Virtual Girlfriend 649
Sven-Erik writes " BBC News reports about a Hong Kong based company called Artificial Life that has developed a solution for men without a partner, in the form of a virtual girlfriend that appear as an animated figure on the video screen of a mobile phone. But there is a downside to the virtual girlfriend - she will require more flowers and gifts than many real women. All virtual girls will look the same - but each girl will behave differently - depending on how much money is spent on her. In return, she will introduce them to different aspects of her life, like letting them meet her female friends - also electronic images. Artificial Life is hoping to launch the new game later this year, on the latest 3-G mobile phones.
is it just me... (Score:4, Insightful)
The sad thing is... (Score:5, Insightful)
Let me be the first to say... (Score:3, Insightful)
Who would buy this service!?
Re:Heard this on the Beeb Yesterday (Score:3, Insightful)
No jokes... (Score:5, Insightful)
Then I get pissed I didn't think of it first.
Re:is it just me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Pathetic (Score:2, Insightful)
I know that a guy who is bad with girls can use the simulation to practice, but really, just try a real girl. You don't have to date. Just hang. Also, this game is going to be used by guys with girls, but instead of talking and spending time with thier girlfriends, they are going to be wasting time on this. A girlfriend is more than just a convinent hole and someone to make you dinner.
A long time ago, when I was taking sex ed, the book, Boys and Sex, talked about masturbation. It pretty much said all things in moderation, and solo activity should allow, not take the place of forming real relationships that are neccesary for emotional development. It sounds like this is just anothe thing that is going stunt the growth of a generation of teenage boys.
But people are stupid enough to fall for it (Score:1, Insightful)
Girlfriend??? (Score:3, Insightful)
Since you're not getting any sex, she's more like a therapist than a girlfriend.
Idiots (Score:5, Insightful)
yeah... (Score:1, Insightful)
I think someone needs to be smacked for even thinking this is a topic we care about... It's not like we have nothing better to do then beat off to our phnes...in the words of Jimmy on southpark: "I mean...come on...". I would never ever want to buy something so stu...HOLY FUCK THEIR ONLY $300! See you later...
What a week for women's rights (Score:3, Insightful)
It's sad to see the rate at which our runaway technological advances outstrip the advancement of society. In one hundred years we've developed flight, space travel, nuclear physics, gene therapy, and global digital communications networks, but we still can't get past treating women like property instead of people.
Articles like this are why I'm so excited about the possibilities of genetic engineering. I feel like the only way to get this bug out of the system is to change the source code. Imagine a world of humans without gender or race - imagine what we could accomplish!
For now we're stuck with a world where we hang female children for mouthing off [coxandforkum.com], create computer programs to be interchangeable currency for female slaves, pretend that gender warfare is actually a natural state [washingtonpost.com], and where female developers can't post on Slashdot without seeing the first ten replies read "show us your tits".
Humynity sure has a long way to go.
Re:Pathetic (Score:1, Insightful)
Some of us don't have access to them. In the past year, I've only met one unmarried girl that's between 5 years older and 10 years younger than me. She stood me up Friday night for our first date, on my *birthday*. I work mostly with teachers, and they're either too young or married. I also help a friend two nights a week with a cooking class at the local tech school, and again, all of them that are over 25 are married or with their boyfriend. I used to volunteer at a local hospital, but I stopped after a few months when I realized (with a little query to the HR db) all of the nurses that worked on the two floors I did were married. Hitting on the single female patients just didn't seem right
I do need some sort of practise, but this product obviously isn't the solution.
Re:Idiots (Score:3, Insightful)
They're not part of the demographic.
Re:Virtual girlfriend? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Virtual girlfriend? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:is it just me... (Score:1, Insightful)
Well just don't spend any money on her. She can't dump you - all she can do is get bitchy. Then You'll feel better about not having a real girlfriend.
Actually the article explicitly states that if you neglect her that she just won't speak to you. Maybe that's your definition of "bitchy".
Maybe she can't dump you but there's no indication from the article that you can dump her either. In that case, you'll end up in a cyber-relationship of convienence where neither one of you really wants to be there but you're stuck because you don't think you can do better just like so many real-life relationships. If you're going to play this game, you'd be better off trying to cultivate a mutually-enjoyable relationship. Yeah, in this case the relationship is pretty shallow since it's entirely based on money but the concept of paying attention to "her" is the same. It's too bad that they couldn't make a version where your interaction is less monetary-related. Maybe a future version will actually let you have converstations with her through your phone. The next time you talk with her, you'll need to refer to things said in the previous conversation to prove that you were listening and that you have been thinking about her since you last talked.
