Dating
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The Perfect Ten: Romantic game activities
I assure you, it's a complete coincidence that I'm writing a column on romance the week of Valentine's Day. Seriously: I have a 10-gallon cowboy hat filled to the brim with ideas for Perfect Ten and draw one every two weeks. It just so happened that -- again, in a complete coincidence -- the topic of romance and a romance-centric holiday occurred on the same day. You're not buying it, are you. I've always said that you're too wily for me. Whether or not Valentine's Day is something you do, gaming couples do turn to their favorite hobby for a virtual dating hotspot from time to time. It only makes sense. These aren't just worlds where we are celebrated serial killers and butchers of entire races but places in which we live out pretend lives while taking it very, very seriously. So if you're ever in the position where you want to go on a date in-game, here are 10 romantic activities that this Casanova suggests.
World of Warcraft is the new Match.com
Are you single? Do you want to be a little bit less single? Are your friends telling you that you should stop spending so much time talking with them online and more time looking for dates? Well, according to a recent infographic, your friends might be completely off-base. Onlineuniversity.net put together a graphic comparing World of Warcraft to the popular dating site Match.com, and the results come out pretty firmly in favor of blood elves. So how does it look? According to the graphic, World of Warcraft has more than 10 times as many people involved as Match.com, and people sink more time into online gaming than any online dating site. There's also a number of factors that suggest slaughtering virtual trolls as a better way to bond than a cup of coffee. So while it's still probably bad form to hit on your raid leader between pulls, maybe you're not entirely off the mark. Unless she's married.
Daily iPhone App: Cupidtino
We covered Cupidtino a little while ago. It's a dating site for Mac users who are looking for love. Given its purview and the fact that no web service is complete without an iPhone app, Cupidtino has released an iPhone app for single Apple fans. I kid but it's actually pretty nice. You can browse user profiles, your own, send messages and read the latest Cupidtino news. There are no standout feature but it's cleanly designed and runs well. What more do you need from a dating app? There is one catch. You must pay Cupidtino's monthly subscription to read messages sent to you. But it's less than US$5 per month, which is nominal for those who absolutely must date an Apple fan. All other features are free. I can't guarantee that you'll find a date (my luck with dating apps is as bad as my luck at finding a date in real life), but as an app, Cupidtino works great.
MagnetU connects you with similar people in your area, because diversity is overrated
You could make friends the old fashioned way, with casual introductions, eye contact and other intrinsically human social skills; or you could just sit back and let MagnetU do all the heavy lifting for you. The Israeli startup, founded in 2010, has just unveiled what it calls a "proximity networking" device -- a tiny accessory that connects users to other like-minded people within their immediate vicinity. Within this lightweight gadget lies information on a user's "social desires," which can be customized and modified depending on a given situation. If you're at a networking event, for example, you can activate your "business" profile, before switching into the grossly mistitled "social" mode once you walk into a bar. Once activated, the device will automatically scan for other users within your area, comparing your data against theirs. If it finds a match, both misfits will be notified with a text message that provides details on their level of compatibility. At that point, it's up to you to exchange furtive glances and do the whole "Come here often?" Kabuki routine. The tool could also open up new marketing avenues for retailers, though MagnetU plans to begin rolling out its $24 device at college campus events, where more traditional social lubricants are few and far between.
