People Need Lives

Ships Ahoy - Singles: Flirt Up Your Life [October 06, 2004, 01:32 am EDT] -

Eidos sends word that Singles: Flirt Up Your Life, the swinging sim, is now available at retail in North America, after previously being available online only: "It's time to pick up those apartment keys and meet the new roomates! [sic] Today Singles: Flirt Up Your Life for PC is shipping to stores! Start exploring the lives of two young roommates as they meet for the first time and begin living together in their new apartment. You may choose the librarian and the dj or perhaps the suave lady's man and the hippie. Every interaction and conversation they engage in are the building blocks to either a distasterous [sic] feud or closer friendship. Find out what makes her laugh and gets him to clean the bathroom. The characters are now fully customizable allowing you to choose their skin, hair, and eye color as well as their outfits! You are in control, your skills will determine the future of the roommates lives, will their apartment become their love nest? It's up to you!"

-from http://www.bluesnews.com

I suppose someone could argue that having an artificial, computer-simulated social life is not fundamentally different from having artificial flavouring in your food, but to me, this is pretty disturbing. I guess it was just a matter of time before some ambitious marketer had a product like this made, but really. You go and watch Lord Of The Rings because you can't go around riding on elephants and killing trolls in real life. However, this is blatantly marketed towards people who have social problems like we were discussing last class...