Move over, Indie!

I am on a mission to find the weirdest and mushiest love-related sites on the net! Sites that succeed because they target the romance quirks of people and provide solutions for the most unspeakable love problems. Not long after I posted my review on a breakup reasons quest site, I found another noteworthy relationship site through a fellow Entrecard user, searchingwithin.

Have you ever had a friend who isn’t really there but comforts you somewhat? You can’t really introduce him to anyone because… you guessed it, he’s imaginary! Think Bloo of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Mr. Snuffleupagus of Sesame Street or Tyler Durden of Fight Club. The relationships we foster with our imaginary friends are kept inside a tiny box in our consciousness… the same place where we keep our dirty little secrets.

What if I tell you that there’s a place in the net where you can pay for a relationship with an imaginary friend? Not just any imaginary friend… but an imaginary girlfriend! Real girls who you can fantasize about, and who seem to like you back… ’seem’ being the focus word.

Here’s the tagline for ImaginaryGirlfriends.com:

“Tired of your friends and family telling you to get a girlfriend? Want to make that certain someone a little jealous? Need a confidence boost? Just feeling lonely sometimes?”

How does it work?

You pay for the service, with the option of purchasing photos of your new imaginary girlfriend. Full service means a certain someone from afar sending you love letters and gifts, and emails! You can even chat with your imaginary girlfriend.

A line in the service description sent me reeling:

:“When your time is up [i.e. you consumed what you initially paid for - author's note] you can break up with her for whatever reason you decide, and she’ll write you a final letter begging you to take her back.”

I am a proponent of the ‘make him a little jealous’ ideology, which is pretty obvious in my post about sending flowers to yourself. I can also understand the ego boost it will give the customer, the ultimate power trip of rejecting someone who wants you badly, but there’s something about this whole scheme that bugs me…

—> What if the guy falls in love with his imaginary girlfriend? <—

There are some guys (and girls) who are in love with love, and these people using this service could just make a few shrinks richer. The people behind this site are obviously dating experts who can say the right things and send thoughtful gifts that will tug at anyone’s heartstrings. What if the delusion of loving eats up a person’s consciousness, so that he gets addicted to it like a drug? Does he keep paying for the service ’til he’s broke?

This service is powerful, when the objectives of the customer (as well as his sanity) are in the right place. However, there is that danger of delusion. Comparing this service to online dating sites is ridiculous, because participating in the latter means you could meet a real person who will like you enough to drive or fly over to your place for a visit. Falling for someone who you know is assuming a fake identity is just… bizarre.

Consult your shrink before using this service. As a friend of mine is so fond of saying: “It’s not real life”

:heh:

Rate this: 2.9