Daily iPad App: eHarmony
When eHarmony first brought its iPad app to us a couple of months ago, I had the great idea (I thought) to put together a feature for TUAW around the idea of only the iPad app to access the very popular Internet dating service, find a date, and then review both the app and the date itself. So eHarmony kindly provided me with a couple months of membership, and I set to work using the iPad app to craft my profile, find some nice women to date in Los Angeles, and eventually go out with one of them. Unfortunately for eHarmony, my lack of appeal outlasted their service, and despite chatting with a few nice women, none of them wanted to meet me over dinner or drinks. But I can't fault the iPad app itself. The whole experience is really impressive, featuring an interface that I actually enjoyed using more than the official web site. If you're a real loser like me, eHarmony still won't guarantee you a girlfriend or boyfriend. But if you're already using the service and have an iPad, the app is definitely worth a look. The whole process is surprisingly quick and clean on the iPad -- the app's interface is modeled around a big circular table of sorts, with the view zooming and rotating around to look at various physical items portrayed on the screen. Your sign-in page is a notebook, for example, where you can write your name and password, and then the view zooms to another book where you can enter your information and fill out your profile with the usual dating site information (likes, dislikes, personal information and questionnaires). After it's filled out, you can browse around the rest of the site, checking out a "Book of You" that has information about your personality and who you're compatible with, and your "matches" which are laid out like a series of Polaroid photos on the wooden desktop. The physical metaphor is really effective, and the iPad is an excellent medium for browsing through photos and information. The app works smoothly (though my iPad is only WiFi, so I'm not sure how it loads over 3G), and there are lots of really fun touches, which surprised me a bit. When you first log in, there's a coffee cup on top of the screen, and you can actually play with it, causing ripples and splashes on the surface of the java. When you touch a match's picture, you don't just get transferred to their profile, their picture actually zooms over to another section of the table and then gets inserted into their profile page. This is all with sound effects, too. The app shows a surprising amount of design thought and consideration. I'd guess that's because eHarmony probably hired an experienced Mac and iOS development house to make it, but I don't know who that is (and the companies in those kinds of work-for-hire agreements don't usually talk about that anyway). At any rate, the eHarmony app is terrific, and I actually did come to prefer it to using the main web page, mostly because the web itself doesn't offer up pictures of matches before you actually go and see their profiles. There were a few settings that I had to go in and change that I couldn't on the iPad version (specifically where my matches were supposed to come from. Being in Los Angeles, I obviously wanted to meet someone who lived close to me), but when actually browsing the service and reading and responding to messages, I found being on the iPad was the ideal. The app is free, but to use it, you'll need an eHarmony membership, which comes with a few different prices. You'll have to decide for yourself whether or not that's something you're interested in. Some folks have found a lot of good relationships with apps like this, while some have a better time just going to a bar. As for me, my search continues. Ladies, if any of you are looking for a smart and funny professional blogger who knows a lot about iPhone games and enjoys running around Santa Monica, I'll be here!
The Daily Grind: What do you think of MMO dating?
When we talk about MMO dating, we're not talking about the creepy guy in your guild who hits on all the female characters until you kick him out. No, we're talking about genuine dating, forming a relationship with someone and eventually asking the other person out on a date, possibly even in-game. Lucent Heart is unique in some ways because it offers a similar function baked in to the client, but nearly every longtime veteran has at least one story of the couple that met via the game and wound up in a happy relationship. On the one hand, if the key to making a relationship work is a shared interest, dating someone you meet via an MMO certainly seems like a viable approach. On the other hand, virtual relationships face a unique level of challenge even without introducing the possibility of a long argument over who should have rolled need on that last piece of gear. So what do you think about the idea of MMO dating? Is it a good idea with some problems or something that sounds nice but just doesn't work right? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Have you ever gone on a date in an MMO?
