On a Monday night in Park Slope, a crowd gathers in the hope of understanding the site that may well be the dark, shriveled heart of the Internet: the ever-mysterious ChatRoulette. Whereas other websites thrive on making permanent connections with friends (Facebook), colleagues (LinkedIn) or celebrities (Twitter), ChatRoulette emphasizes the opposite: the temporary. As an academic paper (yes, really) stated earlier this week, the phenomenon presents "a probabilistic community: a community shaped by a platform which mediates the encounters between its users by eliminating lasting connections between them."
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Another newbie, Heather, came for a couchsurfing social event but went downstairs for the "far more intriguing" ChatRoulette event. "A lot of people look for that anonymity of meeting people," she says, "You can act like the person you've always wanted to be." For the most part, the "probabilistic community" of ChatRoulette is neutered by an audience. At Union Hall, teenage boys were in awe of the crowd and often stayed to chat amiably. Even ChatRoulette's greatest enigma, the chronic masturbators, were taken down a peg with scorecards and the inevitable laughter brought on by alcohol, mixed company and penises. But most curious -- as the crowd roars in unison at the projector, jeering or applauding their connections and drinking merrily -- is the way the anti-community of ChatRoulette can give birth to a real-life community.
The connections made in Park Slope seemed reassuringly genuine, perhaps not even temporary. When an anonymous masturbator types "OMG EUGENE MIRMAN", the name of the professional comedian currently manning the laptop at that point, Mirman does a lap of the room in hysterics, patted on the back and high-fived by well-wishers. Will the excitement of group ChatRoulette live on? Mirman, for one, has his doubts. "I certainly don't think it will be as exciting," he says. "People might be using it but it won't nearly have the same level of frenzy to it." "I hope people won't be typing my name as they rub their penis into the camera," Mirman continued, before pausing and smiling, "But you know what? To each his own!"