Article:
Solicitation...in my Xbox Live?!

So, you're at home kicking back on the sofa with a beer and some Xbox Live. After all, it's your time off, might as well spend it relaxing!
Now, has it ever occurred to you that this experience could somehow be enhanced by pretending that you're on a date with someone that you'll never meet face to face? No. I didn't think so.

Allow me to break down what I'm talking about. Last week on the 23rd of March a new website called GameCrush launched; GameCrush is the first online-gaming dedicated, adult dating website. You sign up for a free account and then pay for 'PlayDates'.

GameCrush's website features a number of profiles for you to select your date from, once you've selected your date and organised a mutual time you can choose between your date being 'dirty' or 'flirty'. After you've paid for your date and had it you are asked to leave feedback and rate your PlayMate, since the highest rated PlayMates will receive special bonuses for doing a good job.

So, the premise is simple enough, but it has to be the stupidest thing I've seen in months. I'll be the first to admit that I'm more than a tad biased since I can't stand the idea of anyone attempting to exploit gamers, but that doesn't stop this being such a stupid idea. To start with, currently only two online services are supported, and those are simple, casual flash games that are built into the profile system and certain popular Xbox Live supported games which are limited to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3, Gears of War 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV. They have plans to expand the service to popular PSN supported games and certain MMOs as well.

The premise of the 'date' is moronic. For the built in flash game you just chat with your supposed date via a video window, whilst for the Xbox Live games you speak via voice chat and have to have a PC/laptop/Mac running with an online connection to maintain your video connection. This alone irritates me: I don't like the idea of having to half my download/upload speed in order to maintain a video line I won't be keeping an eye on.

It is not beyond my imagination that people would pay for this, and as expected the GameCrush website received an enormous amount of hits on its first day along, but I cannot comprehend why these people would want to pay for the chance to pretend they're on a date with someone that they'll never meet face to face and the closest they'll ever get to being with that person is to continue paying to have these PlayDates with them which to me sounds quite vaguely like solicitation or paying for phone sex, without the climactic finish. The justification behind paying for this is "Like meeting a girl in a bar and paying for her drink", except meeting someone in a bar implies that you have had the chance to meet them and get to know them, not pretend at dating with someone over an online connection.