Remembering Chat Roulette
And That Time I was told to Get Naked
Way back in 2011, a short film by the Casey Neistat inspired me to explore Chat Roulette. I had been curious about the site, but had never explored it because, to be honest, I have a hard time sitting still unless I’m writing.
After just one session on the site, I felt compelled to write about the experience because it was quite complicated and funny as humans tend to be. So here is the story—straight from my archives—a time capsule about a technology that seemed amazing at the time and maybe still is.
Cracking Chat Roulette (2011)
An Adventure by me, Bill Gullo
For those of you who don’t know: Chat Roulette is an online chat website that pairs random users around the world with a choice between two other users for webcam-based conversations. Visitors to the website begin an online chat (audio and video) with another visitor. At any point, either user may leave the current chat by initiating another random connection. With the click of a button a person appears on your computer screen. You can either chat with the person or move to the next person with a click; this is called ‘nexting’ someone. Chat Roulette is largely populated by lonely guys hoping to glimpse a woman and/or expose their johnson. So there is a lot of nexting going on.
I went on the site and watched a few faces appear and disappear as if my screen was an eye that conjured someone new with each blink. The experience was perfectly dehumanizing and potentially depressing. There’s also something about the aesthetics of communicating with single anonymous guys via webcam that makes you assume a johnson is just around the corner.
On a whim, I pasted an opening line into the text box in advance — ‘I REFUSE TO NEXT ANYONE! ANYONE!!’ It felt like a defiant gesture — some sort of dare.
I watched the first guy read the sentence. It seemed he was translating the words into English. He could be anywhere in the world after all. Then he laughed and gave two thumbs up. Turns out he was Argentinean, sitting in his living room in Buenos Aires. He told me he was new to Chat Roulette and was glad to meet good people. When we were done chatting he flashed me... the peace sign.
Again I wrote — I REFUSE TO NEXT ANYONE! ANYONE!! — and ended up chatting with a 16-year-old kid in China who told me his English was not strong. I told him I once taught English to Chinese students in Brooklyn and then referred him to some ESOL sites. He told me I was an excellent teacher. I love Chinese students.
I REFUSE TO NEXT ANYONE! ANYONE!! Next, I chatted with a guy in Maryland who loved my opening line so much he vowed to spread it across Chat Roulette. I encouraged the idea but asked for a footnote.
I was a bit uncomfortable about it, but in the name of science I then held put my baby boy in front of the camera. Onscreen were a few 20-something guys who had the sort of amped energy that went with chugging beers and beating nerds — but not necessarily in that order. Score one for humanity! When they saw my boy they cheered and said he was cute. I like to think my baby saved a nerd that day.
I still got nexted a lot, but mostly by people who disappeared so quickly I couldn’t even send my message. And I had less success with a pink stuffed animal and a guy who was dangling from a noose above an upturned chair. But for the most part, people responded well.
The funniest encounter happened when the screen went completely black and these words appeared on my screen:
Get naked.
I responded as you would expect: I REFUSE TO NEXT ANYONE! ANYONE!!
The conversation continued as follows, copied verbatim from my screen. My responses are in CAPS:
get naked
I WON’T NEXT ANYONE!
Get Naked
DONT BE A COWARD. BESIDES I AM NAKED. MY SKIN LOOKS LIKE FLANNEL [ed. I was wearing a flannel]
Get naked
YOU ARE BLACK AS NIGHT, SIR
let me see your dick
I LOST IT - WHERE ARE YOU?
next me - my mouse doesnt work
I REFUSE. I TOLD YOU I REFUSE TO NEXT PEOPLE. BESIDES I THINK WE'RE GETTING ALONG WELL.
next me
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD - YOU SHOW UP TO CHAT ROULETTE
next me
WITH NO CAMERA & NO MOUSE
AND YOU ASK FOR DICK?!
SORRY CHARLIE, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER. WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER
im on on my ipod
THEN IT'S A STARING CONTEST. WHERE ARE YOU?
in new mexico. cmon next me
OK I'LL CUT YOU A BREAK BUT YOU HAVE TO SAY PLEASE
Please
NEXT
My adventure with Chat Roulette was exhilarating. I felt like I’d made an inroad into the dynamics of the site and it ultimately reinforced my love of the humans. By telling people I wouldn’t next them, I was essentially inviting them to take pause. I was letting them know I would give them a chance. Stay awhile. I was also poking fun at the compulsive nexting everyone was doing. People seemed to appreciate that too.
Unfortunately, women can’t really expect to go on Chat Roulette without being aggressively harassed. If a woman were to attempt this same experiment she would get a glimpse into a perverted corner of the male psyche that would either boggle her mind or confirm her worst fears. Someone should figure out how to do a Women’s Only Chat Roulette. Just footnote me on it.
Back to 2025
That get naked encounter still makes me laugh. I was surprised to see the site is still active so I will certainly be checking in to see if anything has changed. And yes, I will still refuse to next anyone —ANYONE! Stay tuned, I’ll share the next one Chat Roulette adventure to Paid Subscribers because well…money.
On that note, while Substack can seem like a pyramid scheme to me some days, I do in fact enjoy writing and sharing and providing value to followers. If you’re in a position to Upgrade to a Paid Subscription you will receive all upcoming posts, access to occasional live chats and, when the guest list allows, an invitation to an in person meet up in Brooklyn. Thanks in advance for considering supporting Storytellers Social Club at this new level.