Really? REALLY?

OK, let me see if I can explain this one rationally, and not make it sound even more crazy/ stupid/ bizarre than it already is. No promises...

A new service recently launched, called GameCrush (as reported by IGN), and it's... well, it's some sort of dating or social thing for gamers that not only feeds into the "all gamers are pathetic, dateless guys" stereotype but basically turns willing female gamers into at best a novelty and at worst virtual prostitutes.

That last part may be a little harsh, so let me continue my attempt at an explanation here. Gamecrush essentially allows males to become "players", peruse a database of female "playdates", and then pay real money to play with them on Xbox Live (other consoles, as well as WoW, are supposedly being added in the future).

With me so far? All right, so here's how this madness works: a guy signs up for the service free of charge, and can then peruse profiles, pics, and chat with the girls with no money changing hands. If the guy likes what he sees, and the girl accepts, he can then purchase "credits" and play a game with said female for about six to ten minutes. One game will run 400 credits, and 500 credits can be bought for a little over eight bucks. It's also apparently expected that the guy will be tipping the girl those last hundred points. So, for $8.25, you can play with a girl online for ten minutes.

The service is through the PC, it's not affiliated in any way with Microsoft or Live. All the setup work is done through the Gamecrush site, then game invites on Live happen as they normally would. Obviously, these girls have most likely created special gamertags just for this. The girls keep a portion of the money they bring in, can set their profiles to "dirty" or "flirty", and the guys can rate them after the session. From the IGN report (when I went on the Gamecrush site was down due to too many hits), some girls seem pretty shady while others simply appear to be gamer girls who figured on getting paid for their hobby. Only a few Live games are "supported" by the service, and they also plan to have some casual games up on their own site to play.

Still, this is a little... well, honestly I'm not even sure what to call it. It's definitely enterprising, and I have no doubt that there are plenty of guys who are going to buy into this concept. I'm sure that Gamecrush and the girls involved are going to make some decent money with this.

I read the article, read it again, blinked to make sure that it wasn't some weird illusion, then I think my first reaction was somewhere along the lines of "Are you fucking kidding me?"

OK, a small part of that reaction was because I didn't think of this first (see the aforementioned "decent money" statement), but at the same time I'm still just trying to wrap my mind around the entire thing. You've got pathetic guys sitting at home, girls who are either plying them with phony pics and talking about their website (come see naked pics!) or who are just humoring them to get a cut of the cash.

I suppose it's possible that there's some nice but lonely guy out there, just having a hard time meeting someone, who signs onto this service just looking for a girl with similar interests (like blowing away Covenant forces). Once there he meets a lovely young woman who is also looking for someone special, and they meet and be friends and eventually there's a lovely wedding ceremony with Master Chief-themed centerpieces. I mean, it could happen. The odds are slightly worse than successfully navigating an asteroid field, but whatever. There's stranger shit out there.

More than likely, though, it's going to be guys who are out of the social scene for a very valid reason trying to hit on girls who are completely fake or just playing to make some money (or C, all of the above). One girl that the IGN guys played with actually had her boyfriend in the room, and made frequent mentions to and about him, pretty much destroying the illusion of playing with a flirty single girl.

It's admirable to want to find someone who shares your interests. I have no issue with that. Hell, I have profiles on a couple dating sites, and pretty much come right out and say that I'm a gamer in the hopes of finding someone with a similar hobby. This, though, is something different: preying on guys with too much disposable income and not enough self esteem, using the female of the species as a lure. Again, there may be some pretty cool girls on here just looking to play their games and make a few bucks along the way (when the site comes back up I may even try it in the interest of journalistic integrity to see what I can find), but all in all I just see this whole thing as a recipe for disaster.

No doubt a very profitable recipe for disaster.