The images on the GameCrush home page don't do much to emphasize the PlayDates' gaming skills, do they?

We’re all familiar with the stereotype of the socially inept geek, unable to communicate with the opposite gender in real life. In the media, this character is often depicted as a video game player reluctant to leave his house.

Fortunately, this is no more truth to this than there is to any other stereotype: geeks and gamers can be shy or outgoing, socially inept or confident, quiet or boisterous.

The folks at GameCrush didn’t get that memo.

The newly launched site provides a “pay-for-play” service where gamers pay $0.60 per minute to game with female players. Although the focus is ostensibly on gaming, the site hints at more.

The female gamers are called “PlayDates” (a nod to Playboy’s Playmates), and most of the profile pictures are overtly sexual (although the GameCrush site states that men may also become PlayDates, the photos are overwhelmingly female.)

While I despise the depiction of gamers as desperate for social interaction, it’s the way the woman on the site are portrayed that really turns my stomach. It doesn’t seem to matter to anyone if the women are highly coordinated, clever strategists, multi-dimensional thinkers, or anything else that makes a good gamer.  

No, all that matters as far as GameCrush is concerned is that they are female and own a webcam. The women become little more than purchasable accessories to the game, like action figures or miniature models. Continue reading →