Internet Relay Chat or IRC for short, consists of many networks of connected chat servers. Using an IRC Client such as BoDeBoT to connect to an IRC server, you can chat privately with friends, or join rooms (referred to as channels on irc) with many people to discuss almost anything imaginable. Originally designed for text-chat, IRC has evolved to support many other applications such as online gaming, voice & video conferencing, as well as being a medium for transferring files between friends.