signalnoise

For some reason, I am mildly obsessed with Omegle and Chat Routlette. Obviously, hanging out on them rarely goes anywhere - it's mostly teenagers looking to hurl racial slurs and middle fingers as well as cocks (literally) looking for chicks to masturbate with. I'm just sort of fascinated by the social nature of it. First, I really like the idea. It's a bit like IRC back in the day, or even the boards here when they work well. You show up, and bump into "random" people to have a chat, kill a few minutes/hours/whatever. If you're lucky, you even connect with someone and actually become friends. (I remember back in the day of IRC sending *photographs* through *snail mail!*)

What intrigues me is the people who bump around for I'm not clear what purpose. I get kids being assholes. Whatever. The guys looking for chicks really fascinate me. Especially the guys just shooting the cam at their dicks. I mean, it's hardly a great observation, but does that even *work*? Further, I understand what the guys trolling for women are doing: they could look at porn, but they want to talk to "real" women in "real" time. This is why phone sex and amateur chat lines still are around. There's something about connecting with someone else, via carnal lust, that is different than watching porn or even paying for the service. So there's a fantasy element I can understand. What gets me is that Omegle and its ilk seem like such an *inefficient* way to do it. There are few women, and most of them are not interested in your semi hard-on. So it's a weird way to get off: you want to cam with another "real" person, you are insistent on only talking with women, but you lack the ambition to pay for the service/actually hit on real women. I assume most of them troll Omegle, get bored, go to a porn site, and then do their deed. But it interests me. It sounds odd, but I'd like to know what the success rate is, how long they stay online in an average session, what the resolutions are like etc. It's like gambling I bet: once in a blue moon you click on a winner, and that small chance is enough to keep you coming back - you're hooked, in other words, once you DO see a woman that flashes you and gives you the dirty talk while you masturbate.

That said, I am also interested in the *women.* Now, I am not a hot dude, and I'm also getting old - and these sites skew young for women it seems. But I also do not flash my junk all over the screen. So I'm always *interested* when women immediately click away from me. Does that mean women ARE looking for penises out there? Or just for really hot dudes?

I like the service best when you chat with someone - even briefly, or you get a surprise (two teenagers pretending to beat each other up, a guy playing a guitar). But, honestly, I also love when people are assholes, or just click away. I like that second of analysis you can see them doing: "Boobs - yes/no? Flick off - yes/no? *Click.*" It's like the best and worst things about people and the interent all in one tidy package. It tickles my dirty sex, technology, AND social science bones all in one fell swoop. It's internet porn for bored social critics!