I don't know the correct way to answer that question, but if it helps ANet offers encryption. If you use a program such as Cheat Engine, you can speed hack and actually change variables in the 3D Game Studio engine, along with tampering with packets.

With my project the chat is sent as a separate string apart from everything else. The only thing I have to have in sync is the clients data to the server when it come to inventory, stats, skills, etc. Since I am using a mysql database, I can't have 2 clients sending their inventory information at the same time, so first I have the clients request to send to server, if the server says okay, it sends an okay back and locks on to that client ID and waits..if another client sends a request at this time, the server sends, wait (1) back basically. When the server gets the info, it saves to database and readies for the next set of information pieces.

If it makes you feel any better, I have tested sending an array which has 26,000 valid indexes...this took maybe 2 seconds, if that. I would not limit yourself to compacting everything all into one packet, array or string with dilimeters. I have not had an issue yet, and seeing you are working with maybe 4 players...that should be cake. Also, remember what and when the server should do certain functions. If you were using the 3d Game Studio multiplayer commands, I would suggest you keep doing what your doing. With each client they are maybe using up to 2 kbps max...this is average for a game like this. I hope this helps.