Dang, it really uses that much battery? What if you use an in-browser client, wouldn't it pause when you navigate away from the tab?
I haven't used IRC in a long time, I used to just join rooms and say "sup", heh good times
I spend a lot of time on www.doomworld.com because I'm into oldschool Doom and there's a big modding community there (and I've been a member there since 2003!) I think it will be harder to find a good forum if you don't have a specific thing like that in mind. Most forums revolve around a specific activity so I would think first about WHAT you want to talk to people about, then look for websites related to that topic. Try not to be too general - so if you want to hang out with game developers, consider narrowing it down to the type of game you are interested in. I mean, there are general game dev forums (this is one) but I just think it can be a better experience if the topic is more focused, because the community will hopefully be a bit smaller and more intimate. And, you'll have a common ground to start conversation from.
You can also really do it the old way by making your own forum :P
EDIT: just realized you made a classic Doom map, awesome!