Are you ready for a virtual date?The moment of truth that all online daters fear is the first date – will the person you’ve been chatting and emailing with be like you imagined them? Or have they been lying to you? Will there be chemistry? Cutting-edge site OmniDate offers a midway point to ease you into your first date: virtual dating. A 3-D representation of you sits in front of a similar representation of your potential mate, and as you chat you can use gestures, expressions and even a little interaction, like touching your date’s hand. If this goes well, a real-life meeting should be a lot less daunting. Ravit Ableman, co-founder and vice president of OmniDate, explains how the avatar works: “You create an avatar that looks like you and dress it the way you would like to be dressed.” This feature seems to not have been fully implemented on the site yet, though – even though we uploaded a picture into our test account, there were only 6 predetermined options of “virtual characters” and no options for customization yet. Ableman emphasized that this technology is “extremely woman-friendly,” since it allows women to get a better idea of their potential dates before an actual meeting and without the use of webcams or other devices that might compromise their safety. “Women have a hard time getting to know a guy. And for women, there are issues that come into play like safety and security,” she added. OmniDate aspires to fill the dreaded gap between sparkling online interaction and a tense, expectant first date. CEO Igo Kotlyar succinctly explains OmniDate’s biggest selling point: “How do you go from reading a profile to interacting with a person online and eventually in person? Our goal is to bridge that gap.” To do this and yet stay safe and friendly, the interaction between avatars is limited to a few actions: smiles, flirts, yawns and nods are some of the expressions you can use, and the most you can do by way of interaction is to touch your date’s hand and/or blow them a kiss. I went on a test date in OmniDate, and found it to be actually very telling, and a good tool to use before an actual first date. After a chat seriously lacking in sparkle and chemistry, I was taken aback when my date touched my face and blew me a kiss as we were saying goodbye – I found this excessive and inappropriate and would have probably reacted badly if he had done it in a live setting. It seems very convenient to know your date’s notions of physical limits before you actually go on a date, so you can get ready to set some limits – or not go on the date altogether. |
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