Ye Gods! (Score:2, Insightful)
I can think of better ways to spend my money, thanks!
--LWM
Virtual Girlfriend is a "service" (Score:5, Insightful)
I have this overwhelming sense of pity for some poor lonely guy out there who would have to get a Virtual Girlfriend because he cannot hold a real relationship. All this guy wants is a bit of love and respect, but he just can't get it. Then I get disgusted at the greedy, money-grubbing company trying to capitalize on these poor souls, feeding their thirst for money off of their victim's need for love and acceptance...
I'm not sure if all of this is meant to be a joke (as one respondant has already suggested) but since you are being modded as Insightful I'm going to reply as though you were serious. This company is providing a service. To think of them as exploiting someone is a real misunderstanding of commerce. Do grocery stores exploit me because I have a biological need to eat? There are numerous reasons why some guy may need to find love and finds this Virtual Girlfriend thing to be a less-risky outlet. Perhaps someone has recently been hurt very badly in a relationship (e.g., engaged and then his fiance ran off with someone else) and just isn't ready to date real people just yet. Rather than forcing him to interact with other (real) women when he's still thinking about his loss (which wouldn't be very much fun for the women he meets) or having him sit on his couch bawling to himself, this Virtual Girlfriend may actually serve a theraputic purpose. In this case, the company is not exploiting him but is helping provide a way for him to get over his loss. Yeah, it would be great if this company provided this free of charge out of the goodness of their hearts but that's not the world we live in. They developed the technology and need to recoup their investment as well as reward those who came up with the idea. This is legitimate commerce, not exploitation.
GMD
Re:is it just me... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What a week for women's rights (Score:1, Insightful)
Similarly, this game is not about objectifying women as sex objects in any way (RTFA), and I find it difficult to imagine that the average woman would be threatened by this in the least.
Also, I've yet to see a convincing argument that gender struggle is not a natural state. And plenty that say that it is. Sticking your head in the sand and claiming there are no biological reasons for it, when there clearly are, is not going to fuel any kind of progress. This is why feminism has gone nowhere in the last 20 years - because after you look at the obvious inequities, the rest is based on a demonstrably false model of human biology.
Re:What a week for women's rights (Score:5, Insightful)
There are some things that are simply built into the genes. Human men are compelled to have sex without commitment; women are compelled to form commitments. It's a broad generalization, but all of anthropology, sociology and natural biology boil down to this simple axiom.
You can try to deny it, argue it, or change it, but human nature will always defeat you in the end. The successful social institutions are the ones that use this nature to achieve good ends, the way democracy uses selfishness to achieve good government. Marriage, in essence, is a way of getting men to commit to a woman and her children by promising him an available sexual partner at all times.
Pornography in all its myriad forms, including "virtual girlfriends", is a way to give men (limited) sexual gratification without bothering with a relationship. Romance novels and movies do the same by giving women a relationship fantasy they can enjoy without an actual partner. Both businesses have been spectacularly successful over the decades because those principles are true.
Re:You don't spend money.. (Score:1, Insightful)
Any stable, loving lesbian couple will tell you that it's not big dicks women are after.
When will you little boys understand this?
Loser.
Re:What a week for women's rights (Score:5, Insightful)
Ok, just kidding.
But you know, you're going way overboard. While sexism is most definitely a problem in today's societies, this little gadget is not a representation of that at all. How is this in any way sexist? It's fun and harmless. I could just as easily see a "virtual boyfriend" game. There's no sex involved here and it no more "objectifies" women than any other form of media.
A society without gender or race? You would do well to read up on some evolutionary biology/psychology. Biodiversity and two sexes are crucial components to ensure our long-term survival. We need to get rid of societal prejudice, not our biological markers. You're attacking the wrong problem.
Gender warfare may not be a "good" or "moral" state, but it IS a natural state. Hmm. Read some Richard Dawkins or Steven Pinker. The two genders evolved to perform different functions and the conflicts between them can be attributed to their differing needs and goals. This doesn't justify sexism, but that doesn't mean we can pretend there are no differences between the sexes, because there are.
Virtual girlfriend != Online relationship? (Score:1, Insightful)
I mean, really, virtual girlfriends have been around since IRC became popular..this is nothing new.
