This will either blow your mind, or creep you out. Or both.
Faithful blog followers, I’d like to introduce you to ChatRoulette.com. The latest craze to sweep cyberspace. It’s already been featured in New York magazine, the NY times, and Good Morning America. Think Skype but without your list of contacts. A website that allows you to connect to anyone via webcam instantly, all over the world, but only at random. There are no filters, no search field where you can select “females over 18 living in Manhattan.”
As you can imagine, for internet predators and pervs this website is like the Promised Land. According to various users, something like 1 in every 3 chat sessions involve a naked man jerking off. One in particular (http://nymag.com/news/media/63663/) reported a man fornicating with a head of lettuce. You get the idea.
What was this 17 year old tech genius from Moscow thinking when he created such a site? What experience was he hoping to bestow upon us? I’m sure he had a romantic idea of how this tool could be used. A way to bring some humanity back to the internet I guess. A way to connect people.
I was both highly skeptical and VERY scared to try it. What if someone saw me and they didn’t think I was pretty enough? I’d have to watch them as they click the “next” button.
I have no desire to relive middle school.
The first time I tried it, I put my Clifford in front of the camera. Needless to say, people didn’t stay long enough to chat with me. The first guy I saw immediately disconnected, and the second dude was naked, of course. I screamed, slammed shut my laptop and went to sleep with Clifford in a headlock.
The second time I visited ChatRoulette I was a little more brave. Once I got past the naked masturbating dudes (yes, you get a little numb to cock when you see it every other time you hit “next”) the experience was actually really cool. I met a nice boy from Chile who was very charming–he told me he wanted to be born in my tears and die in my mouth. I think. Maybe I messed up the translation.
It’s definitely a male-dominated community. I only saw two girls during my whole experience, neither of which wanted to talk to me (sad face).
The only thing I wish the creator (Andrey Ternovskiy) http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/chatroulettes-founder-17-introduces-himself/?scp=1&sq=chatroulette&st=cse would add is some sort of translation tool. (Though you can clearly hear people, they don’t talk to you–instead everyone opts to type in the chat room, making a Google-translate type feature very easy to add). I never spoke to anyone from the States, and while I could get by with the Spanish speakers, I’m afraid I was less than successful with the French.
When I asked people why they used the website and what they were looking for, the general answer was “I dunno. I just wanted to talk to someone.” In which case, Andrey’s website has succeeded in the sense that he wished.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience. There’s something really exciting about it…the possibility that I could meet someone ridiculously cool, someone who will change my life. Not likely, but still possible. At the very least, ChatRoulette is something to do if you’re bored, or lonely and you just want to talk. Or if you enjoy watching others make jackasses of themselves.
<<<<(left: Chatroulette’s creator, Andrey. Right: the scary people that make up 2/3 rds of its users)
(http://nymag.com/news/media/63663/)
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