The Tinder of the Metaverse is here: new dating app Nevermet
Love and sex: There must be some of that in the Metaverse. Raising the curtain on the dating app Nevermet.
Nevermets are couples who have an Internet relationship without having met in real life, explains Urban Dictionary, an online dictionary specializing in internet slang.
Like Tinder and its ilk, the dating app Nevermet considers itself a platform for dating, except that it searches for VBFs and VGFs: Virtual Boyfriends and Girlfriends.
If you believe the philosopher David Chalmers, then Cyperspace is just as real as Meatspace. No wonder, then, that the same problem exists here as there: How do you find your sweetheart, or at least how do you make the first move? Especially when the other person comes in the form of a banana or a rabbit.
Metaverse-Tinder: Access for avatars only
This is the biggest difference between Tinder and Nevermet. On the latter platform, real looks do not matter.
The developers also emphasize this: No photos of people are allowed on Nevermet, only pictures of avatars. The profiles are controlled by a moderator. Accordingly, other factors come to the fore here, such as the sound of one's own voice.
Apart from that, Nevermet works like Tinder and Co. Users create a profile and specify which gender and age group they are interested in. Instead of a physical residence, they specify a virtual one. The places have names like VRChat, Rec Room and Horizon Worlds.
Then it's on to swiping. In the event of a match, prospective lovers can text each other and set up a VR date. Those seeking friendships are also welcome, writes the Nevermet team.
Metaverse dating: an idea with future potential?
Nevermet was created by Cam Mullen and Solaris Nite (not an artist or avatar name). Together they have developed the social VR apps Couch, Somewhere, and Cheerio.
The latter is all about meeting and socializing and is said to be particularly popular - which is why the startup founders decided to take the idea further. This is how Nevermet was born, which also attracted a number of investors such as Draper, Boost VC, Greg Castle and Anorak Ventures.
The dating app has future potential, regardless of whether Mark Zuckerberg's lofty Metaverse vision comes true. Young people are already growing up with and in digital environments - games, social apps, video conferencing - even without VR headsets, so the idea of Metaverse dating is probably logical for many of them. At least that's what the acclaimed documentary We Met in Virtual Reality suggests.
Digital worlds certainly have one advantage: that physical assaults are impossible. And perhaps personality does end up playing a more important role than in Meatspace. After all, in the Metaverse, everyone knows that the avatar is just a digital dress.
Read more about Metaverse:
- Second Life: Off to the Metaverse - Founder wants to have another go
- Harassment in the Metaverse: Meta pulls the emergency brake
- Meta rolls out improved Metaverse avatars
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