Online Bingo Chat Rooms, Etiquette and Common Sense
by Anthony Wayne
One of the most popular features that online bingo offers is the online chat room. Unlike land based bingo halls where talking is strictly forbidden,internet bingo has a community based atmosphere and chat rooms contribute greatly to the immense popularity of bingo as played on the internet. The online chat room is the place players go to interact with each other, ask for advice, and play the chat room based games that most bingo sites offer.
For the most part chat rooms are user friendly and no special computer skills are required. Players new to the internet are sometimes intimidated the first time they enter a chat room but they quickly find out that most of the other players are friendly and are not judging them on their spelling and grammar skills. No matter how experienced they are, all internet bingo players were once newbies and most of them go out of their way to make you feel welcome.
Just as in everyday life, chat rooms have standards and expectations that everyone is expected to adhere to. Most online bingo sites have their respective chat room rules posted and new players would be well advised take the time to read these rules carefully. Bingo whether played online or in a casino is about having fun and rudeness, profanity, and incivility can ruin the bingo experience for other players. Common sense, politeness, and decency will make the online bingo experience more enjoyable for everyone.
A friendly greeting when entering the chat room is always appreciated. Remember that you are not talking to a computer but real people in real time. These are real people with different feelings, moods, and interests just like everyone else. Remember you are talking with people from different countries and English may be a second language so be patient and tolerant.
Just as in the real world there are some behaviors that are not tolerated under any circumstances. Profanity is a behavior that is never tolerated. The use of profanity indicates a limited vocabulary, and lack of respect for other players. While bingo players as a whole are by no means prudes, the use of profanity ruins the friendly atmosphere of the chat room.
The use of racial, ethnic, and sexual slurs is never acceptable. This kind of behavior is considered rude and mean spirited. If you wouldn't say it in public then don't say it online. Harassment or spreading rumors about other players is not only infantile, it is also sure to make you unwelcome any well run chat room. This kind of behavior will get you banned from the bingo chat room very quickly and justifiably so.
The use of capital letters is considered shouting or yelling online and is considered rude. It is acceptable to use caps to emphasize a word but a whole sentence in capital letters is considered rude. New users occasionally hit the caps lock key accidentally and if this is the case a quick apology is in order.
Online bingo players should always respect the chat room moderator or leader. When entering a chat room a greeting to the moderator is always appreciated. Chat room leaders have a job to do and rules to enforce and their decisions are final and are to be respected. Online bingo chat room moderators spend hours upon hours online to make sure everyone has fun and the discussion stays civil. A chat room moderators job is far from easy, they must answer questions, monitor the conversation, run the chat based games, and enforce the rules and standards, so showing courtesy to the chat room moderator is always in order.
Complaining and whining are not welcome in the offline world and are equally inappropriate online. Bingo is a game and not everyone can win. Only children and the immature complain about not winning. If you do win it is considered equally in appropriate to gloat. Promoting other competing online bingo websites is also unacceptable.
Respect is probably the most important characteristic that contributes to an enjoyable experience while in an online bingo chat room. Just follow the rules, use common sense, and above all be polite and your online bingo experience will be a good one for you and the other players.
Anthony Wayne works in the marketing department of online bingo site BingoHouse in Costa Rica. He is also editor of the Internet Bingo Blog a great source of internet bingo information.
http://www.bingohouse.com