Hot Or Not?
The other day I was lucky enough to have lunch with my friend Jeff, who works on a cubicle farm in one of those big fancy buildings in the business district. Seeing that I am now working from home and rarely get out of my sweats to leave the confines of the West Seattle peninsula – this was a big deal to me. I even got to pay for parking. Oh how I miss those days!
He and I ate at a restaurant called the “Rock Bottom” (which despite the name, did not seem as though it was suffering any ill effects of the economy going down the crapper). I updated him on my nutty life as a writer and 11 1/2 minutes of fame via CNN. He gave me the latest dish on mutual friends and told stories about the psychotic woman at work whose cubicle walls are so high that they are now dubbed “The Walls of Gondor.”
Somehow we got on the topic of Facebook, or more specifically, my general disdain for all FB applications and his love of FB games. He was trying to explain this application called YoVille which I now understand is kinda (but not really) like The Sims – but with crappier graphics. Zynga, the software developer, claims that YoVille is “the coolest virtual world on Facebook.” (There’s more than one virtual world on Facebook? Good lord. I don’t even have a *real* life.)
Here’s is what I am talking about:
Apparently, a YoVille resident can host a themed house party and it shows up on a general events list. Anyone can attend until the host “locks the door” – generally when he/she deems there are enough people at the party.
Jeff attended a party that was themed “Hot or Not?”
I have no excuse for him and cannot explain why.
Here is what transpired:
- Boy and girl avatars split to separate sides of the the living room.
- Each person takes a turn standing in the middle of the room so that others can vote whether or not you are “hot or not.” If you are “hot,” you get to stay. If you are “not” you have to leave. No, I’m not kidding.
- This keeps going until there are only two people left – one boy and one girl.
- The boy and girl go into the bedroom and no one else can see what transpires.
Jeff got kicked out of the game early on because he, or rather his AVATAR, was not “hot enough.”
This is what’s wrong with the world today.
P.S. Jeff, I will be happy to meet you or your avatar for lunch again soon.
P.P.S. No, I’m not curious about what happens in the bedroom. My guess is that there is “heavy pacing.”
Tags: facebook, facebook applications, friends, jeff, yoville, zynga
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Daily. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
16 Responses to “Hot Or Not?”
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Jeez! Like highschool all over again!
joy´s last blog post..That’s A Lot of Blue!
Eeeee. I don’t want to have to worry about my own appearance AND my avatar’s appearance. Although, any avatar I’ve ever had looks pretty hot compared to RealMe. And who are these other avatars to be judging me? Are they like Mr. and Ms. Avatar Universe or something? Are they avatars of Really Hot People or just average looking people you would pass on the street and not even notice? Inquiring minds want to know!
kathi´s last blog post..Shameless promotion (13 of 31/13 of 274)
Joy LITERALLY took the words right out of my mouth…
Coco´s last blog post..How I know I’m NOT CRAZY
this is why people are so insecure about their looks…stupid games man.
Holy freakin’ cow. I had no idea this existed.
Jen L.´s last blog post..One month til my birthday
I have to agree with you on the FB applications. They suck. Now myspace is copying them to boot.
Rock Bottom! I forgot about that place. They had one in the last city I lived in. Haven’t thought about that for nigh on a decade now. It was mostly a good place to hang out. Except that one time I decided to “be good” and order a chicken sandwich instead of a burger. I was rewarded with what can only be described as chicken tartar. I don’t even like my hamburger rare let alone a chicken breast. Ugh.
They did bring me out extra fries though!
Charlie Hills´s last blog post..Not Again
Wow! It is a little rough when your avatar is not hot enough! Now my man on the Pogo games, he is a hunk!
Theantijared´s last blog post..Horton hears a poo!
Yeah, I don’t “get” YoVille either. The only game I play with any regularity on FB is Challenge Sudoku. I’ll occasionally play PathWords, too. I would much rather challenge my brain than have others judging whether or not my cartoon-looking avatar is hot enough or not. Good lord is right!
The Daily Mel´s last blog post..New Kitchen Toy
Oh leave YoVille players alone. Probably the only way the poor saps can get any action … at least for two pitiful players. The rest can get rejected virtually as well as in reality. What can I say … if you play it, you’re asking for it.
Wow, I guess I’m just out of touch, I’ve never heard of this. Who has time for this? Seriously…
Wait. Let me get this straight. You stand and get voted on by the hotness of your AVATAR????
My head is down beneath my knees.
Right now.
Aimee Greeblemonkey´s last blog post..5 Days and Counting
Wow! That is something new I haven’t heard of as well. I’m one of those FB people that hides and ignores all those Lil (insert noun here) requests. So much maintenance… you know?
Hot or Not Game… do we need even more judgment in our lives. Apparently. yes.
Noob Mommy´s last blog post..Blogzilla and Other Therapeutic Admissions
Very much against my better judgement I found myself getting wrapped up in the odd world of YoVille. Too be honest, a lot of it is fun. It’s effectively a glorified chat room, something I’ve never engaged in before. I’ve actually had many interesting conversations on Yoville. Merely commenting on that; I’m not about to encourage anyone else to play the fool game.
The Hot or Not parties, however, are bewildering and ugly. The concept is obviously unkind to begin with, and what I find especially strange is that it is one’s avatar being rated. I imagine most people’s avatars tend to be more attractive than they are in real person. The greatest tragedy of these contests, though, was something I learned about a bit later. These Hot or Not contests are made up of a frightening percentage of African Americans (mostly women) who have chosen White avatars. I see nothing wrong with designing one’s avatar with any ethnicity or gender you want. I suppose that it’s part of the fun. But, if a black woman chooses a white avatar in order to stand a better chance of winning a completely pointless Hot or Not contest, it demonstrates a horribly unhealthy self-image and self loathing that I had thought we had gotten beyond years ago. Love yourself…love your avatar.
YoVille is one of the lamest games on the planet (everything Zynga makes redefines the word “lame”).
Zynga games are graphically intense, yet the graphics suck big time. Customization is always minimal, and everything is badly drawn. Gameplay itself is a boring & repetitive click-fest, forcing gamers to perform the same action over & over, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
I agree with Hadrian that YoVille is a glorified chat room. But I don’t like talking with people on the computer. I prefer real life.
I expected an actual game, not a chat room. If I want to talk with people, my phone is only a few feet away (I do not own a cellphone).
In fact, I’m just about fed up with computer games now. Give me a board or card game where I can sit down in the same room with live people.
If you’re looking for entertainment, just avoid all Zynga games.
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