Last year was my first Kerth and my first experience with irc. Once I got into the chat room and saw how it worked I eventually began to understand, but I also have to agree that, in this day and age, it's a pretty complicated and convoluted way to chat.
Personally I don't have much experience with alternatives, though. I have used msn (now skype/msn) and have had multiple windows open and multiple people joined in the chat, but I don't know of anything else.
Plus, depending on the time - which has not yet been announced ... I may not even be able to attend this year! I was lucky last year - even though it was quite late at night.
Hence I did not attend the Kerth awards. 