Fight it, avoid it or embrace it, Valentine's Day is almost here, and you know what that means: Well-meaning bloggers are going to pry into your love life! Just giving you the heads-up for the next paragraph. When our thoughts turn to sweethearts and romance, it's only natural for us gamers to incorporate our hobby into our love lives. Ew, not like that! Never like that! Put that away! I meant that MMOs can be just as much of a venue for flirting, relationships and courting as anywhere else, so it stands to reason that a segment of Massively readers have done just that. So have you ever gone on a date in an MMO, and if so, what happened? Did you map out an evening of adventurous delights, or simply play together as nature and MMO studios intended? And if you haven't gone on an in-game date, what do you envision being a fun way to spend time with a romantic interest? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Editorial: AMD's VP for product marketing probably shouldn't give dating advice
Last week, AMD's corporate vice president for product marketing, Leslie Sobon, published a piece entitled "Get a Geek in Five Easy Lessons." The how-to guide was published on AMD's blog, so I'll be the first one to admit that I was shocked from the moment I started reading it. The piece (which you can and should read right here) is one of the lamest, most confusing things I've read on the internet in a very long time, and believe me: I read a lot of terrible stuff. Contained within this blog is Sobon's "expert" advice on how a single and seemingly quite desperate lady (she assumes there are throngs of you) can snag a geek -- no easy task if you believe what she's got to say. Sobon's advice for grabbing up a nerd for your very own? Change everything about yourself, lie through your teeth, pretend to be interested in super boring stuff, and before you know it: nerd happiness. Now, before you tell me I have no sense of humor, I'll admit freely that it's possible that Leslie Sobon has written what she considers to be a joke piece worthy of The Onion. So I say to you: if this is a joke, why is it not funny, and why is it on the AMD blog? Likewise, of course, if she's in any way serious... well, then why is it not funny and why is it on the AMD blog? Regardless, there are a lot of problems with Sobon's piece, as you'll see below. Read on if you care to travel to the depths of my cold, angry female mind.
Study suggests internet will become number one matchmaker
"Love is a many splendored thing, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is... hold on, email." -- Anonymous Since we can't presume all Engadget readers regularly attend their NPR All Things Considered listening parties, here's something you might've missed this week. In a segment on the growing trend in online matchmaking, Jennifer Ludden cited a research from Stanford University's Michael Rosenfeld that seems to fall in line exactly where we'd expect: it's really easy to be yourself and find matching partners when you have the ability to reach out to strangers who present so much personal information from the get-go. More specifically, the study found almost one-fourth of couples met online -- a number that jumps to 61 percent if you single out (no pun intended) same-sex couples -- and it's growing at a pace that it' "may soon become the No. 1 way Americans find a mate." For now, however, it's ranked second, just above meeting at bars / restaurants and below the classic, meeting through friends who just love tricking you into bad blind dates with the "great personality" line anyway. Make sure you have the right camera just in case.
OkCupid: iPhone users have more sex
I've been a huge fan of social dating site OkCupid's OkTrends blog for a while now. They're constantly sharing data (anonymized, of course) from their social site about what people find attractive and interesting in each other. The latest post has some fun information about cameras -- specifically, the perceived link between what type of camera OkCupid's patrons use and successful relationships. All of the data is fascinating (as usual), but there's one little note of potential interest to iPhone fans. Apparently, when compared to users who post pictures from other smartphone brands, users who reported using iPhones for their profile pictures tend to identify more sexual partners over all. As you can see in the chart above, male and female iPhone users (at age 30) report higher numbers of sexual partners to OkCupid. In fact, across all ages, iPhone users reported having more sexual partners than those who used Android or Blackberry smartphones to take their profile pictures. Of course, OkCupid is just having fun here. Maybe iPhone users are actually more inclined to lie about their amorous conquests, or maybe there's a higher likelihood that Android or Blackberry users have reason to report a lower number. But then again, we already know that iPhone owners tend to be rich, engage in vigorous activity, and like to be outspoken about their buying choices and preferences. And aren't those the kind of people who end up going home with the girl (or guy) from the bar anyway?
Mac dating site Cupidtino opens beta to the public
Good news, everyone! Cupidtino, the Mac dating site that we posted about a little while ago, has finally moved into open beta. Now anyone can go on over there, make a profile and start meeting Mac-minded single men or women looking for a partner. Anyone with a Mac, that is -- the site is only accessible via one of Apple's devices, of course. Once you set up a profile, you can add pictures, post about when you "became a Mac," add your list of gadgets, or go looking for the Mac nerd of your dreams. The pickings are pretty slim right now -- I found about 71 lovely ladies in my age range. Search is currently limited by country, as there probably aren't enough people on the service to get any more granular than that. But the good news is that in my objective single male opinion, there were some good-looking Mac fans to find. If you happen to spot someone you think might be the "one more thing" of your life, you can "Mac her" (tamer than it sounds, basically a "poke"), send a message (free for now, the page says), or find the nearest Apple Store between the two of you, so you can meet up and make eyes at each other over the iPad table. I don't know if we really need another dating site (unless you think being a Mac fan is a major dealmaker), but it is cute, and given what we know about Mac users, maybe we do really deserve each other. I set up my profile on the site -- if I happen to Command-F the girl of my dreams, I'll let you know.
