+1.
And there's language barriers to consider too - I sort of doubt they can hook up Google translate to the messenger service.
I'd go with an expansion of the "thanks" function that's apparently been put in (but without pop-ups - have them show up in your news feed instead) - you could have a set of icons denoting set messages like:
"well played" (and maybe another for "£$%^& you" that just sent a "well played"),
"thanks" for gifts
"thanks for the game" for magnaminious winners to send
"please send me ... " buttons for cones/reds/greens/blues