Virtual world dating in India
By Techgirl

It was hard enough to understand the language of love in the real world, and it becomes harder still on the internet.  A guy may present himself as Shah Rukh and may turn out to be Shakti Kapoor. Or Gtalk like Nilekani and turn out to be Satyam’s Mr. Raju. A woman may present herself demurely as actress and MP Jaya Prada and turn out to be strong like Mayawati.

Even now in India most girls have arranged marriages.  Want to know the boy a bit better before commitment but no one in your family has heard of dates?

America now has Weopia which describes itself as the world's first 3D virtual world dating service, wholly devoted to bridging the gap between traditional online dating and the time-consuming and intimidating first offline date.  And it has an Indian link as well. Virtucom Inc. began development of Weopia in Spring 2008 with a team from Canada, US, Germany, India, China and South Africa.

Weopia users select an avatar and meet their date in an intimate person-to-person 3D virtual world. They use voice and text chat while engaging in dating activities and conversation stimulators to get a better sense of each other. Weopia describes itself as the natural evolution of online dating; allowing users to find love faster and only meet in real life, those with whom they feel very comfortable.

The idea is that singles meet on the net and then chat on the phone. This is followed by a ‘virtual date’ before you meet at one of Mumbai’s scenic spots or wonderful coffee shops.  A virtual date is another filter to weed out the Shah Rukh Khan’s from the Shakti Kapoors.

In Weopia, you have a choice of 5 worlds as a background to your date.  In case you get tongue tied, there is a drop-down menu with over 100 conversation topics. In this virtual world you can sit on a mountain top and race in hovercrafts.  And the best part?  With one click you can disappear if Shakti Kapoor starts leering at your virtual breasts.

Does this work?  According to Weopia, couples using it are twice as likely to have a second date.  (Did they mean virtual dates or real dates?)

All this is well in USA.  But this software will have to be customized for Indian users.  Firstly, the settings have to have at least 100 people in the background.  Have you tried going on a date at Chowpatty beach without bumping into 10 people?  Secondly, this virtual date should have an option for the girls’s family to insert an elder sister/sister-in-law’s Avatar as a chaperone on the first date as this is how things happen in my extended family.  Better still, there should be a small box on the left of the screen which gives the guys qualifications, income and future prospects.  This will help the girl focus on what are considered important criterion in India.  And being India, it would be best if the same screen can appear on the computers of at least 4 people from each family.  After all, marriage is a collective decision in India.

Last but not the least, my girl friends tell me that Indian men love talking about themselves.  So, to avoid any misunderstanding the girl’s avatar should be able to go into a ‘looking interested mode’ even as she drums her fingers out of boredom on the keyboard.

Finally, the Indian software should have some intelligence built in.  If the boy mentions the world dowry in any shape or form, virtual cops should come in and thrash him.

I can already visualize Platinum reworking its ‘Day of love’ advertisement. The ad now starts with ‘They arranged everything starting with our virtual date ..’

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog
http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com