METAVERSE matchmaking is worlds apart from traditional dating apps like Tinder.
But the virtual reality space can actually solve several issues people have with dating apps, dating expert Hayley Quin told The Sun.
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New research by broadband provider Zen Internet revealed last week that nearly a third of people prefer to meet partners online, because they don’t know how to meet people in real life.
So, it’s only a matter of time before the biggest players in the online dating sphere – Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and Plenty of Fish – integrate into the metaverse.
The first problem it solves? The lack of human interaction.
“Dating apps are already trying to move in a direction where they’re trying to provide a more human experience,” Quinn explains.
Apps are beginning to introduce features like voice notes and video calls that, “compared to just messaging and swiping someone, give an enhanced degree of interaction”.
These are key things that help people work out whether someone is a good candidate for them, Quinn said, adding that the metaverse offers an extra layer of depth to a previously surface level way of finding love.
The metaverse can provide the human touches that apps lack, such as “body language, tone of voice, or perhaps that missing ingredient people talk about,” she says.
Problem number two is repetitive dates. Nobody wants to go on a date in the same restaurant twice.
Don’t worry – there’ll still be dinner dates in the metaverse.
But imagine going on a drink and ending up in ancient Rome, says Quinn.
“Metaverse dates can highly replicate in-real-life dates. You can go for coffee dates at the local coffee shop,” she continues.
“But they also be otherworldly, walking through another galaxy or on a spaceship.
“It is a fully immersive dating experience, if you can imagine going into an otherworldy place… [your date] could be a photo realistic avatar or avatar designed to reflect certain aspects of their personality.”
The gamification of the metaverse also means people could find their perfect match while completing quests together.
The third problem might be the most obvious, but it’s the most important: Safety.
The metaverse gives people an opportunity not to put their physical-selves at risk, whether their date turns out to not be who they said they were or they just get bad vibes.
It can also help those who are more socially anxious about the whole experience.
“People understandably fear the process of meting people in real life… Particularly in 2023, when we should be more aware of people’s personal boundaries than perhaps we were in the past,” says Quinn.
“The metaverse would give you the ability to practice in-real-life dating skills and get real time feedback of what it’s like to spend time with someone, while also giving you access to a much wider variety of people.”
However, the metaverse is not without its own hang-ups.
Finding your soulmate in the metaverse will be tough if there’s not enough people on the platform.
Equally, users finding love in far flung corners of the world can often lead to long-distanced heartbreak.
And as tech like ChatGPT and VoiceGPT takes off, ‘deepfakes’ are expected to grow into a real issue on the platform.
Thing is. deepfakes – videos and images of a person who has been digitally altered to look like someone else – are already an issue on online dating apps.
Apps are often not introduced to the public as perfect systems, and companies are always updating their systems to keep consumers happy and safe.
This is exactly what will happen in the metaverse, Quinn says.
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