Subscribe
Previous Post
I’ve done my share of Internet dating, I’ve tried Lavalife, Plentyoffish, and Match.com. All with some success (I found dates, had relationships, etc). All of those sites are generally similar. Put up a profile and pictures, message people you’re interested in, and take it from there. Toronto-based Omnidate is really going the next step: avatars that people can interact with:
OmniDate, based in Toronto, has been hard at work building a virtual date technology and it’s likely we’ll see their avatars coming to big name dating sites soon. We’ve all heard about sex in Second Life, the truth however is a lot less steamy; most people have a hard time getting Second Life installed and running on their machine.
Unlike Second Life, OmniDate intends for its avatar dating system to be used by real people who want to set up real life dates. Going on a virtual date is less time consuming, less expensive, and more secure than meeting at a local Starbucks. Once you’ve found someone you enjoy chatting with online, it is more likely you’ll enjoy meeting that person in the real world. My guess is that people will also use OmniDate to flirt, etc. Source: OmniDate.com – Virtual Dating is the new Starbucks | StartupNorth
Jevon beat me to this one…but I have to chime in on this. Anyone notice that a lot of the innovations in online dating come from Canada (Toronto and Vancouver)? I don’t know why, but makes one wonder.
Regardless, I haven’t signed up for Omnidate and I don’t think I would if I needed to. I just think it’s more than a tad creepy. Okay, technologically, really, really cool, but still creepy. I think the idea of having a virtual date is just, strange. IM, e-mail, that’s for getting to know someone. Sure I guess this isn’t too different, but it seems to me that there is a lot of room for deception in this model. That said, as these technologies improve, I see real potential for them as ways for virtual teams to communicate better. Especially if the avatars can be synced in with webcams. Logitech has face matching software for its cams, I bet something like that could be added in without too much problem.
Is Omnidate the next wave for online dating or just another way people can avoid meeting others in person? Is this the next technical advance or, well, a waste of processor time? I think it’s for us to decide.
Eva, you must have tried a different site, not OmniDate; OmniDate is COMPLETELY FREE.
Until that site gets going why dont you guys try canadas largest dating network, lots of cute guys and girls. recieve a free 7 day trial gold subscription, sign up today someones waiting for you right now.
http://www.mapleleafdating.com
I did try omnidate for the first time a few days ago. I have to say that yes, it is very interesting and somewhat of a fresh idea that has long been needed in the online dating industry. But to me, omnidate hasn’t brought any real good to the industry and it’s customers. They advertise that it’s free to join but yet once you try and talk to other singles they expect you to pay. They also have automatic re-billing, and before I could cancel my account I had to write a letter(email) to the company before they would approve it. I think that these practices from online dating companies are un-fair and clearly shows that their purpose is not for the customers. I did recieve an email yesterday from a friend about another avatar based online dating site in the U.S. that supposedly will blow other online dating sites out of the water just by catering to the customer and offering the newest technology. It’s http://www.virtulove.com. I went to the site and put my email address in but haven’t heard back from anyone yet. If anybody knows anything about this new dating site, I would love to hear about it!