Chat Roulette

Monday, February 22, 2010

chat roulette

So I checked out Chat Roulette the other day. It’s the place where you’re randomly connected to an endless stream of other people’s webcams. As you gaze into the abyss, so the abyss gazes into you. It’s like looking at Youtube commenters, bored guy after bored guy; the occasional swearing sociopath, middle-finger raised, exclaiming “FAGGOT!”; the endless cocks in various states of exposure and tumescence; the rare yet valuable witty contributor.

Cocks aside, the instantly frustrating thing with the experience is the level of passivity from most participants - clicking “next” endlessly, demanding the internet give them something to see, without considering what others might be seeing in them. I exhausted myself trying to emit a gigawatt of sunshine, big smiles and thumbs-up every two seconds, then, when my face started aching, playing everyone the 7th chord from the beginning of “Hard Days Night.”

But occasionally when I found someone who was doing a fun thing of their own (see above) or who was at least receptive, it was mildly rewarding, and the randomly rewarding nature of that experience meant I did spend a good hour doing my best to make the odd person smile.

Even so, by the end, the endless wave of humanity ground me down, and before I knew it I was clicking Next with the same indifference as the next bored guy, after bored guy, after bored guy.