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Millions of people have tried using online dating websites to meet that special someone, but in the past few years the reputation of online dating has taken some hits as people have expressed disappointment in their results. It seems they have great results in finding platonic friendships, but romantic attachments are harder to find online.

A recent Harvard study may shed light on why. A recent study, done in part at MIT and Harvard by Jeana Frost and others, revealed the crucial difference between searching for particular traits and actually experiencing a date. Their study, entitled “People are Experience Goods: Improving Online Dating With Virtual Dates,” concluded that the actual experience of interacting with members of the opposite sex was crucial to deciding if there was a chemistry that would indicate future romantic success.

Searching for common interests and key traits like similar backgrounds, physical characteristics you find attractive, income, etc. is fine for narrowing the field when you join an online dating community, but it’s much harder to quantify attributes like a sense of humor or love of the arts. If someone says they are passionate about the environment, you can’t judge whether their level of dedication to the environment is on par with yours until you’ve actually interacted with them and exchanged your views. This is where virtual dating takes online dating to the next level. It gives online dating members the opportunity to truly interact in a virtual environment where they can talk, laugh, flirt and react to a complete virtual environment around them.

Currently there are very few online dating services offering this unique service, but the TangoWire network will be launching Virtual Dating on over 3,700 sites in April. They anticipate Virtual Dating will be one of their most popular features in 2010.

What Virtual Dating Brings To The Dating Game

The Harvard study revealed that about half of those who participated in online dating felt they couldn’t accurately predict certain traits they were looking for in potential partners based on descriptions or traits such as “sense of humor” because these are such subjective traits.

Someone might say they have a great sense of humor, but if a man’s sense of humor is very physically based and a woman has a very intellectual sense of humor, they won’t be a good match. A virtual date would give them the opportunity to see if they share a similar sense of humor.

Virtual dating gives individuals the opportunity to experience all of the crucial but intangible elements that make up a true connection. These are the emotional, subjective qualities of attraction that can’t be described or quantified but are tied to feelings and instinct. The only way to judge these qualities are to actually experience them by interacting with the other person. Virtual dating lets you do this.

Virtual Dating is Much More Than Chat

But how is virtual dating different from simply entering a chat room and talking to someone? Virtual dating is a virtual reality experience that creates a virtual environment where you interact directly with the other person in a total environment that closely matches a real world dating experience. You have an avatar representing your own personality and will meet and interact with an avatar representing the other person, allowing both of you to show emotion, react to the other person’s speech and body language, and interact and react within the virtual setting.

Imagine walking along the beach on a virtual date. The setting gives you plenty of openings for conversation as you observe the beautiful scenery and watch the people around you. You can decide what to do next, talk about what beaches you’ve been to in the past, whether you want to swim, relax on the sand, find a nice beach front restaurant, or watch the sunset. In a virtual environment, there’s never an awkward pause in the conversation because there’s always something to talk about, unlike being in an empty chat room. Moving through a virtual environment gives you the feeling of being in the real world, and all of your senses come into play, from body language to the sounds and sights around you.
Additional options such as virtual games and music can reveal common interests.

What Can You Learn From Virtual Dating?

Have You Been Exchanging e-mails with some interesting men or women through your online dating service? Are you toying with the idea of taking things to the next level but you aren’t sure if you’re ready to meet all of them in person? Virtual dating is the perfect solution, allowing you to experience each person in a safe, dating environment that’s controlled yet fun. Consider this:

• Virtual dating lets you carry on conversations that will reveal things like sense of humor, conversational ability and personality quirks.
• The virtual reality setting can open up interesting discussions based on your surroundings.
• If you decide to move on to a real world date, you will be much more comfortable because you’ve already met on a virtual date.
• Share games, music and interests you both enjoy through virtual activities to create a bond you can carry into the real world.
• Most people found that a virtual date was an extremely accurate indicator of whether they would enjoy the other person’s company in real life. Profiles, emails, and even chat weren’t as accurate.

The Harvard/MIT study concluded that virtual dating can serve two crucial functions for individuals searching for relationships online. First, it can help you more accurately find someone who is compatible with you because it is based on experiential criteria rather than a simple list of traits or survey questions. Second, virtual dating is often an accurate predictor of whether you will be satisfied with the person when you meet them in the real world. It’s obvious there are many advantages to virtual dating. Isn’t it time you joined the TangoWire Network and gave Virtual Dating a try yourself?