Re:Holy Cow! (Score:5, Insightful)
Not everybody is a slave to the opposite sex (Score:1, Insightful)
He may be "poor", but that's not because he has no girlfriend. He's poor because he's fallen into self-pity after being brainwashed into believing that he must have one or else he becomes somehow inferior.
The fact of the matter is, companionship is not wanted by all, and sex is not necessarily tied to companionship, and sex is not wanted by all either. On top of that, even when both companionship and sex are desired, they can be judged on a cost/benefit basis and rejected as detrimental on balance.
Not everybody is a slave to their instincts and their hormones. Even though we live in pretty anti-intellectual times, some people control their lives a little more carefully than the mass media and Slashdot would have you believe.
Re:Skills you learn could save your real relations (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You don't spend money.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:is it just me... (Score:1, Insightful)
The only difference is with marriage, you get more money back on your taxes.
Re:What a week for women's rights (Score:5, Insightful)
This belief is one of the most successful memes of all time, for obvious reasons; it allows both sexes to justify things they want to justify in the first place. (Men get to say, "I can't help it, it's in my blood." Women get to say, "See, men are pigs! We're so much more virtuous.")
There's only one problem: it's not true. The fact is that both sexes are equally promiscuous -- perhaps for different reasons, perhaps not, but everyone pretty much screws around equally.
Re:No jokes... (Score:2, Insightful)
Heck, I'd need to be very rich and successful in order to have any chance of attracting a woman, because there is huge competition. Besides, maybe this would, in some small way, help to pacify the competition.
"Bare Branches" [google.com] are becoming a big problem in China. These are men who are not going to find real women, because they're just aren't enough of them for most of them to pair up. That's what happens when you have extreme male chauvinism paired up with draconian birth control policies. (We are not talking small numbers here, something along the order of 30 million is one estimate in China alone.) Normally, this sort of thing would be self-correcting, through the inevitable warfare and violence that comes from such insanely out of wack sex ratios. However, modern war is pretty hard on the civilian population which includes women and children, so I don't even know if that will help.
Re:You don't spend money.. (Score:2, Insightful)
But want to change and you will.
Re:You don't spend money.. (Score:2, Insightful)
They're trying to spare your feelings.
Max
Re:What a week for women's rights (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Holy Cow! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:is it just me... (Score:2, Insightful)
depending on how much money is spent on her
Wives need LOVE, not small even pricey gifts.
Give them your attention, your time and they'll be happier than Melinda French might be when Bill's telling her to spend while he's away.
Re:Holy Cow! (Score:3, Insightful)
If the chemistry is right between you, things will happen. One of you will just know the right time to make a move.
Thinking of a date as a date can set unrealistic expectations.
MOD Parent Up Please (Score:4, Insightful)
Enough said really... striking up a friendship or rapport with someone is the best ice breaker ever.
Re:You don't spend money.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Skills you learn could save your real relations (Score:1, Insightful)
You're an idiot.
superficial rubbish (Score:2, Insightful)
[snip]So is this the image they're pushing to our men out there, now? Everyone knows that the woman you are with doesn't want you for you -- It's really only the gift that matters -- and it's obviously only diamonds that we want! So forget those little, inexpensive but nice tokens of appreciation, forget going on walks in the city or countryside, and forget just plain conversation! Buy your woman a great big fat rock. Everyone wants a big shiny rock. Especially women. You are now a sex-god if you give your woman a shiny rock. Rocks good. Sex good. Rocks get sex. Buy rocks.
There is always this scene in one show or movie or other where the man takes his fiancee to pick out a ring. When she picks this diamond encrusted, platinum looped, gold finished, ruby studded abomination of metal and stone and the man refuses because he simply isn't willing to pay sixty grand for a ring, she freaks out at him.
Obviously the man sees it as a huge practical loss, sixty thou for a fucking circular band of metal that could fall down the toilet whilst his ugly wife is using her daily douche or whatever it is high-maintenance women do in the bathroom.
Either that or he has the horrendous statistic in his head, the 50% of marriages break up after year one... Or was it six months? Well, anyways, the man has the practicality of the situation at hand and tries to persuade his picky fiancee into a cheaper, more plain ring. [snip]
Re:Asian Guys (Score:2, Insightful)
Any such strategy you try will not change the basic probabilities. Choosing whether you have another child, based on the gender of the last one, will not affect the gender of the next one. (Ultimately, the next couple to have children will only be picking up where you left off.)
