Online dating is an enormous industry with dating apps valued at a collective $7.5 billion in 2021. As Shakespeare said, “Journeys end in lovers’ meeting.” Now those journeys are happening in web3. Avatars can now go out with each other for an evening of digital romance. Perceived as strange by some, others laud it for its safety. 

Metaverse dating

Flirt-ual reality is now possible with web3 apps that connect with other virtual worlds. There are four major web3 apps that cater to metaverse dating. 

1. Flirtu.al

   • With a style reminiscent of anime, Flirtual is a VR dating app that allows users to dating in a wide variety of experiences. 

   • Users chill in a cafe, and play pool, swim with sharks, or even watch a black hole form while sitting on the moon.

   • Flirtual focuses on building communities in order to develop the metaverse.

2. Nevermet

   • The Nevermet platform is supposed to be used with a VR headset like Oculus.

   • You can post avatar images and videos of yourself, but no real life photos. 

   • Dates can include such things as mini-golf, disc golf, and hiking. 

3. Planet Theta

   • Built on the world’s second largest gaming platform, Steam, Planet Theta promotes social VR in the Thetaverse.

   • With VR worlds like an enchanted forest, themed clubs and cafes, users can go on “microdates,” a series of short-length dates instead of swiping.

4. SecondLife

   • An online game that’s been around since 2003, SecondLife provides a specific dating service called the Lonely Hearts Dating Agency. 

   • For the cost of just L$1, the user gets one month to find someone with the agency’s help.

Surprisingly, Match Group, which owns the most popular dating app Tinder, shelved plans to enter web3 after second-quarter earnings this year reported a loss. The company also had plans to launch Tinder Coin to attract the next generation of users, but the project was terminated after “mixed results.”

The reality of virtual reality dating 

Though it is not for everyone, dating in the metaverse has been found to have other benefits. Metaverse dating is being met with the same resistance that Tinder was initially met with.

Much of this criticism has been rightly attributed because of the lack of safety and privacy for women who are harassed online. Virtual reality dating can mitigate much of this abuse, according to Planet Theta CMO Aurora Townend, because meeting someone virtually can “filter out who they should meet in person.” Contrast this to Tinder which only provides a profile and chats feature before meeting.

Some find metaverse dating to be creepy, highly superficial, and subject to catfishing. Others, however, find it to be a novel way to date anyone around the world from the safety of their home. Communities can also be built and friendships made – a crucial commodity for many during the COVID-19 quarantine.

Whichever side users take on metaverse dating, it is clear that in web3 the continuing challenge is to not reduce human beings down to ones and zeros.