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"You can learn more about a person in an hour of games than an hour of just talking,” said John Joseph, founder of Etouloo, a Los Angeles startup that has set out to gamify online dating.
With a background in behavioral psychology, Joseph began creating a platform called SparkFlirt to help bring together single users who may be older, more introverted, or more mindful of privacy than those who excel on more traditional dating sites.
[ibimage==34292==Medium==none==self==ibimage_align-right]A dating journey through a site such as OKCupid and eHarmony typically begins with a rather lengthy series of personal questions. “I am a grown adult,” said Joseph. “I'm done with school. I don't want to write about myself.”
Joseph is an avid soccer player. "That's a game!" he said. Etouloo draws ample inspiration from the world of complex interactive online games that allow players to express themselves not simply through questionnaires, but through action and collaboration.
Using an exclusive, streamlined algorithm designed to cull only essential information before the fun begins, Etouloo matches participants and engages them in a fun getting-to-know-you exercise. Right away, Joseph said, “you will get to that interpersonal, collaborative part of it."
The Etouloo team currently includes experienced online dating researchers and a veteran of Machinima. Up until now, it has been a bootstrapped operation – Joseph is beginning to seek outside funding now that the product is closer to rollout. The website includes offbeat stories about online dating and a link to pre-register for the full Etouloo experience and get in on the ground floor as the games begin.
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