Chatroulette
ChatRoulette is 100% free but requires registration in an attempt to keep this online video chat site clean. If you like to meet new friends, are looking for fun, or you want to have an online date, this is a good place to start. At the time of our test, there were about 3000 users online, according to the site.
The original ChatRoulette that started the random video chat hype
Free, but registration required
ChatRoulette is 100% free but requires registration in an attempt to keep this online video chat site clean. If you like to meet new friends, are looking for fun, or you want to have an online date, this is a good place to start. At the time of our test, there were about 3000 users online, according to the site.
ChatRoulette concept and history
Andrey Ternovsky, a Russian high school student, created the first online random video chat website: ChatRoulette. In a couple of weeks the site took off like a rocket and became a very popular place for people to hang out online. This popularity inspired lots of clones and alternatives like Omegle, ChatRandom, BazoomCam and Camzap. The concept of ChatRoulette is as simple as it is brilliant. The website allows you to have a one-on-one webcam based conversation with a random person from all over the world. At any moment, you or the stranger you are paired with, can leave the conversation and start a new connection with a new random stranger.
Registration
Over the years ChatRoulette struggled to keep the site clean and to keep the naked people (mostly men) out. All kinds of measures were tried but now ChatRoulette seems to be sticking with the registration solution. This means you can not have an anonymous random video chat without registering on the site.
Rules, terms and warnings
The first time you navigate to chat roulette.com you are presented with a number of rules, terms and warnings on the main page. You are not allowed to broadcast nudity or offending content and you have to be over 18. It is also not allowed to broadcast spam or to fake a webcam. By using the ChatRoulette online chat service you agree to follow the rules and ChatRoulette has the right to block and ban you if you do not follow the rules. Finally, there is a warning that the webcam feed you are broadcasting can be recorded by others so watch out for scammers.
Log in and sign up
You can click the ‘log in’ button in the main menu of this Omegle alternative to log-in if you are already registered or to sign up for free if you are a new user. Provide your username, email and a password to sing up. You will receive a confirmation email and you have to click the link in it to confirm your registration. Once you have done that, you can log-in and start your random online video chat adventure on ChatRoulette.
The main buttons in the top menu are the ‘start’, ‘stop’ and ‘report and next’ buttons. All these buttons have a shortcut key code so you can next somebody without touching the mouse.
Profile and settings
All details are stored in the ‘profile and settings’ panel. Here you can set al kind of options like webcam and microphone preferences in the ‘audio and video’ section. Input your name, age, gender, location, your language(s) and a short description about yourself in the ‘Info’ tab. Describe your favourite music, movies and games in the ‘Tastes’ tab. Set some preferences how you would like to next people in the ‘Next’ section. Select if you would like to meet people with only webcams and select if you would like to connect with strangers from specific countries in the “Search” panel. You can update your personal info in the ‘Account’ tab. You can even upload some photos in the ‘Photos’ section to display them instead of your webcam feed. ChatRoulette also has a ‘Premium’ option. With the Premium option activated, you can buy tokens that give you extra features. For example, you can choose the gender of the people you are connected with if you have a Premium account.
ChatRoulette’s random video chat experience
The online random chat experience on ChatRoulette is straightforward. You just hit the ‘start’ button and you are connected with a random stranger from around the world. If you don’t like the person you are connected to or you get bored, you just hit the ‘Next’ button. It has to be said that ChatRoulette’s efforts to keep the site clean pay off. Most of the time you are connected with decent people who just want to have fun or a nice conversation. Once in a while you will get connected to someone showing explicit sexual behaviour but if you don’t like that, you can just click the ‘Report and next’ button. After a couple of minutes on the website, you will have to confirm your registration by filling out your telephone number. You are then sent a text message with a verification code that you have to enter on the website. This seemed like a pretty rigorous attempt to register all users and does not make the site that anonymous anymore.
Draw together, have fun
A nice playful feature that ChatRoulette added to the site is the drawing option. Instead of typing a text you can also draw in the main chat window. In fact, the stranger you are randomly connected to can do the same so you can work together to create a collaborative piece of art. Or just have fun and have a laugh together.
ChatRoulette is a nice and mostly clean random video chat site to start your online chat adventures. But the fact that you have to register will keep some people from using the site. Having to re-confirm you registration by text message seems exaggerated and will certainly scare lots of users from using this otherwise fine online random chat service.
