Kimberly Longo

Amanda Cospito
Donna DelRossi
Gregory Silber
Intro:
Chat roulette is based on a deceptively simple concept: users can communicat
e via web cam with strangers, chosen at random, talking about whatever they wish
for as long as they wish. Yet anyone who plans on exploring the seedy world of
chatroulette.com must be warned: nothing can prepare you for what you are about
to experience. You will be appalled, offended, repulsed, confused, and perhaps e
ven frightened. You might be forced to rethink everything that you thought you k
new about the human condition and your own character.
If you suspect we are exaggerating, you haven’t used chat roulette. It rea
lly is such an overwhelmingly bizarre experience that it is difficult to find a
way to begin discussing it. There is no “typical” chatroulette.com encounter, th
ough the properties of the site itself do have a way of dictating the nature of
the conversations. First of all, the technology is quite unreliable, most notabl
y the lagging audio, so it seems that most people prefer to have an “instant-mes
sage” style chat that just happens to have the added novelty of web cam capabili
ty. Second, since users can disconnect themselves out of a conversation anytime,
people are able to be completely, unapologetic and superficial. Finally, and pe
rhaps most importantly, since there are so many people using the sight at any ti
me, the chances of seeing someone you know or will ever see again are extremely
unlikely, rendering the chats completely and utterly anonymous.
Abstract:
Our aim for this project is to better understand the way in which audience i
s affected by identity. In order to do so we are exploring the practices employe
d by users of Chat Roulette. We conducted our study based upon interviews with f
ive teenage boys and three teenage girls. These teenagers received much differe
nt outcomes to the social networking site than what we expected. We as a group f
elt that the audience would affect the self-esteem and identity of an individual
by constantly being rejected. However, the teenagers’ sense of dignity was not
affected.

Method:
Chat roulette was first created in November of 2009, and although it is rela
tively new, it has already stirred up some controversy within mainstream society
. Some people use this social network site in a respectful, socially acceptable
way to communicate with others. However, several others use it as a tool for se
xual gratification. “About one in 10 people on the website are masturbating men
, by our estimates, and several more are clearly interested in some form of cybe
rsex” (Paget, pg 1). From our observation, it seems that many people visit this
website simply for entertainment purposes. Since the people who interact with
strangers feel it is acceptable to expose themselves they develop a form o comf
ort with the website.
The study we conducted consist of two test groups, one with all female teena
gers and the other with all males teenagers. We observed not only their reaction
to Chat roulette, but the way they communicated with their audience. Before the
two groups started socializing with strangers, we asked them if anyone has hear
d of Chat roulette. Male candidate number one had experimented with this website
. His personality traits are notable, as he appeared to be highly confident and
self assured. He tends to not let other people define who he is, unlike the othe
r male candidates in the group. Female candidate number one had heard of Chat ro
ulette but had not experienced it until this case study. She was slightly more h
esitant when participating, a feeling that was intensified when the first male a
ppeared on the screen and "nexted" her.
 The set up of the computers were not facing each other so that only males we
re visible on one computer and only females were visible on the other computer.
These two groups could not see what each other were doing or who they were speak
ing to. They were only able to see each other’s reactions. Each candidate was al
lowed a thirty minute limit to talk to strangers. Some of the strangers computer
s were not functioning properly so they had to take note book paper and a pen to
write the message they wanted to convey. The stranger would hold up the paper i
n front of the web-cam to let the female candidate know they were experiencing t
echnical difficulties. According to Haas s article "Many writers can articulate
the advantages and disadvantages of computer technologies, and can make conscio
us decisions to work around these technologies by employing the more traditional
technologies of pen and paper at certain junctures in the writing process" (pg.
25). Problems such as this, shows that regular pen and paper is much more relia
ble then modern technology. No matter how much technology is advancing, we will
always revert back to technology of pen and paper.

After the two groups were finished experimenting with Chat roulette, we asked ea
ch participant (and even each other) to honestly answer the following questions:
1. Did you feel comfortable speaking with strangers?
2. Did you meet anyone that you were compatible with?
3. Did Chat roulette lower your self esteem?
4. In a psychological perspective, did this make you feel wanted?
5. Would you try Chat roulette again in the near future?

The anonymity of Chat roulette contributes greatly to the behavior of the au

dience of this site. It clearly affects people’s behavior in chats. Perhaps part
of the appeal of chat roulette is that people can behave oddly or disrespectful
ly with no fear of repercussions. Case in point: the mind-shatteringly high freq
uency of people (mostly men, but there are some female offenders) who use the si
te for self-gratification. The “Terms of Service” section of the website actuall
y states that “Chat roulette does not tolerate broadcasting obscene, offending,
pornographic material and we will have to block users who violate these rules fr
om using our service” and there is even a “report” button for such occasions, bu
t such efforts are rendered futile. If the unsuspecting victim does not immediat
ely click “next”, than the offender usually does so himself before he can be rep
orted.
Other people use such anonymity for the opportunity to be cruel for crueltie
s sake. When our group first used chat roulette we were more-or-less expected to
be “nexted” by several people upon first site, and our group half expected for
someone to call at least one person ugly. We suggest that anyone who tries Chat
Roulette should first mentally prepare themselves.
Our group came to the conclusion that on chat roulette, the anonymity affect
s the identity that people choose to project to others, which leads to a host of
unique circumstances.

