Keep in mind that adding emoticons is not some simple thing to do. Currently, graphics display within a line of text is not possible. You can't just $replace() a character with a picture. To add them would require a lot of work redoing the entire chat window. I'm sure there are features that are on the to-do list that are actually useful rather than just making it look "pretty". And I'm sure there are features that have a bigger impact for people for the amount of work than the minor impact of emoticons for a large amount of work.