It could be said that the strategy described encourages those who are somehow predisposed to having girls, to have more children, but whether that occurs is outside the scope of this argument.
Re:No Thanks! (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course this turns you into a superficial ass hole but wtf, you get laid.
Re:What a week for women's rights (Score:3, Insightful)
Hmm.. yes, sexism is a problem today. But seemingly only for women, who are still seen as the gender requiring protection. Just spend a few minutes thinking about the following:
1.Although women have financial independence, men are still expected to pay for everything when going out with them. Taxis, meals, tickets, and eventually a $3000 DeBeers diamond. If he doesn't, society will deem he doesnt love her anymore.
2. Watch some TV. Whether in ads, movie or sitcoms, men can be made to look like the fool. Their sexual capacity, or even size can be made fun of, they can be ridiculed for not understanding things inherent to women, and they can be kicked in the genitals, all in the name of comedy.
3. More men die of prostate cancer than women do of breast cancer, yet breast cancer receives 700% more funding. Just look at the public awareness of both to know how in which direction the gender is pushed.
4. Family courts rule in favour of women 95% of the time. Perjury is an accepted way of women to get what they want. 'He beat me' is an instant way to get access to the kids, whether true or not. And if it is proven that the woman lied, there is no punishment in practically all of the cases. FOR LYING IN COURT!! Lawyers tell women to use this to their advantage.
So, yes, sexism is a problem. As men, we must be strong, raise a family, be the breadwinner, or be seen as a loser.
Women have choices. Be a strong career woman or a caring housewife/mother. People respect both, which is a good thing. But men don't have a choice, they are still seen as expendable wage slaves.
Oh yeah, women still live 5 years longer than men. Could that have anything to do with the pressure of work and poorer gender-specific health care?
Oh, so it is a profit motivator! (Score:5, Insightful)
You pay money for the Virtual Girlfriend program. There is no sex involved, no nudity, no dirty talk, no physical contact, not even a kiss.
Ok, now, in order to have her talk to you, she requires virtual gifts. Lucky you, for the company that makes Virtual Girlfriend can sell them to you FOR REAL MONEY, yet she will keep requiring more and more from you, otherwise she won't speak to you.
Apparently, as I understand it, not only does it waste your time, it also wastes your real money, and only rich people can afford to keep her talking to them. The amount you have to spend has not yet been determined, yet I got a funny feeling that they can change the setting on you to make her require more "gifts" that end up costing you more money. You might, oh, start by spending $20 a week on her, and then they send an instant message to your phone that turns on the golddigger routines to make you pay $200 a week. That is what I think will happen.
If you want to waste your time and money, find a webcam whore [xmission.com], cell phones have amazing web browsers now and the Internet fees and webcam fees can potentionally be less than the Virtual Girlfriend. I used that link because Maddox explains how to be a Web Cam Whore so well, that you'll know what to expect. At least you might be able to see some female body parts for your money, and be able to get some bad poetry, which should be better than the Engrish responses the Virtual Girlfriend would give you. I think Virtual Girlfriend is targeted towards the guys who visit Web Cam Whores anyway, both the Web Cam Whores and Virtual Girlfriends seem to have the same intelligence anyway, and the same low intelligence audience that cannot get a date even if they were the last man in town, with $1 million USD in a suitcase, a 2004 BMW, and used phermones to attract women.
The whole business idea of Virtual Girlfriend is to get the sad lonely loser hooked, until he is paying more money than a crack addict for a fix.
I hope that someone like Maddox writes a sarcastic review on it, besides me. ;)
Re:What a week for women's rights (Score:2, Insightful)
Male rape in prisons is completely condoned and even accepted by judges, who sometimes use stories of male rape in prisons to deter juvenile offenders from choosing a life of crime. If there were any place women got raped regularly, expect an instant commission, inquiry, media hype etc etc. But males, and criminals to boot? Serves em right.
Men have no reproductive rights. Women can choose to have the baby, or an abortion, or put the baby up for adoption. The man has only one option if the woman chooses to have the child: pay child support. If a woman has the right to "opt out" of a pregnancy via abortion or adoption why shouldn't a man also have this right? Many are suggesting "paper abortions" as a means to give men a similar right.
Anyway, I'll stop ranting. But I just get peeved every time I see people perpetuating the 'women are still victims' myth.
Read 'The Myth of Male Power' (or even just the amazon summary), get yourself aware.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0