I...R...C... It doesn´t sound very dangerous, does it? Yet, in these days when the ether is flooded with stories about people losing their jobs, married couples getting divorced and
parents forsaking their kids, all because of IRC (or maybe not always IRC, but some Internet-service that puts you in contact with other persons), one might start wondering.
Some people say that IRC is just a game, it isn´t for real and it´s nothing to take seriously,
but is this really the case? Think about it. Around the world, we find beloved ones, girl/boyfriends and even husbands and wifes, via IRC. And Love isn´t the only matter.
People find jobs, new friends, possibilities to move to and live in foreign countries, you
name it - via virtual contacts.

Of course, it´s easy to think something like "So, two people got married after meeting on
IRC. I admit that those things might happen now and then, but what´s the big deal? It´s no common thing.", but the thing is that I think it is more common than you might expect. Personally, I know one already happily married "IRC-couple". I also know two persons
about to become husband and wife and I know countless persons who have or have had a relationship with someone they met via Internet.

To put it short, IRC has the ability to change life...your life, my life, anyone´s life, to better
or to worse, which, in my eyes, would make it far more than a child´s toy...or rather, which could make it far more than a child´s toy. It all comes down to how you decide to use it...
the way of usage you feel is right.

Now, this is hardly what we think when we first try IRC, but yet, most of us get hooked
and in the long run, addicted. It´s an uncomfortable word to use, but nonetheless true. So
then, what is the irresistible charm of virtual communication?

If someone should´ve asked me that a year ago, I would probably have answered that IRC
is something everyone can and will appreciate. How could they possibly do anything else? Nowadays I´ve changed my view of the matter. The "turning point" came when a friend of
mine got access to Internet from home. Naturally, I encouraged him to get IRC as soon as possible and try it out, so that he could for see for himself the fun that I´d always failed to explain to him (and to everybody else that haven´t tried it for that matter). Well, he did get
IRC all right, but as you may have guessed, he didn´t find it particularly enthralling.
However, it made me think...why do some of us like IRC while others don´t?

When it comes right down to it, IRC (or any other form of Internet-guided communication)
has to satisfy some form of need in each and every user, needs that cannot be satisfied anywhere else, or the user would stop his/her IRC:ing. Now, this is probably a good reason
to the widespread pornographic trading and all the channels on IRC that is about sex, be it everything from romantic chats to bizarre CUSeeMe netsex-channels. A need felt by many users, reflecting in a wide array of activities that provide satisfaction.

In my case, it´s not a sexual need, but rather the fact that I´ve always felt a certain
difficulty to make myself understood when talking to people IRL, as if I never can find
enough words to describe how I feel or what I think, which in the long run leads to me
ending up with lots of emotions inside me without a chance to get out.

IRC is different however. It somehow gives me a chance to be who I really am, to "speak
my mind". Of course, not all IRC-users feel like this...not everyone has through IRC
gotten a possibility to better express themselves, but for those persons, IRC has most
probably another meaning. However, there are some, a handful of people, that feel the way
I do, or at least understand what I mean, and that, is why IRC has come to mean a lot to
me.

Even if a huge number of people likes IRC very much, there are also many who doesn´t.
Some people go very deep into the virtual business and some don´t. Thus, there must be something with IRC that attracts a certain kind of persons...which seems to be pretty
logical of course, as we are all different. Then, what kind of person is likely to get hooked
by IRC?

If I am to follow the above reasoning, the probable addicts are those with needs that IRC
in one way or the other can satisfy and when such a situation occurs, it is because those
persons haven´t gotten all they needed from the IRL-world.
Think about it...imagine the typical so-called computer-geek... He (I know, it could be a woman, but it wouldn´t fit in as well with the imagined picture) doesn´t get out much, he
has never had a girlfriend and very few friends, those he has consists of like-minded people
in the same situation.
Then one day, he gets his hands on IRC and begins to explore a new world, where many
more doors are open than he´s used to. Suddenly, this shy person can talk to all sorts of
people without being haunted by his bad self-confidence...he can talk to girls without
being afraid that they´ll walk away at first "sight"...he can talk to "tough guys", without
being afraid that they´ll mock him for being a nerd. He can do all these things that he his
entire life has wanted to, needed to, but never been able to do. Sure, it isn´t the real real
thing - but after all, there are real people behind the nicknames.
Would you be surprised if this person returned to IRC, again...and again...and again...?

Naturally, this isn´t all about "computer-geeks", but about everyone who feel that
something is missing in their IRL-world. Something that needs to be there.
Imagine the nice and shy little girl, always doing her homework and never being late for
dinner, seeing in IRC the possibility to be bold, and striking...to be able to flirt with boys
in that...teasing manner...to be sexy.
Or why not the guy who´ve always carried that burning, inner (pathetic) hatred for
people with a skin color different from his own, but lacking the supportive company to
yell it out on the street. Here is his chance...it´s very easy, all he has to do is to put "88"
after his nick, now and then utter a remark regarding the superiority of the white race and
lean back into his chair, confident that he has shown the world what he thinks.

Roughly, it can happen to just about anyone, but I have to admit, this whole concept
opens the door to another possibility - the better you "get along" with the IRL world, the
less is your need for IRC as a replacement. Imagine for a while, the kind-hearted,
intelligent and handsome guy who is captain of the College Football team, has an A+ in
every grade, is adored by his friends, comes from a peaceful and happy home and who is,
of course, going steady with his female equivalence, the most loved cheerleader of the
College (do they exist? probably not, but use your imagination...this is only examples).
This guy has no real need for IRC. Should he use it, it would be if he had an enormous
cold and it was raining outside...because he had nothing else/better to do. This means, he wouldn´t take it seriously and on no conditions would he let the virtual world interfer with,
or even come close to, the real one.

Thus, being "normal", adept to the real world means that you won´t have any real need
for virtual communication. I guess that leaves us - if you don´t mind that I include you -
who takes IRC more or less seriously and who knows from experience what wonderful
things that may come of it, as abnormal...but, well...as far as I know, being different from
"the lot" doesn´t mean you´re any worse than they are.

Well, ok then...it might be a good idea not to sink too deep into the virtual world ;)