Spread The Love (And Pay Us) 442
Digitus1337 writes "Wired has an article up about a new online service known as 'FunHi.' You sign up and join a community, and give your fellows gifts, but as Wired has reported, 'these are not ordinary gifts. They're purely digital: little flashing icons of cars, planes, diamond rings and other virtual representations of expensive items included in messages members send each other. And FunHi members don't seem to care that the real money they're spending on the gifts, at prices as high as $30 an item, is going straight into the company's coffers." This leaves just one question unanswered... why didn't I think of this?" It sounds like an April Fool's Joke, but then, so does online trading of Everquest loot.
Article Text - for those who don't like sound ads (Score:0, Informative)
Over the last month, Nikoma Lee has received more than $1,000 worth of gifts from friends she barely knows and only recently met through a new service called FunHi.
For Lee to receive gifts from near strangers is probably not all that uncommon, as she's a beautiful young woman beginning a career as a model.
During the same time period, George Georgiades, a 25-year-old consultant, has spent about a grand giving presents to his own group of new FunHi friends.
But these are not ordinary gifts. They're purely digital: little flashing icons of cars, planes, diamond rings and other virtual representations of expensive items included in messages members send each other. And FunHi members don't seem to care that the real money they're spending on the gifts, at prices as high as $30 an item, is going straight into the company's coffers.
"It gives me the same pleasure like at Christmas," says Georgiades. "When the money ran out, I went and got more. A hundred dollars at a time, (and) over time it added up."
Mike Peng, too, has been buying gifts for his fellow FunHi members at a rapid rate. Often, he says, it was as a result of him and other members trying to out-generous each other.
I "got into a tag fest with some of them," Peng says. "It's like if someone got you something, you get them something back, and with a few people I got into a gift-giving contest."
All told, the 26-year-old says, he's spent nearly $300 on gifts in just three weeks.
A visit to the FunHi Gift Shoppe gives a quick lesson in the service's hip-hop sensibility. Though surely a small percentage of FunHi's users actually talk like the gangstas they portray, it's evident that nearly everyone involved has fun pretending they do.
Thus, members can spend real dollars on things such as a "FunHi Luv Byrd." For $15, a FunHi member could give another pal this "plane," which is touted in the gift shop as "the ultimate symbol of the Playa that knows no limits to luv! No matter where you at, you can get there just in time to watch the sunset together on the beaches of an exotic paradise. Hanger and white-gloved crew included. Bring yo baby and take off for an adventure anytime."
Another option might be $7 for "The Cleaner," a rather ominous gift for the paranoid. Its blurb says, "Every playa is bound to make some enemies. Get your favorite balla' their very own hitman. Put the contract out, sit back and watch the haters drop. One bullet, no trace and no case."
The point of all this gift giving is that FunHi members want to meet as many of each other as possible, and quickly. Where eBay members get a feedback rating showing their trustworthiness, FunHi users rack up a "buzz" rating, as well as "fans." One way the buzz ratings and numbers of fans go up is by being seen within the community as generous and responsive to receiving gifts.
Of course, being a young good-looking female doesn't hurt, as the members with the most fans are all women whose pictures show them in sexy, alluring poses.
To hear Joshua Selman tell it, FunHi never intended to get its members to spend significant amounts of cold hard cash on these virtual gifts.
"It's ludicrous," says Selman, the company's vice president of business development. "It wasn't something we had planned. Our customers asked us for this.... It just exploded on us. It's not like we're trying to bilk people. They really want it. I think it's a prestige" thing. Georgiades seems to agree with Selman's notion.
"If someone is nice enough to get me something nice, I always try and return the favor," he says.
He also says he doesn't mind that FunHi is pocketing the money he spends on gifts that, other than demonstrating his esteem for the recipient, can't be used for anything, or even be re-gifted.
"It's a donation for a service," he says. "I probably overdid it though. Gotta feed the habit."
In fact, Georgiades says FunHi shouldn't be blamed for its mem
Re:Snobby Greedy Bitch... (Score:5, Informative)
By comparison, the second most expensive item is a faux private jet, valued at $14.99
Re:no different from diamonds (Score:3, Informative)
Donate here [perlfoundation.org] or here [eff.org]
Or buy them some music from here [magnatune.com] where the artist gets 50% of the proceeds. BTW, don't be fooled into thinking that iTunes or whatever gives money to artists. It's just as bad as buying a CD. Unfortunately, there's no way to buy music you hear on popular music stations and actually have a reasonable portion of that music get to the artist </rant>
Southpark Raisins (Score:2, Informative)
"MissEvelyn: I need some virtual loot. If you want to show me you care, send me some. Your profile will show everyone you're a "Playa." I'll receive the icons and know i'm special. I'm counting on you to help me get noticed in style. Holla!"
wonder what percentage they get?
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Status symbols - $6k piece of rock (Score:3, Informative)
Excellent article about DeBeers scumbags
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/82feb
Wired had an article about artificial/cultured diamonds; decent read.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/d
Also, if you care about exploited children in Africa, watch Child Soldiers. It's really depressing; Congo, Angola, Sierra Leone, etc. use diamond money to buy weapons and send kids to war.
I guess DeBeers' would defend themselves by saying that those kids would otherwise have too much free time on their hands and get in trouble hanging out at schools, playgrounds and working on their families' farms.
Been Done before / Will be done again (Score:2, Informative)
People would complain how stupid they were as they stood in line to get one.
The inventer retired a multi-millionare.
Strap that Adonomizer to your head and while it zaps your brain repeat... I - will - not - buy - stupid - shit - for - no - reason...