chat box, even if that sacrifices the 'guild-chat' macro (Not that I think we really need that, hee hoo) just to make sure there's ample space on the bar. Preferences could work too, but it's a bit less convenient.

The third is something I think was brought up in another thread? But I think it relates to pinging too so: the idea of having a set-able status. Not only could such a thing make it easy to tell if you even NEED to ping someone, but I'd think it could be used creatively too.
I made a mock up of what I'd think would be a semi-seamless fit (thank god for passports):


And in this regard too, I think this should be a replacement for the "Idle" status, especially when the Idle status just kinda blankly says "this person might be afk, or tabbed out, or eating dinner, or watching a movie while they wait, who knows!". Then you could actually have a reason to PING someone, because they suggest doing so themselves, right there!

Okie that's all I have, thank...