Non-Virtual Reality dating sites are so over

by Actual News Geezer | March 16, 2007 at 06:32 am

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Singleshots.com is a New York based dating operation that now has about 1000 photos of datable people - not a very big number when compared to the monster dating boards like Lavalife. But accoring to some who analyze this territory, it's take more than a photo to land a date, these days.
Many are predicting that In The Future, you'll either be 3D or be dead, dating-wise.[q
url="http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72979-0.html?tw=rss.culture"]Apparently
I'm not the only one who thinks so. The BBC quoted Mark Kern, president
of game company Red 5 Studios, predicting that in just five years, "a
social-networking site without a 3-D universe will look like a
dinosaur."

The adult sites get it. Social-networking site Utherverse (NSFW)
launched in conjunction with its erotic universe, Red Light Center
(NSFW). And Naughty America: The Game describes itself as "the
evolution of online dating," not as "the Sims on steroids."

Even though MMOs carry an even greater social stigma than online
dating, a virtual world more closely resembles the way humans meet and
relate than a database of personal profiles. You have a group of people
with a common interest spending time in shared pursuits on a regular
basis. Shared pursuits other than dating, that is.[/q]

If you've visited any of the places mentioned above, you'll see how daunting it has become to get attention, as the New York Times discovered in a recent article.

“As online dating has gotten more popular, the more people have to do to get attention,” said Mindy Stricke, owner of SingleShots.com, a New York business that has produced 1,000 profile portraits, at prices from $130 to $300. “There’s a lot of anxiety around this purchase because there’s no guarantees. But a lot of people, especially in New York, are willing to go the extra mile.”