ChatRoulette

The Peak of the Chat Roulette Phenomenon

It is February of 2010, and you are looking for a way to reach out to and chat with new people from all over the world. Okay, let’s be honest, you are looking for a way to reach out to and chat with sexually attractive people from all over the world. Okay, let’s be even more blunt: it is February of 2010, and you are looking for a way to see attractive people from all over the world masturbate on webcam for free. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Whatever your personal motivation may be, there is a new site that you heard about which will provide exactly what it is that you are looking for, or so you hope. That site is called Chat Roulette, and even though it just went up but a few months prior, by February of 2010, there are 35,000 people using it at any given time. The New York Times featured an article about it, calling the site ‘intensely addictive.’ By the time March of 2010 rolls around, it has been estimated that the site has amassed around 1.5 million users.

Sites don’t normally blow up this quickly. Even Facebook took years before finally reaching its tipping point and skyrocketing to the realm of cultural phenomenon. Chat Roulette, however, was seemingly immediately huge. What is this site’s secret?

Well, according to a survey conducted by RJ Metrics, one in eight “spins,” so to speak, on Chat Roulette contain adult content … be it nudity, masturbation, or (more often than not … especially nowadays) penises. So many penises to be seen on Chat Roulette. Of course, there is the occasional beautiful woman, either looking to chat or have some virtual fun. The risk, then, is worth it. Just like gambling, you never know where the roulette wheel will land. So, you take your chances, time and time again. And sometimes, you luck out. But most of the time … you see penises.

Chat Roulette was created in by a 17-year-old high school student named Andrey Ternovskiy, from Moscow, Russia. Ternovskiy claims that the concept came to him during video chats that he and his friends would have via Skype. He claims to have coded the first version of Chat Roulette in only “two days and two nights.” He says to have conceived of the name after watching The Deer Hunter, a movie about the Vietnam War, in which there are scenes depicting prisoners of war being forced to play Russian Roulette. Based on the chance of that game, Ternovskiy played up the chance element of his video chat website, leading us to the Chat Roulette we all know of today.

The site pairs up two users at random. From there, the two users are allowed to type messages to one another, as well as share their webcam and microphone access, creating a fairly seamless random chat experience. When it is time to move on to your next randomized chat partner, simply click next or tap the space bar. A great deal of the time spent on this site is likely to be spent hitting the space bar over and over until you find what you are looking for.

Chat Roulette has been featured and parodied on many popular media outlets. Chat Roulette has been discussed on The Daily Show, The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Good Morning America, Newsnight, Tosh.0, and South Park. Why has it been so widely discussed and made fun of, you ask? Well, the number of penises is one reason. But there was also a great deal of controversy surrounding the site.

Initially, there was no sign-up or registration required in order to use Chat Roulette. All you had to do was check a box that said that you are 18 and promised not to do anything dirty on the site and, voila, you were in. As you might be able to imagine, though, this very loose policy did not go over entirely well.

Controversy Abounds

It seems like common sense to note that if there is a way for pedophiles to be disgusting on the internet, they will find it. And that is what many people became worried about with Chat Roulette. Psychiatrist, Dr. Keith Ablow famously warned, “Parents should keep all their children off the site because it's much too dangerous for children. It's a predator's paradise. This is one of the worst faces of the Internet that I've seen. It's disconnecting human relationships rather than connecting them.”

The president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Emie Allen, also stated on CBS' The Early Show that the Chat Roulette was the "last place parents want their kids to be. This is a huge red flag; this is extreme social networking. This is a place kids are going to gravitate to.” All of this criticism and concern, however, was not enough to put a stop to the site. Chat Roulette is much better at moderating content today, too, which certainly helps the site’s case. Now, there is a face recognition software built in. If you are not featuring your face on the web cam, you will not be allowed to broadcast yourself.

Just because the site is still up, however, does not necessarily mean that it is still flourishing. So, let’s get down to brass tacks here and answer the question that everyone is interested in: is Chat Roulette still a good resource for having some sexy adult fun with strangers around the globe?

Well, the answer to that question is a little more complicated than you might think it would be. As mentioned previously, there are plenty of penises to go around. So, if that is your thing, then there is a good chance that you are going to absolutely love Chat Roulette. The majority of the people that you chance into conversation with seem to be male, mid-20s. So, Chat Roulette is likely something of a paradise for anyone looking to have some fun with men.

There is a Risk Involved…

However, if you are a straight male or a lesbian or anyone otherwise looking to have some fun with women on Chat Roulette, it is looking unlikely. After spending about an hour on the site, Pornsites.com would estimate that about one in ever 15 to 20 spins of the wheel yielded a female. And everything in between was either guys who immediately click “next” when they see another man, or guys going to town on themselves, with no care who sees. Sort of an exhibitionist’s playground.

And the women that Porn Sites ran into while Chat Rouletting were not necessarily there to engage in adult activities. The majority of them seemed to only want to, well, chat. After a few conversations, it became clear that it wouldn’t be the easiest task in the world to find a girl to get freaky on Chat Roulette. However, it is certainly not impossible, at least not if you are willing to put in a little work for it. Remember, the site is 100% free, so it could just be worth it.

Upgrade to Increase Odds of “Winning”

There is a premium version of the site as well, if you are looking to pay to upgrade your account. From here, you can filter by gender, region, language, interests, etc., allowing for a completely customizable Chat Roulette experience. This will also allow you to filter out any unwanted penises that you might otherwise be subject to in the free version,

All in all, Chat Roulette is still as fun as ever. There is something exciting about not knowing who you might encounter next, who you might have the opportunity to meet. Who knows what could come of it – you could meet the love of your life, you could make a great new friend, or you could have some freaky NSA webcam fun with a stranger from the opposite end of the world … who knows!

With these types of sites, though, it is important to remember that you cannot expect the site to do all of the work for you. What you get out of Chat Roulette is going to depend on what you put into it. If you are exceedingly shy, this might not be the place for you. If that is the case, Porn Sites would recommend just springing the cash for an adult camming site, where the girls are going to do the heavy lifting for you.

However, if you are confident, looking to meet new people, and ready for an experience, no matter where it might lead, then there is a good chance Chat Roulette is the site you have been waiting for. It takes literally no time or effort to use, so, why not head over and give it a shot right now? Enjoy!