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{{merge to|Online chat|discuss=Talk:Online chat#Merge proposal|date=September 2025}}
{{Short description|Any form of synchronous conferencing}}
{{Other uses|Chat room (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Group chat|the Nickelodeon talk show|Group Chat (talk show)}}
[[File:Screenshot of Briar 04 private group.png|thumb|Screenshot of a group chat in the [[Briar (software)|Briar]] communication client]]
A '''chat room''', '''chatroom''', or '''group chat''' ('''GC'''), is an online technology of [[synchronous conferencing]], and occasionally even [[asynchronous conferencing]]. Chat rooms comprise technology ranging from real-time [[online chat]] and online interaction with strangers (e.g., [[Internet forum|online forums]]) to fully immersive [[virtual world|graphical social environments]]. The ability to converse with multiple people in the same conversation differentiates chat rooms from [[instant messaging]] programs.

The first chat system was developed by [[Murray Turoff]] and for its first by the US government in 1971. [[Talkomatic]], the first public online chat system, was created in 1973 on the [[PLATO System]]. Chat rooms gained mainstream popularity with [[AOL]], and many peer-to-peer clients were created to host chat rooms. Further innovations include visual chat rooms, which add graphics to the chat experience.

== Description ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2025}}
The terms ''chat room'', or ''chatroom'' (and sometimes ''group chat''; abbreviated as ''GC''), are primarily used to describe any form of [[synchronous conferencing]], occasionally even [[asynchronous conferencing]]. The term can thus span technology ranging from real-time [[online chat]] and online interaction with strangers (e.g., [[Internet forum|online forums]]) to fully immersive [[virtual world|graphical social environments]]. The primary use of a chat room is to share information via text with a group of other users.

Generally speaking, the ability to converse with multiple people in the same conversation differentiates chat rooms from [[instant messaging]] programs, which are more typically designed for one-to-one communication. The users in a particular chat room are generally connected via a shared internet or other similar connection, and chat rooms exist catering for a wide range of subjects. New technology has enabled the use of file sharing and webcams.

== History ==

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[[File:Colloquy.png|thumb|upright=1.3|A conversation on IRC]]
The first chat system was used by the U.S. government in 1971. It was developed by [[Murray Turoff]], a young PhD graduate from [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Subramanian |first1=Ramesh |title=CSDL {{!}} IEEE Computer Society |url=https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2012/01/man2012010092/13rRUwhpBHR |website=www.computer.org}}</ref> and its first use was during President Nixon's wage-price freeze under [[Project Delphi]]. The system was called [[EMISARI]] and would allow 10 regional offices to link together in a real-time online chat known as the party line. It was in use up until 1986.

The first public online chat system was called [[Talkomatic]], created by Doug Brown and David R. Woolley in 1973 on the [[PLATO System]] at the [[University of Illinois]]. It offered several channels, each of which could accommodate up to five people, with messages appearing on all users' screens character-by-character as they were typed. Talkomatic was very popular among PLATO users into the mid-1980s. In 2014, Brown and Woolley released a web-based version of Talkomatic.

The first<ref>{{cite news|title=CompuServe Innovator Resigns After 25 Years |work=[[The Columbus Dispatch]] |date=11 May 1996 |page=2F}}</ref> dedicated online chat service that was widely available to the public was the CompuServe [[CB Simulator]] in 1980,<ref>"Wired and Inspired", ''The Columbus Dispatch'' (Business page), by Mike Pramik, 12 November 2000</ref> created by [[CompuServe]] executive Alexander "Sandy" Trevor in [[Columbus, Ohio]]. Chat rooms gained mainstream popularity with [[AOL]].{{When|date=November 2025}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tribtoday.com/news/local-news/2020/04/this-week-in-history-man-caught-on-tracks-is-killed/|title=This Week in History: Man caught on tracks is killed}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2025}}

[[Jarkko Oikarinen]] created [[Internet Relay Chat]] (IRC) in 1988.  Many peer-to-peer clients have chat rooms, e.g., Ares Galaxy, [[eMule]], [[Filetopia]], [[Retroshare]], [[Vuze]], [[WASTE]], [[WinMX]], etc. Many popular social media platforms are now used as chat rooms, such as [[WhatsApp]], [[Facebook]], [[Twitter]], [[Discord]], [[Snapchat]], [[Instagram]], [[TikTok]], and many more.

== Graphical multi-user environments ==
Visual chat rooms add graphics to the chat experience, in either 2D or 3D (employing [[virtual reality]] technology). These are characterized by using a graphic representation of the user, an [[Avatar (computing)|avatar]] virtual elements such as games (in particular [[massively multiplayer online game]]s) and educational material most often developed by individual site owners, who in general are simply more advanced users of the systems. The most popular environments, such as [[The Palace (computer program)|The Palace]], also allow users to create/build their own spaces. Some of the most popular 3D chat experiences are [[IMVU]] and ''[[Second Life]]'' (though they extend far beyond just chat). Many such implementations generate profit by selling virtual goods to users at a high margin.

Some online chat rooms also incorporate audio and [[video chat|video communications]], so that users may actually see and hear each other.

=== Games ===
Games are also often played in chat rooms. These are typically implemented by an external process such as an [[IRC bot]] joining the room to conduct the game. [[Trivia]] question & answer games are most prevalent. A historic example is ''[[Hunt the Wumpus]]''.<ref>{{cite web |date=28 July 1991 |title=Interesting Idea ! |url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.irc/DaOSPwtIDPY |access-date=6 March 2015 |publisher=alt.irc}}</ref> Chatroom-based implementations of the party game ''[[Mafia (party game)|Mafia]]'' also exist.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} A similar, but more complex style of text-based gaming are [[Multi-user dungeon|MUD]]s, in which players interact within a textual, [[interactive fiction]]–like environment.

==See also==
* [[Chat line]]
* [[Email]]
* [[Internet Relay Chat]]
* [[List of chat websites]]
* [[Online chat]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
<!-- DO NOT ADD CHAT SITES / SOFTWARE HERE: Wikipedia is not a web directory -->
{{Wiktionary}}
* ''{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130619044045/http://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/psycyber.html The Psychology of Cyberspace]}}'' (2006)—E-book exploring the psychological aspects of online environments by Dr. [[John Suler]], Rider University
* {{cite news |url=http://thinkofit.com/plato/dwplato.htm |title=PLATO: The Emergence of Online Community |first=David R. |last=Woolley |journal=Matrix News |date=January 1994 |access-date=March 16, 2012 |archive-date=September 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904151631/http://thinkofit.com/plato/dwplato.htm |url-status=dead }}

{{BBS}}
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[[Category:Online chat|*]]
[[Category:1990s fads and trends]]
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[[Category:Internet culture]]
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