Imagine
the ultimate social site, built exclusively for gamers - not just
another Facebook or MySpace, but finally a corner of the internet
dedicated solely to those with a passion for gaming - a
community where you can embrace your geekhood and no longer hide away
the dirty little gaming secrets that your “cool” friends laugh at you
about.



Now that you've pictured this utopia, I'm going to read your mind.



The
site has complete profiles for players from all walks of life, enabling
them to list their gaming likes and dislikes, categorized into games,
franchises, consoles, genres, and much more. The site also
encourages gamers to play together, by facilitating searches based on
their gaming preferences, and even allows them the opportunity to seek
out game-based tutoring to up their frag quotient. The site
also
offers
live video chat and integrated web-based games for those seeking a
casual experience. And after a member has found
a gaming
partner,
the site allows them to rate their experience with that other
user,
creating a robust reputation system based on in-game
interactions.



Now that I have you salivating, I will share a secret:  this
site already exists.



But, as with all such fantastic scenarios, there is a
catch. Actually, several.



alt="gamecrush logo"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89485">The site
is called GameCrush. And
despite having this powerful back-end social experience available,
the creators of the site have chosen to implement two major
restrictions on the use of this site:

Why
would they do this, you ask? Because GameCrush has decided to
embrace the most expedient path they can see to getting gamers to fork
over their hard-earned cash. By speaking directly to their
libidos, and promising earthly delights in the form of hot,
game-loving, geek girls.



I had the opportunity to sit down with the co-founder of GameCrush, style="font-weight: bold;">Eric Strasser,
as well as a couple of their professional PlayDates. I will admit
that I went into the meeting with a few preconceived notions that I'd
gained from reading other reviews of this service on other gaming sites
and blogs. Despite this, I tried to be as open-minded as
possible, but it didn't take us long before we were discussing these
existing opinions.  



Allegations of internet prostitution
and exploitation in reference to GameCrush are common, but Eric is
quick to point out that the site is strictly NOT adult-themed, despite
being restricted to adults only. Where is that line
drawn? “Disrespectful activity is not tolerated,” says
Eric. He describes a rating system that PlayDates can use to warn
others from participating in games with players that cross that hazy
line of "disrespect" but the two PlayDates I spoke with said they've
never had to use it.



alt="ambibambi_profile"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89484">“Most of
the guys are really sweet, really shy,” says Amber, who goes by the
gamer tag ambibambi23,
“like a typical gamer geek.” She says that knowing she has
the common ground of gaming between herself and the Player is the
ultimate ice-breaker.



Eric uses a different analogy.
“Picture a sports bar,” he says, “with a beautiful woman sitting at the
bar, cheering on your favorite sports team. You already know,
without talking to her, that you have that in common – a starting point
for the conversation, and whatever follows. GameCrush is like
going up to that girl and buying her a drink.”



Ok, I guess I can
sorta buy that, even though offering to buy a girl a drink is
pretty universally panned as a lame pick-up attempt,
especially
when you already know that you could readily engage her in conversation
about the game being played on the big screen.



But,
I
digress. The “buy her a drink” metaphor breaks down far before
you consider these other social implications. Because, you see,
you're not buying these PlayDates a drink – you are paying them in
cold, hard cash. You don't do that in a sports bar, or any
public
setting. The closest analogy I can think of is actually a phone sex
chat line. You pay by the minute, to have a flirty, attractive gamer
girl video-chat with you
while you play a game together.

alt="gamecrush girls from PAX"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89486">Despite
this analogy, the site is most assuredly not set up for gamers to pay
women for
sexual favors. It's designed around gaming, and the PlayDates I
spoke with were genuinely interested in using it as such. But
they are but a few in a sea of thousands that can be seen on the
GameCrush
website, posing in bikinis and short skirts, provocatively stroking
their favorite consoles, or posing with nothing more than an XBox
controller covering their privates. And as if provocatively posed
PlayDates aren't enough, GameCrush's advertisements not only embrace
sexuality, but
outright flaunt it, showing sexy models in skimpy clothing enticing you
to come “play with them.”



This blatant use of sexuality to entice gamers to the site has won
GameCrush no fans
among
vocal proponents of gender equality in
gaming. Despite lines like
“Remember we are all gamers here” appearing in GameCrush's FAQ, it's
clear that their attitude towards sexuality is highly
exploitative. When confronted with allegations that the GameCrush site
is
exploiting the sexuality of their PlayDates, Eric quickly pointed out
that each of the girls (or guys) signed up for this service are private
contractors, free to set their own schedules, their own appointments,
and stop using the service at any time. In other words, if
they
don't like it, they can leave. But Eric didn't say a word
towards
denying that their business model plays on the sexual desires of
gamers.



And... maybe I'm being a bit naive here,
but...  is catering to gamers' sexual fantasies really such a
terrible thing, in a world of
(mostly) rational adults who are free to make their own decisions about
how
they spend their money? People outside of gaming culture already
ridicule us gamers for spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on
consoles, games, peripherals and swag. How much different is
this expenditure, when you get right down to it? As href="http://www.bingegamer.net/2010/gamecrush-is-creepy-shady-and-ingenious/"
target="_top">another reviewer put it, “if there
is one thing that gamers know how to do, it’s waste money on pointless
sh*t."  We don't see the money we repeatedly sink into new
hardware and software as a waste of any kind, so who are we, as fellow
gamers, to say that GameCrush's service is any more or less of a waste
of anyone's time and money?



alt="supervillain_profile"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89487">And
I suppose that honestly sums up how I feel about the service being
offered.
Does GameCrush exploit gender differences, and capitalize on
sexuality? Absolutely. Yet do people seeking this
type of
stimulus deserve the opportunity to seek it out? I'd argue
that
they do. But don't be fooled into thinking that this is just a
“gamer's social network.” This site is designed to cater to a
specific kink in gamer culture, whether they outwardly admit to it or
not. And in that design philosophy, all that really matters to
the people on the other end, is your money. So, pay for the
fantasy all you like, but don't ever buy it.



There
is a
deeper flaw to this business model, that I've not touched on in this
article: The concept that services such as GameCrush actually harm
gaming culture as a whole, by driving an even larger wedge between the
sexes. Or that by sexualizing girl gamers to this degree,
their
true contributions to gamers' side of society are being cheapened,
marginalized, and turned into a fetish. To be perfectly honest, I
believe that such opinions are up to each of us to make on our
own. And as such, I'd love to hear your comments on this
topic.