When I was a kid I had a pen-pal.  I couldn't tell you their name or even what country they were from but I do recall exchanging a few pieces of coorespondense (through snail-mail of course).  Topics mainly centered around our families and culture.  It was fun and I got to learn about a different culture and in some way, felt connected to a bigger world.

It goes without saying, things have changed since then.  There are hundreds of different ways to connect but most still have to do with writing... or typing.

Well, a 17-year old Russian named Andrey Ternovskiy has come up with a way to change all that.  Messing around with his friends, he created a site called Chatroulette.  It's Russian roulette except with the internet and a webcam and not a revolver.  The basic concept is that you connect to Chatroulette and randomly get someone else on the other end.

Wired writes:

Think of Chatroulette as a gigantic dinner party, only there’s no need to awkwardly excuse yourself when you’re bored with chatting with a fellow guest. If your Chatroulette partner is droning on about his pet ferret or his fancy hat collection, Next him! Warning: At some point you will, too, be Nexted. It happens to the best of us. It may hurt your feelings...

...Mike from Palm Springs summed up Chatroulette’s allure best of all: “You never know who you’re going to meet. One minute you will be talking to a person from Europe, and the next minute a guy will hold his cat up to the screen and tell you to make a face.

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You might even get someone famous since evidently it's all the rage with everyone from mainstream media to celebrities.

What I wanna know is... has anyone out there actually tried it?  If so, what was your experience and if not, what are the natural hesitations?