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Startup Offering a Virtual Girlfriend on Facebook

27 points by dfuhriman 16y ago

Step 1: Define your perfect girlfriend. Step 2: We bring her into existence. Step 3: Connect and interact with her publicly on your favorite social network Step 4: Enjoy a public long distance relationship with your perfect girl.

santana 16y ago
i'd take a virtual boyfriend as long as he can deliver
- VladRussian 15y ago
  it seems there is really dry season in your geography to trigger you to make your first comment on HN :).
  - santana 15y ago
    do i get points for that? ;)
    - VladRussian 15y ago
      at least i gave my point for that reason :)
zacharycohn 16y ago
I feel like if this is at all successful, it's just going to get shut down by Facebook for creating fake users.
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  Almost certainly. It'll be hilarious while it lasts though. The name alone cracks me up. Unfortunately they've dropped the ball by not having a painfully trendy logo with a cartoon girlfriend sitting on a cloud or something. They should open source it when it gets banned so the fun can continue. EDIT: just realised - this is basically a more benign version of that "sockpuppet management" stuff we've been seeing recently. Is this the start of the rise of the bots within human society?
  - bioh42_2 15y ago
    Basshunter's Boten Anna came out in 2006 I think. But yes, the rise of bots on our networks is inevitable. And they do not have to fool everyone all of the time, only some for brief periods of time. On-line communication is already formulaic and does not require a long attention span. Really, this is just Eliza with a slick new cloud API.
- nullsub 15y ago
  right. this is a direct TOS violation, right?
- ChuckMcM 15y ago
  Unless of course they don't violate the ToS and instead have a real person be your 'cloud' girlfriend. If you mechanical turk out the role of the girl friend to a human using the same sort of technology that lets a chicken play tic-tac-toe [1] then presumably you can finesse the ToS. Next we'll see a new startup for providing plausible deniability for ToS violations, basically you send someone a device with the instructions "When this light goes on push the button, if you keep your average response time under 5 minutes for the month we'll pay you $10." [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-12N3kVh3Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-12N3kVh3Q
benwerd 16y ago
I'm pretty sure this takes outsourcing a step or two too far. Personally, I'm hoping it's some kind of social experiment, and they're going to come out with some OKCupid-style expository blog posts in a few months. (If anyone's seriously considering this, do ask yourself if it's really going to make you happy ...)
- larrik 15y ago
  The idea that you would actually want this for the social interaction never occurred to me. My first reaction was that this was the next generation of 1) "I have a girlfriend!" 2) "Great! Can I meet her?" 3) "Uh no, she lives far away" 4) "Oh. Then how did you meet?" 5) "Um, summer camp?" 6) "Suuurrrre." Edit: I still don't understand HN's line break formatting. Edit 2: Thanks
  - RiderOfGiraffes 15y ago
    At the bottom of every page there's a link to the FAQ: http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html That has the question: "What kind of formatting can you use in comments?" followed by this link: http://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc http://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc That says: Blank lines separate paragraphs. Text after a blank line that is indented by two or more spaces is reproduced verbatim. (This is intended for code.) Text surrounded by asterisks is italicized, if the character after the first asterisk isn't whitespace. Urls become links, except in the text field of a submission. Does that answer your question? You get a line break by leaving a blank line.
pohl 15y ago
Virtual social proof. An ePivot. Pre-selection DHV as a service. I love it.
- eof 15y ago
  This is clearly the value here.. not the interaction itself, but the social status of having some hot babe liking all your status updates.
  - VladRussian 15y ago
    to the extent that after some time you may start believing in her existence. Human mind can do wonders ... to itself.
    - pohl 15y ago
      ...and well beyond that extent. Social proof is a NOP sled for escalating sexual privileges in another mind, too.
      - VladRussian 15y ago
        wrt. self-escalating feedback cycle i liked this experiment http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2008-06-03-birds-testosterone_N.htm http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2008-06-03-birds-testos...
rmason 15y ago
I'm willing to bet that a lot of you are only upset because you didn't have the idea first ;<)
kalendae 15y ago
if they can pull it off (terms of service violations and what not) this will be brilliant, it is just a viral bomb ready to go off the things that can happen. I see chat roulette like kind of infamy very quickly.
Cyranix 15y ago
If your monthly fee / microtransaction payment is declined, be prepared for a nasty breakup.
akanet 15y ago
cloudboyfriend.com suspiciously absent. market opportunity, anyone?
- svrocks 15y ago
  http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/brownie-husband/1218011/ http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/brownie-husband... can this tide you over until that gets implemented?
eof 15y ago
My perfect girlfriend can solve the P vs NP problem.
deffibaugh 15y ago
Talk about solving a burning market need..
BillGoates 15y ago
Only 8 more days till April 1st
jbooth 15y ago
I think this is the first time I've ever seen a story on HN and wished it was on Slashdot for the comments.
nhebb 15y ago
Great, now when I see those insipid Microsoft ("To the cloud!") commercials, I'll envision some lonely guy with a bottle of lotion, logging into Facebook.
frb 15y ago
It's just the next logical step! First SaaS then PaaS and now RaaS: Relationship as a Service
Turing_Machine 15y ago
Whatever happened to good old-fashioned sockpuppeting? :-)
indytim 15y ago
To make it especially realistic, they could offer a physical address to which you could send gifts. As an add-cost feature.
indytim 15y ago
Good plug for launchrock - this should get some visibility, surely.
- jaymstr 15y ago
  Ya, I can't reveal numbers, but they're blowing up.
royalm 15y ago
it won't work

27 points by dfuhriman 16y ago

santana 16y ago

i'd take a virtual boyfriend as long as he can deliver

VladRussian 15y ago
it seems there is really dry season in your geography to trigger you to make your first comment on HN :).
- santana 15y ago
  do i get points for that? ;)
  - VladRussian 15y ago
    at least i gave my point for that reason :)

zacharycohn 16y ago

I feel like if this is at all successful, it's just going to get shut down by Facebook for creating fake users.