Results:
Referring back to male candidate number one; our group came to the conclusio
n that since this study was completed in a group setting, and not individually,
their self esteem was not affected as negatively as one might think. Unfortunate
ly, the way our study was conducted with the teenagers it was more of a party at
mosphere. We believe if we studied each individual separately and independently
, the teenagers would have been more serious and honest about their experiences
on Chat roulette. It was quite interesting to see the outcomes that the groups
portrayed. The males had much different answers then the females, as their pers
onalities had contributed greatly to their experiences. The following chart sho
ws the questions and answers that were given to the male and female groups:
Male Candidate Group Answers:
Questions
Candidate 1
Candidate2
Candidate 3
Candidate 4
Candidate 5
Did you feel comfortable speaking with strangers?

Yes, they were cool.

Absolutely not.
No, I hated it.
They all "whacked off."
They are kind of "freaky."
Did you meet anyone compatible with?

Lol, no way!
NO!
Their all crazy.
"Hell, no"
Not with those weirdo’s.
Did Chat roulette lower your self esteem?
Wow, no, they are all losers.
Nah, I want to see those lesbo’s again.
That hot girl just "nexted" me.
They are all crazy people.
Nah, those people are stupid.
In a psychological perspective, did this make you feel wanted?
No
No
No
No
No
Would you try Chat Roulette again in the near future?
Yes, going home and doing it later.
Yes, people on here are stupid.
Yes, want to see how many guys whacked off.
Yes, it’s funny.
Yes, want to stay on and play some more.
Female Candidate Group Answers:
Questions
Candidate 1
Candidate 2
Candidate 3
Did you feel comfortable speaking with strangers?
Oh yeah.
Yeah it was fine.
Absolutely not, I didn’t even want to be seen on the web- cam.
Did you meet anyone compatible?
No.
Lol no way.
No way. Their all losers.
Did Chat Roulette lower self esteem?

No. Their all low life losers.

Please, come on now.
No.
In a psychological perspective, did this make you feel wanted?
No, could care less.
No
No
Would you try Chat roulette again in the near future?

Yes it was kind of fun and humorous.

This would be so fun to do on sleep over parties.
No way, this thing is stupid and kind of scary.

As for our group results they differed among each individual. Amanda, who i
s twenty-three year old was very skeptical about going on Chat roulette, but con
cerning her experience with it, she realized that there are decent people that u
se Chat roulette. She met a twenty-two year old male student from California.
There conversation consists of the disturbing actions that are associated with C
hat roulette, as well as the economy and their student lives in general. The st
udent from California s self image was very attractive and the way he portrayed
himself was respectful.
Greg, who just turned 19 last week, was also nervous before trying out Chat
roulette for the first time, but he was so intrigued that he accumulated almost
three hours over the course of the past week exploring the site, which lead to
a variety of unique encounters. Most people “nexted” him almost immediately (it
may be telling that one such stranger was holding a sign reading “show me boobs”
, a request that Greg was unable to fulfill), but he eventually got used to such
reactions, as many people were far more insulting. For example, one man told Gr
eg that he was so ugly that he should kill himself because of it. Of course, Gre
g also came across several unsettling masturbatory displays, which at first star
tled him, but soon he mustered up the courage to try to ask them questions like
“why are you doing this? What went wrong in your life?” in a futile attempt to d
iscover the motivations of these people through psychoanalyzation. Most people i
gnored this, but one woman actually said “I don’t know, it’s just a fancy” befor
e “nexting” him. Similarly, he asked the same question to a shirtless man in paj
ama pants, which actually led to what Greg estimates to have been one of about t
hree truly meaningful conversations in his experience with the site so far. The
man claimed that Greg was “the first decent person” he had met on Chat roulette.

Critics believe that Chat roulette "is insanely addictive--basically like a

slot machine where instead of cherries, you re hoping for the strangest things
that humanity has to offer" (Kuang, pg. 2). There are many different perception
s of Chat roulette, depending on the age group. Our group had the same opinion
about Chat roulette, we found it appalling and inappropriate. This is what the
world has come to: first it was e-mail, and now it is looking at a strangers fac
e through a computer screen. This all comes back to the materiality of writing;
everyone needs prior knowledge in order to use technology tools. The author of
"A Matter of Metaphor" explains "The technology system is the water we swim in,
and it has become life-sustaining and almost invisible to us" (Nardi & O day, p
g. 43). Similar to teenagers, they did not even think about the advancement of
technology and how it affects our society. We constantly worry about the future
of our children when they use these technologies alone. We wonder how the audi
ence will then affect their development of self.

On a recent episode of comedy central’s “Tosh.0”, comedian Daniel Tosh gives a f

unny look at the new Internet phenomenon when he tries it out for himself and ev
en the entire audience.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=266258&title=chat-roulet
te

Works Cited
Haas, Christina. "The technology ." Questions (1996): 25. Web. 28 Feb 2010.
http://webct3.rowan.edu/webct/urw/lc4130001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame
Kuang, Cliff. "Welcome to the Weirdest New Internet Pastime: Chat Roulette." (2
010): 2. Web. 28 Feb 27 2010.
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/welcome-wei
rdest-new-internet-past-time-chat-roulette.
Nardi, Bonnie, and Vicky O Day. "A Matter of Metaphor: Technology as a Tool, Te
xt, System, Ecology.." (1999): 43. Web. 28 Feb 2010.
 http://webct3.rowan.edu/webct/urw/lc4130001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame
Paget, Henri. "Chat Roulette: Where strangers find each other." (2010): 1. Web.
28 Feb 2010.
http://news.ninemsn.com/au/technology/1012973/chat-roulette-the-frighten
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