Real-time chat room services use text-based instant messaging to bring together various users from around the world on a common software platform and interact with each other. However, what these services offer has come a long way since the era of plain text-based chat. Now, users can create and customize their own avatars, chat with other network users in a 3D virtual world like in a video game, use webcams for face-to-face video calls, and talk via voice calls in conference mode. Better graphics and innovative enhancements have created something of a mass addiction, particularly among teenagers. The popularity of chat rooms is perhaps the result of such services’ ability to attract a wide range of people of various interests and age groups.
There are many different types of chat rooms. Just like real places, even these virtual cyber places have unique atmospheres where people with similar interests come together. Chat rooms with discussion modules of almost all types can be found on the Internet. The sites offer public rooms for different age groups for people to find others with similar levels of maturity and experience. Apart from this, there are chat rooms for common interests like music, religion, politics, creative writing, etc. Chat rooms can also be categorized based on the features that they provide to their users. Some people like to join video rooms where they can use web cameras for live video streaming. Other users still stick to text-based ones. They argue that streaming video leaves little to the imagination and that the whole point of chatting is in the illusion it creates by talking to anonymous strangers. Shy and introverted people also prefer text-based ones. A more animated version of the text-based room is the one that allows its users to create avatars. These cybernetic places are three-dimensional versions of conventional 2-D ones that further create the illusion of being in a real world. Users who like more control over the participants and the topics discussed can also create private chat rooms.
Hands down, the most popular chat rooms are the romance ones. People come here looking for members of the opposite sex. They are mostly looking for a casual flirtation or erotic chat with no strings attached. Some, however, are looking for more than just a one-night stand. Online dating services have been quite successful in the past. You may be surprised to know that quite a few people meet online and end up getting married! However, such services have been severely criticized for the negative influence they can have on young people, as easy access ensures there is little control over who enters the room. It is impossible to prevent the entry of underage Internet users who contribute to a significant faction of web users. It is feared that these children will enter the company of perverts and fakes on such sites, which they might enter out of curiosity.