Cupidtino will help you meet your iSweetie
I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner -- Cupidtino is a brand new site that promises to hook you up with a fellow Cult of Mac member for romantic entanglements. That's right -- they claim to be the first "Mac-inspired dating site," destined to bring single and like-minded Mac fans together. Trying to meet someone at the Genius Bars can be so expensive and time-consuming, and all of those boys and girls on OkCupid just don't get it when you try to explain why the Unibody MacBook is such a great step forward and why the iPad isn't just a big iPod touch. Enter Cupidtino -- the site was started up by three San Francisco tech developers, and while it's only in pre-launch mode right now, you can sign up for a closed beta (and don't worry, as one of TUAW's only available bachelors, I did -- let the hilarity ensue). When you sign up, you're asked which Macs and Apple devices you own, and so far, those are the only qualifications. But if my potential lady friend owns an iMac, that should be good enough, right? I can already picture us, having a romantic dinner at some local Italian place, charming music playing in the background while we share a bottle of wine, talking quietly about our favorite customized Automator services. Ah, sweet romance! [via TechCrunch]
The Queue: The dating game
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Today's edition of The Queue is one part off-topic and two parts on-topic, but each and every part is worth it. Trust me on that one. Oh, and there's a couple more bad words than usual. You have been warned. I hope none of you are too scandalized by it. Windswept asked... "There is this girl I like that works at the mall, I want to ask her out but I don't know how. What would YOU do?"
AT&T intros USBConnect Lightning for 7.2Mbps service
When you're rolling out a new 7.2Mbps upgrade to your network, it naturally helps if you've got some compliant hardware in the stable -- so to that end, AT&T has announced its USBConnect Lightning from Sierra Wireless today. Apart from 7.2Mbps downlink capability, the new model's little more than a run-of-the-mill USB stick so there's not a lot to say about it, though it features a trick swiveling USB connector that should make the thing more likely to work with unusual (and unusually tight) port configurations. It'll be available on November 22 for free after rebate on contract, just in time for service launches in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami expected by the end of the year.
Blizzard C&Ds Datecraft, they redesign
I can't quite see the purpose of World of Warcraft (or gaming in general) flavored dating sites -- if you were looking for a potential partner, why limit yourself to only people that play this game? But nevertheless, there are quite a few of them around, so someone must be using them. Datecraft is a site that was specifically targeted World of Warcraft bachelors and bachelorettes -- at least until this past week, when Blizzard hit them up with a C&D.Well, not actually -- they only got threatened with one. We heard from the site's founders, and they tell us that they got a call from Rod Rigole, a VP of Legal Affairs over at Blizzard, who told them to cut out using Blizzard's artwork and terminology on their website was a no-no, and that they would be recieving legal papers soon. Rather than pick a fight, they instead redesigned to the standard gamer dating site you see today.But here's the kicker: they used an official fansite kit to actually make the site. Even with the stuff they give out, Blizzard seems extremely protective of their artistic IP -- they used this same technique to attack the WotLK wiki and the Glider folks as well. They'll let fans slide, it seems, but if you're making money off of their materials, beware.
