Testing, Testing
By now, you’ve heard of it: the random, anonymous webcam chat sensation frightening the mainstream and drawing out curious users by the droves. With not only video, but audio chat capabilities, Chatroulette really does “invite strangers into your living room” just the way Momma warned us about when we first got dialup.
My first venture into Chatroulette wasn’t what I expected. I’d been promised masturbating frat boys, furries in leopard suits, and guys displaying: “SHOW YOUR TITS FOR HAITI!” signs. I may, possibly, have been the only person getting on Chatroulette in the hopes of actually experiencing these things. As a voyeuristic perv, it seemed like the perfect way to watch a little action and chat with naked people doing hot things without paying $3.95 a minute to gaze at a bored pro.
Instead, I was connected to an attractive thirtysomething lady with a perm. She was sprawled on her belly on her bed, gazing thoughtfully into her webcam. I froze. They say the anonymity of the Internet fuels less civil behavior, but I realized in that moment, that it was more than that, at least for me: seeing her face—in real time—made it impossible for me to proposition her.
It felt like being at a crowded bar, trying to talk to strangers.
Surely she’d been asked a million times to show her tits for Haiti. I didn’t want to do that to her. So I typed, “Hi! I hope you’re having a happy Tuesday!”—like a nervous virgin unable to muster up the courage to ask the cheerleader out.
I watched her read the words, then smile and type back. “Thanks!”
“I’m off to spread more Tuesday cheer!” I replied, trying to find some reasonable way to close out the session without seeming like a douchebag. Somehow, sounding like a chirpy Home & Garden Network host felt better.
“OK,” she typed. I wasted no time disconnecting.
I couldn’t bring myself to play roulette again that night. What just happened?
My first venture into Chatroulette wasn’t what I expected. I’d been promised masturbating frat boys, furries in leopard suits, and guys displaying: “SHOW YOUR TITS FOR HAITI!” signs. I may, possibly, have been the only person getting on Chatroulette in the hopes of actually experiencing these things. As a voyeuristic perv, it seemed like the perfect way to watch a little action and chat with naked people doing hot things without paying $3.95 a minute to gaze at a bored pro.
Instead, I was connected to an attractive thirtysomething lady with a perm. She was sprawled on her belly on her bed, gazing thoughtfully into her webcam. I froze. They say the anonymity of the Internet fuels less civil behavior, but I realized in that moment, that it was more than that, at least for me: seeing her face—in real time—made it impossible for me to proposition her.
It felt like being at a crowded bar, trying to talk to strangers.
Surely she’d been asked a million times to show her tits for Haiti. I didn’t want to do that to her. So I typed, “Hi! I hope you’re having a happy Tuesday!”—like a nervous virgin unable to muster up the courage to ask the cheerleader out.
I watched her read the words, then smile and type back. “Thanks!”
“I’m off to spread more Tuesday cheer!” I replied, trying to find some reasonable way to close out the session without seeming like a douchebag. Somehow, sounding like a chirpy Home & Garden Network host felt better.
“OK,” she typed. I wasted no time disconnecting.
I couldn’t bring myself to play roulette again that night. What just happened?
There is a joke that all the people on Chatroulette are reporters and journalists. I've never known anyone to actually use the site so I am inclined to believe. It's almost like a fake phenomenon
lol, they killed all the masturbators!