For those of you without romance this Valentine’s Day, you may wish to try your luck in roulette. No, not the roulette you’ll find at Turning Stone Casino, with the random people, the risqué behavior and the appeal of mystique. Instead, try Chatroulette.com, a social networking Web site that coincidentally offers much of the same characteristics.

Chatroulette is not a more social version of the traditional wheel-and-ball gambling game, but rather a novel product of the Web that offers users connection on a whole new level. It may be most accurately described as the rebellious rock star of the Internet communication family. It’s more attention-grabbing than normal chat rooms in offering face-to-face contact, and it frequently takes company with deviant individuals. At Chatroulette, the frequently bored teenage and adult males show their family jewels to whomever they are chatting with.

This defiant site is akin to the chat rooms of the past, except on a much larger scale. While the communication may be more complex, this site still draws the same chat room crowd. The bored, lonely and just plain curious dregs of humanity make up the 18,000 random users waiting to chat at any given time (a number that is constantly growing). Chatroulette offers a dynamic means of communication. A user may elect to tread the differing paths of communicating with strangers via text only, audio only, video only or a combination of the three. Evidently, most users prefer to show than tell: Video seems to be the most popular choice on the site.

Blogs across the Web reference strange run-ins on this site. From a psychiatric sock puppet to a woman dressed as Neytiri from the movie ‘Avatar’ to pornographic displays, it seems as if all content is free game. Even the parent company doesn’t want to take responsibility for its own creation. The third statement in Chatroulette’s official terms of service says, ‘Everything supplied by the user you are connected with is not the property of Chatroulette, and therefore Chatroulette is not responsible for what you will find.’

Because the service is global, there is much diversity to be found. Chatroulette has become universal, as users in China may ask for virtual high-fives from their Western counterparts, an artist based in Italy draws sketches of his random users from around the world or inappropriate gestures may jump boundaries as an American flips off a Canadian. The lonely souls who log on this weekend may even find Valentine’s Day-inspired showings, but one can never tell for sure.

So how exactly does this unfiltered ubiquitous chat room work? It works much like actual roulette. Chatroulette is a game of chance just like casino or Russian roulette. When a user visits the site, he or she gambles with which slot he or she may come to rest in, as the assigned chatting partner is completely random. If this first gamble fails, he or she can get the ball rolling again and land in an entirely different slot just by clicking a button. From there, the player can meet an entirely new person.

If this Sunday finds you delving into that box of chocolates alone, forget dating sites like eHarmony and Match.com that are targeted toward a more mature demographic. Start working on an awesome pseudonym, brushing up on international signs of communication and grooming below the belt (no, I’m just kidding, please don’t flash anyone on Chatroulette).

Chatroulette offers a convenient outlet that is well suited for individuals fueled by boredom rather than a desire to ‘find compatibility.’ With 18,000 desperados on the site at any given moment, you won’t be the only one playing roulette Feb. 14.

Jessica Smith is an information technology management and television, radio and film major and the tech columnist. Her column appears every Thursday, and she can be reached at jlsmit22@syr.edu.

Published on February 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm