Chatroulette’s ostensible purpose is the use of webcams and the internet to bring users face to face with other internet users – the kind of people one might pass by everyday. When operated “as intended”, it becomes a system which necessitates confrontation between strangers, bringing forth a camaraderie from the usual fleeting and nebulous interactions that define the internet. To Marc Lafia, aspects “about crossing borders, making connections, being moved beyond your comfort zone, taking risk, reaching out” to others becomes an important aspect of this system.
For the sake of this project, I was asked to confront and engage with ten Chatroulette users for at least one minute each – a task I found surprisingly difficult. Despite my own efforts to initiate conversation, a vast majority of encounters were short lived and few lasted beyond the 1 minute mark. Undoubtedly, there is at least some small desire to be seen amongst the multitude of Chatroulette users, but the desire to see others also has some significant impact. The average user of this system cycles through chat partners as one might flip through television channels, searching a vast media network and only pausing for a few moments when an interesting image appears. It seemed curious to me, that despite expanding the ability of the userbase to display itself, the desire to sit back and observe remained a driving force.
Perhaps the act of displaying oneself is then not the primary focus for a majority of Chatroulette users, but more of a compromise a user makes in order to observe others. As Cheryl Sourkes puts it, these self displays “participate in economies of the discard. They’re virtual garbage traveling as placeholders”. Perhaps the behavior of those on Chatroulette mimics that of internet behavior as a whole? Seldom does an internet user recall the various pieces of data he or she has tossed onto the world wide web; images and indexes attributable to us are voluntarily given in order to participate in the greater discourse of the internet and the services within. In the case of Chatroulette, the possibility of finding a raw spectacle free from mediation and editing necessitates that one display themselves to other users, if only for a brief moment in time. Ultimately the act of passing by a stranger, an individual whose mannerisms and appearance are commonplace to the user, is not defeated but digitized by the Chatroulette system: our search for excitement remains constant.
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