artist
artist
Sander Veenhof
Dating for avatars
Looking for a date but are you more into a tough warrior type from World of Warcraft than a slick Second Life kind of guy?
Sander Veenhof offers the solution with intervirtual dating. A dating service for avatars from all different worlds who find their soul mate here. You just subscribe stating what you are looking for, which can be as specific as: a 16-bit or 8-bit avatar, Sims or human, because they can date here too. All worlds meet in the work of Sander Veenhof who is, according to his own words, “not a big fan of computers”. He launched this new project during Club Real #3.
While it looks like a lot of trouble to log in to your virtual world and from there go to the dating website just to meet other people, Veenhof does think that it helps people: “You have a different identity while dating, you are your avatar. This means you don’t have to be ashamed about anything and can totally be yourself. Also I experience that people live their Second Life in a very genuine way. I for instance spoke an avatar the other day that said she had to change her outfit. She went to do this behind a screen. I don’t think people are really fooling you.”
The website is not only available directly online, but can also be visited in Second Life (other worlds will follow suit). “There are several cafes in Second Life where the dating site is present in the form of a box. So as an avatar you are not sitting down in front of a computer. It started as a test, but the cafes were enthusiastic and wanted to keep it,” Veenhof explained.
He is not exactly sure what is going to happen with the dating service or what direction it might take. It is an experiment for him as well. Thinking of the advantages is easy though: no more hairdresser appointments before a date and no worries about who is going to pick up the bill.
So lets all get dating intervirtually and see if it works for you!
