Could Weopia Be Your Virtual Dating Utopia?

Friday, 12 February 2010 14:54 Written by Ragel Nel

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, yet another online dating Web site has seen the light. However, this one claims to be a bit different from the scores of other dating sites that are already jostling for attention on the net.

Weopia Virtual dating

Called Weopia, the site differs from more ‘conventional’ online dating ventures in various ways. For one, the virtual dating world of Weopia is almost akin to Second Life. Developed by Virtucom, Inc. with an international team from South Africa, Canada, the United States, India and China, Weopia is aimed at bridging the gap between meeting someone online via a dating site and then taking the relationship offline to the “real world”.

If you have your sights set on finding romance, you’ll still have to join a different online dating service to find a prospective mate. (But Weopia works with any dating site.) Should that person intrigue you enough to want to get to know him/her better, but you are still not quite prepared to meet in real life, then you turn to Weopia.

Weopia allows users to go on virtual dates all while remaining in the safety and comfort of their own homes. Each user picks an avatar for him/herself and go on a date with your prospective partner in a 3D environment. During your virtual date, Weopia will guide you through the process with videos and give you conversational ideas and questions to ask your date. The voice and text portions of the date take place via Skype.

If your date goes well in the virtual world of Weopia, then it is up to you to make plans to meet in the real world. On the other hand, if there is no spark, you can always end the date with a simple click. No awkward goodbyes at the end of the evening, no need to feign illness, no nervous escape plotting and trying to sneak out unnoticed half-way through.

Although downloading the application is free, you’ll have to shell out about R38.50 ($5) for a virtual date, but Weopia argues that a real life date will likely cost you far more. Unfortunately there will be no refund if your date’s avatar bails out on your avatar…

Want to try out a virtual date? Then register over here.

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