People are starting to take the act of dating from the bedroom and the movies to the computer room.

Where as many people used to have to meet someone face-to-face to begin dating, Internet dating is taking away that requirement. The Internet is bristling with Web sites offering free ways to meet other singles all over the country with similar interests to another person. These Web sites are offering fast and easy ways to find that someone special in another’s life.

Preference Video Introductions of Joplin mainly hooks couples up through actual videos and in-office visits, but it does have its own Web site for members.

“The Web site is a convenience for people who can’t come in,” said David Ott, manager of the dating service.

He said members of the agency can go to the Web site, log in and meet other singles without actually leaving their home or coming into the office. He said it gives a “faster response” to members.

Erin McCabe, freshman pre-medicine major, said she used Internet chat rooms to meet people. She said it was a way to “be yourself and meet open-minded people.”

“It’s an easier way to find people who share the same interest as you,” McCabe said.

She has had both good and bad experiences with online dating. One bad thing she found about dating someone over the Internet was the distance and lack of the physical aspect in a relationship.

“It’s hard to have a relationship where you can’t even hug them, or when you’re upset, there’s no shoulder to cry on,” McCabe said. “It just requires patience, trust, dedication and honesty.”

On the other hand, she found it good that a person would never have to worry about just being a warm body.

“You know that you can carry on a conversation with this person and know that it’s not based upon just the physical aspect,” she said.

McCabe met her fiancé through online dating.

Dr. Jerry Williams, director of Lifelong Learning, also had a positive experience with meeting people online. After his wife died years ago, Williams went to WidowNet Friends for grief support. The Web site was designed for widows and widowers.

It was through this Web site that he met his wife, whom he is still married to.

Williams found the Internet “beneficial” for his grief and a “delightful experience” for helping him to meet people. He described meeting someone online as being the same thing as meeting them in the mall or elsewhere.

“Some meetings work out, and some don’t,” Williams said.

He said Internet dating is good because it is a better way for a person to get to know things about someone’s character, values and personality.

“It is a chance to get to know a person before actually meeting them,” he said.

Williams has known of several people who have met through online dating and then married. In his experience, he sees students seem to meet people who are in Joplin online rather than branching out to other areas.

Ott said Preference Video Introductions’ Web site averages about 175 hits a day, but it has received as many as 499 hits on one day.