JonnieCache 16y ago
Almost certainly. It'll be hilarious while it lasts though. The name alone cracks me up. Unfortunately they've dropped the ball by not having a painfully trendy logo with a cartoon girlfriend sitting on a cloud or something. They should open source it when it gets banned so the fun can continue. EDIT: just realised - this is basically a more benign version of that "sockpuppet management" stuff we've been seeing recently. Is this the start of the rise of the bots within human society?
- bioh42_2 15y ago
  Basshunter's Boten Anna came out in 2006 I think. But yes, the rise of bots on our networks is inevitable. And they do not have to fool everyone all of the time, only some for brief periods of time. On-line communication is already formulaic and does not require a long attention span. Really, this is just Eliza with a slick new cloud API.
nullsub 15y ago
right. this is a direct TOS violation, right?
ChuckMcM 15y ago
Unless of course they don't violate the ToS and instead have a real person be your 'cloud' girlfriend. If you mechanical turk out the role of the girl friend to a human using the same sort of technology that lets a chicken play tic-tac-toe [1] then presumably you can finesse the ToS. Next we'll see a new startup for providing plausible deniability for ToS violations, basically you send someone a device with the instructions "When this light goes on push the button, if you keep your average response time under 5 minutes for the month we'll pay you $10." [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-12N3kVh3Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-12N3kVh3Q

benwerd 16y ago

I'm pretty sure this takes outsourcing a step or two too far. Personally, I'm hoping it's some kind of social experiment, and they're going to come out with some OKCupid-style expository blog posts in a few months. (If anyone's seriously considering this, do ask yourself if it's really going to make you happy ...)

larrik 15y ago
The idea that you would actually want this for the social interaction never occurred to me. My first reaction was that this was the next generation of 1) "I have a girlfriend!" 2) "Great! Can I meet her?" 3) "Uh no, she lives far away" 4) "Oh. Then how did you meet?" 5) "Um, summer camp?" 6) "Suuurrrre." Edit: I still don't understand HN's line break formatting. Edit 2: Thanks
- RiderOfGiraffes 15y ago
  At the bottom of every page there's a link to the FAQ: http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html That has the question: "What kind of formatting can you use in comments?" followed by this link: http://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc http://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc That says: Blank lines separate paragraphs. Text after a blank line that is indented by two or more spaces is reproduced verbatim. (This is intended for code.) Text surrounded by asterisks is italicized, if the character after the first asterisk isn't whitespace. Urls become links, except in the text field of a submission. Does that answer your question? You get a line break by leaving a blank line.

pohl 15y ago

Virtual social proof. An ePivot. Pre-selection DHV as a service. I love it.

eof 15y ago
This is clearly the value here.. not the interaction itself, but the social status of having some hot babe liking all your status updates.
- VladRussian 15y ago
  to the extent that after some time you may start believing in her existence. Human mind can do wonders ... to itself.
  - pohl 15y ago
    ...and well beyond that extent. Social proof is a NOP sled for escalating sexual privileges in another mind, too.
    - VladRussian 15y ago
      wrt. self-escalating feedback cycle i liked this experiment http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2008-06-03-birds-testosterone_N.htm http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2008-06-03-birds-testos...

rmason 15y ago

I'm willing to bet that a lot of you are only upset because you didn't have the idea first ;<)

kalendae 15y ago

if they can pull it off (terms of service violations and what not) this will be brilliant, it is just a viral bomb ready to go off the things that can happen. I see chat roulette like kind of infamy very quickly.

Cyranix 15y ago

If your monthly fee / microtransaction payment is declined, be prepared for a nasty breakup.

akanet 15y ago

cloudboyfriend.com suspiciously absent. market opportunity, anyone?

svrocks 15y ago
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/brownie-husband/1218011/ http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/brownie-husband... can this tide you over until that gets implemented?

eof 15y ago

My perfect girlfriend can solve the P vs NP problem.

deffibaugh 15y ago

Talk about solving a burning market need..

BillGoates 15y ago

Only 8 more days till April 1st

jbooth 15y ago

I think this is the first time I've ever seen a story on HN and wished it was on Slashdot for the comments.

nhebb 15y ago

Great, now when I see those insipid Microsoft ("To the cloud!") commercials, I'll envision some lonely guy with a bottle of lotion, logging into Facebook.

frb 15y ago

It's just the next logical step! First SaaS then PaaS and now RaaS: Relationship as a Service

Turing_Machine 15y ago

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned sockpuppeting? :-)

indytim 15y ago

To make it especially realistic, they could offer a physical address to which you could send gifts. As an add-cost feature.

indytim 15y ago

Good plug for launchrock - this should get some visibility, surely.

jaymstr 15y ago
Ya, I can't reveal numbers, but they're blowing up.

royalm 15y ago

it won't work