What is a Chat room?
A chat room is a virtual place on the Internet where people from all walks of life from around the world can get together in one place and textually chat with one another. The only two things a person needs to connect to a chat room are a computer and an internet connection of any speed. Chat rooms allow users to converse in real time rather than posting through emails or forums which can result in a delayed response. Online Chat is a way of communicating by sending text messages to people in the same chat-room in real-time. Some chat rooms such as Yahoo! use both text and voice simultaneously. The oldest form of true chat rooms are the text-based variety.
What kind of chatrooms are there?
There are various types of chatrooms on the market. The types are seperated depending on its programming language. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) was one of the original types. One of the newest types of Chat Rooms allow the user to enroll in an entire virtual world. Owing their history to expansive massively multiplayer online games, these new virtual Chat Rooms (graphical multi-user environments). Another chat language which has flourished in recent years is Java. It is a programming language utilized to create applications that allow many users to connect in the same environment (chat session). The reason for its widespread use is that it is more stable and customizable than the older Internet Relay Chat systems.
Other types of chat systems?
There are many other ways besides chat programs to communicate with other individuals over your computer. The most popular are Instant Messaging systems. They allow users to create a contact list and be able to connect directly through their Instant Messaging application to the individual they are talking to. (the other user must have the same application installed). Some examples of the most popular ones include MSN Messenger, Google Talk and AIM (AOL Instant Messaging).
Why are chat rooms set up?
Chat rooms are set up to provide the interaction that users require in a live text based (or video chat) format.
Paid or Free chat rooms?
Most chat rooms on the Internet are provided for free. There are some exceptions, however. Some charge a monthly or per usage fee.
