http://www.comeinmyworld.com/fr/beta.php

The focus is on voice, the 3D world being the social gathering space.
There’s some community management, as well as RL gatherings, but so far, the service hasn’t really succeeded in attracting a strong user base.

A quick video presentation of the service can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enMI9QuJswY

Cheers

Dan

Online dating, a practice where singles visit a website to locate other singles, frequently fails to meet users’ expectations. We suggest that this disappointment is due in part to online dating websites’ failure to simulate face-to-face interactions, an essential component of the acquaintanceship process. We document users’ general disappointment with online dating (Study 1) and their disappointment with specific dates arranged through an online dating website (Study 2). In Study 3 we introduce the Virtual Date, on which potential dating partners explore a virtual environment in an interaction analogous to a real first date (such as going to a museum), a pre-meeting intervention that led to greater liking after meetings had occurred (during speed-dates) than standard online dating.

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As always, Linden Lab assumes that *everyone* wants this feature and/or everyone’s going to *want* this in the future.

For most (I hope), Second Life is just another recreational hobby (like actual MMORPGs) – I seriously doubt hobbysts would want to link their public identity with their virtual one.

Julius Sowu virtually-linked london

I mean – forget about interests like “walks on the beach” or whatever – just choosing where to go in SL (through spotlight say) would be a way to learn a lot about someone, how they interact with others at a club or concert, or whatever.

And I have a golden rule: those who rez prims together, stay together. There’s something about sharing in the creative process that’s deeply emotional.

I can’t help thinking, then, what else this can be extended to – book clubs on Amazon maybe? Travel sites?

If they can actually make it so easy – to be able to insert widgets on social media sites, and keep plugging away at the log-in process….then seriously, they may be on to something significant here.

In my field (health) I can see widgets for patients. An information site on lymphoma (we manage one) with the ability for patients to meet up with each other to talk about their conditions.

Well…bottom line, Tom deserves more credit than I originally gave him, I just wish he hadn’t chosen dating as his use case.

I wrote about it here:

“A while back we posted on how our Vauxhall Corsa Guide could be used as the basis for practice dates in the virtual world Second Life.

“The idea was that Second Life dating could sit between getting to know someone on the phone, on IM or on email and actually meeting them face to face. We subsequently suggested this concept to a major dating site, putting forward the notion that they could offer a bespoke virtual service for their members.

“We proposed setting up a separate log-in site and orientation zone on Second Life for new avatars (characters), along with clothes, skins, accessories to choose from.

“Then, both parties would have had a kind of trial run, where they would have seen from their behaviour if they were compatible. And if they wanted to take it further, they could have then arranged a date in the real world – where, according to research from Stanford, they would actually have found each other better looking in the flesh if they selected ‘attractive’ avatars, thereby theoretically increasing the chances of a successful outcome!

“Overall it was designed to be a low risk, cheap and fun way to get to know someone before wasting three hours in a bar or restaurant constantly looking at the clock and desperately trying to fill dead air.”

http://bit.ly/w0clW

Anyways – boot up the domain name, maybe the Lindens will buy you out.

And you quickly reduce online dating to a looks only thing – what’s on your mind? I think people take RL photos on dating sites with a grain of salt.

I think this has potential and virtual worlds could make a great first date but then I am squatting on a web domain for the very same idea for a couple of years now.