Chat Roulette: A Live Review of ChatRoulette.Com ~ A Rich Idea

I am just reading in the entertainment section of the newspaper about this website called ChatRoulette.com.

It´s a website where everybody is LIVE on webcams. No doctored photos or photos of people from 10 years before. It is all apparently live, pimples and all.

So, I´m gonna pop on the computer and see what all the fuss is about — this is my official ChatRoulette review.

It sounds like some sort of online version of hot or not. But without Lorenzo Lamas, can it really be any fun? Well, I´m gonna try!

So, here I go…firing up the webcam that I never use (it seems to be blurry which is good because when people pass on me I can blame the blurriness)…going over to ChatRoulette.com.

Ok, so you visit the site and up comes two picture windows: one is a video from your webcam (you have to give permission to show your cam) and the other one is a video of other people.

This is too weird!!! After you see your image, you just start seeing images of other people above you. You are able to choose to chat with them or click a button that says next, meaning “you don’t impress me much!”

Ok, the first person I saw was a pervy guy with headphones on. Then, I saw two young guys with knit caps on laughing their ass off; they seemed completely stoned and enjoying the hell out of Chat Roulette.

Wait, I´ll see if I can get a picture of them. Damn, no back button. Once you pass on someone, they’re gone for good. Decisions are made quick here on ChatRoulette and there’s no turning back–the ChatRoulette highway has no off-ramps!

So, the next photo…another guy who says in the chat window ¨i like pony’s¨. You like Pony´s? Good for you…I like girls…moving on…

Chat Roulette reports that 20,000 users are currently online and they all appear to be guys. I´m really not too wild about looking at pictures of random guy strangers…perhaps random girl strangers…

I´ll give it a few more ¨next¨ clicks…

Ok, apparently many men have some sort of fascination with people watching them pleasure themselves on camera. Ladies, if you have ever wanted to see this, just jump on over to ChatRoulette and have a viewing. But, if you want to chat with these men, be prepared for a long session because the men will be typing with one hand 🙂

Where are the women doing this? I suppose that they’re charging people elsewhere. Life just isn’t fair.

Ok, I just clicked “next” and finally got a photo of a female that would not be given a “G” rating anywhere. Sadly, however, it’s a photo and not a live video, which breaks the rules of the site. It’s probably a guy holding up the photo with one hand.

After more clicks, I do come across some interesting people and have a chat: Some girls in England getting ready to go out on the town and others in Venezuela have just come back from their late night.

These conversations are interesting but it’s rather annoying that you have to see 20 guys “doing their thang” before you get to people who are there to have a fun chat.

In the end, the idea of a “chat roulette” is great. If you have never chatted with strangers, it’s something that you should try. Sipping a bottle of wine and chatting with a complete stranger will, at a minimum, provide a pleasant diversion, and may introduce you to new ideas and new friends.

It’s unfortunate that you have to filter through a bunch of wankers to get this experience.

ChatRoulette: How to Turn off Camera Access

I never like to give a website access to my laptop camera — I feel like they’re spying on me. I suppose that’s the whole point of ChatRoulette though.

However, when done using the site, you may want to elect not to allow the site to access your camera anymore.

To block camera access from ChatRoulette on Chrome, simply hit the camera in the top right on your browser bar as you see in the photo below:

Chatroulette: Block Camera

This page has more detailed information on allowing ChatRoulette (or any website) access to your camera and microphone.

The ChatRoulette Players: Photos of People on ChatRoulette.com

Here are some random photos of the people from ChatRoulette. Jump over to ChatRoulette.com now to find a new friend or view an “unusual moment”.

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Richard Cummings

Author at Obvious Conclusions

Richard Cummings is a writer, traveler, and web content developer.

Get your copy of his latest book entitled Obvious Conclusions, stories of a Midwestern emigrant influenced and corrupted by many years living in San Francisco and abroad. It just received its first outstanding review "...reminiscent of David Sedaris or Augusten Burroughs" on Amazon UK.