Hunting for love in MMOs
For some reason best known to himself, Tom Francis over at computerandvideogames.com decided to set himself the task of finding love in a MMO. While that sort of thing does happen, and more often than is suspected, it probably wasn't a very good idea to expect anything to blossom in a mere week - any more than if he'd been trying to find love in the big blue room with the bright yellow light. Perhaps if mmodating.com was still running he'd have had more luck?Tom's first foray is into Eve Online, where - as freshly created roguish pilot Cad Dashing - he meets a lady by the name of Kasteen Hawkeye. While he doesn't progress beyond flirting, he does at least congratulate himself that he's found 'a cheerful, friendly girl-gamer who genuinely did want to be a spaceship'. Tom has less luck in City of Heroes, where he opts to play a Defender. Sadly, he makes a mistake here, assuming that Defenders: 'have access to Heal Other: the closest superpowers get to flirting.' All characters have access to Aid Other as a pool power, and as anyone knows who's stood by Ms Liberty while a noobsauce Empath dishes out unneeded heals, healing can be a lot more like spamming than flirting.The final, and most rewarding, venture is into World of Warcraft. It's probably best to let Tom's experiences here speak for themselves.
Laptop cakes pay homage to internet dating
Shockingly enough, the image you see above isn't as radical as you probably think. Just last year we saw a San Francisco couple profess their inexplicable love for TiVo with a his and her cake arrangement, while another treated guests to a flavorful version of their wedding day playlist. This perky pair, however, decided to create cakes that would visually describe just how they ended up together, complete with on-screen profiles and a crossover cable (or something) with a heart along the way. Gives a whole new meaning to the networking category, now doesn't it?
Haze dating game video makes us uncomfortable
With Free Radical's Haze set to finally step out of the fog this week, we figured there was nothing that could come along and make us feel uneasy about the oft-delayed FPS again. And then this video showed up to remind us all that the universe is not without an unique sense of humor. The video, a mock dating game between UK Fragdoll Kitt and a pair of devs fresh off Ubisoft's nectar-filled shooter, is a stern reminder that just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should.
Haze: the dating show (seriously)
This is one of the strange, most unique promos we've seen for any video game -- and we love it. Haze Multiplayer Date is a Hazethemed dating show. Yes, strange, no? We don't know who greenlit this promo, but we have to give props to Ubisoft and Free Radical to do something we haven't seen on the internet. And boy, we've seen a lot of stuff on the internet.
Love Revo: Losing weight is hard even in video games
We've been immensely interested in Otometeki Koi Kakumei: Love Revo ever since we caught wind of the DS game, but we hadn't seen any in-depth impressions of the dating sim until now. While it's a port of a 2006 PS2 game with very little added content, it has a unique concept: you play as a 200-lb, doltish girl looking to shed some pounds and smarten herself up to meet the standards of seven possible bachelors. Interestingly, there's also, uh, a somewhat incestual possible ending.Gamer Tell's Jenni Lada has a few curious notes on those unattached boys from her Love Revo playthrough: Souta, a blue-haired buck in the grade below your character's, has the lowest weight-loss requirement, and he'll date you once you've worked yourself down to 165 lbs. Perhaps the developers are implying that his youth and romantic inexperience have kept his standards lower than matured gentlemen? Because of his relatively accepting nature, Jenni found herself thinking of him as "a better person than the other male bachelors." Take notes, guys!You would expect Toru, your character's childhood friend and a similarly overweight individual, to be more understanding of your obesity, but not so! You have to slim down to 143 lbs before he gazes at you with hearts floating around his head. Toru's willing to take you under his husky wing, however, if your reading stat is only at 60; Souta must place higher importance on brains than looks, as his reading stat requirement is 65.To lose weight and build up your stats, you have to efficiently balance your activities, food intake, work, money, and stress. Despite her best efforts, Jenni found that balance too challenging to achieve, and her game ended with a "mean, thin girl" mocking her character. Determined to win herself a man, she used an Action Replay cheat code to rake in unlimited cash. Pockets full, she had no trouble gaining kind-hearted Souta's affection.So, is it easier to lose weight when you're rich? And is it easier to shack up with someone when you have money?
