Slashdot Mirror
Spread The Love (And Pay Us)
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.
Their domain expires 09-apr-2007. I guess the short term domain "lease" suggests this was an experiment for them, which seems to have paid off. Now I'm wondering what else they've done or had planned.
Trolling is a art,
"never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups"
but really, this does go to show something about how we attach value to even worthless things. way back when in britain there was a fad involving flower bulbs; way back when in america there was a fad involving beanie babies. when you really think about it, does the negligible manufacturing cost of a beanie baby really make it signifigantly more valuable than a magnetic charge on a hard drive?
See real money gets changed for fake money. I think it's like US$10=FUnHi$30. Plus some of the gifts give the recipient even more fake money. All in all, most "gifts" cost just a few cents.
The thing is that they're tapping an already existing culture- racing and souping up import cars. It serves as a fan-club kind of thing for these import models, and then expands from there.
I really have to hand it to the guys who started it. They tapped a culture well, provided a means for them to play on the internet together and found a way to make a tidy profit off of it. Besides, you don't even need to pay to use it. You don't have to buy "gifts" for people. It's just a nice way to say "I like you" or whatever that backed up by a little bit more.
I'll admit, I accidently ran into this early on in its development and started playing along for mostly 2 reasons: 1) I was newly single so having cute asian girls give me compliments boosted my ego 2) I'm horrible with internet culture (IMing and other sorts of things where you speak with abbreviations and smileys) so I thought it would be funny to see how well I do (and how well "they" do) with my paragraphs and thinking.
It was fun for a while, but now it's getting really dull. Next!
Here, let me draw a picture of a diamond ring... store it in this database here. Now, I'll have you and a few others sign up as members to this database.
You pay me $$, I will do a simple "INSERT INTO" statement and associate the diamond ring record with the recipient's user ID. You will feel good because you sent them a "gift", they will feel happy because they think they will have received a real gift.
You will think it's fun, I will think it's funny. I will be rich, you will be paying me to alter my data in my database.
At least this gives hope to people trying to make money out there.
I have an idea. I have a website filled with members and their email addresses. When you want to send a gift, YOU draw the gift using MS Paint. Upload the picture, I will email it to the recipient of your choice, and I will only charge $1.99. See, because YOU drew it and it would be from YOU! (The sad thing is, people would probably go for it)
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
I live in Norway, and here teenagers have for many years spent big money on ringtones, logos, screensavers etc for their mobile phones. Now, with the new phones, people have started paying for mms messages, games etc as well.
Also, there are tons of tv programs where you can pay for having your sms shown on the screen for a brief moment. Sort of like using IRC, but spending $1-2 each time you press enter.
My point, I guess, is that the way young people spend their money doesn't really amaze me anymore...
Not that this wasn't entirely predictable.
The "real value" of any good or service is whatever you can get in exchange for it - any notion of intrinsic worth is a specious concept, as is any valuation other than exchange value. If people didn't value diamonds as highly as DeBeers does, they simply wouldn't buy them.
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
People like to compete. We like a challenge. We also like to reciprocate. We're social animals.
FunHi, using symbols, tapped into that part of us, probably to their own surprise. It's symbols, though silly, have value - in dollars. So you can "measure" how much someone spent on you (or someone else) and ignore, thank, reciprocate, or compete appropriately.
Do I think it'll last? No. But it's worth studying.
Just my 2 cents. Or, in the future, 1/50 of a Slashdollar!
(And yes, I expect FunHi's idea to be imitated to death).
"The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
The Artificial high price of diamonds may be changing. Here is an article about quality mass produced diamonds, that I read some time back.
You have to note that the prices don't really match up - The $30 super biznatch iced out platinum plastik translates to $20 real money. Still, it's hilarious.
It seems to me they're a bunch of slashdot-style geeks blatantly milking a huge group of retards - the hint is the "Dominatrix Sub Whip +2" - I don't expect the idiots who actually use that site to have any idea what a +2 is.
I also doubt that anyone who really wrote the way they do would be able to set up a complicated website.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
Lots of people find other, cheaper things prettier, but still insist on diamonds as a token of fidelity.
The Royal Ontario Museum had a display on gemstones for a while, with a placard over the diamond display anwering the FAQ: "Why are diamonds so valuable?" with a simple "Scarcity and excellent marketing."
Virtual accesories and avatars are a big business in Korea
Uva Uvam Vivendo Varia Fit
God I hate all that stuff.
It dosen't even register when you ask them to give money instead of some useless trinkets.
I'm trying to save up for the down payment on a motorcycle that I want very badly. I'm trying to do this without affecting my family budget. So I'm saving a portion of my weekly lunch money, carpooling to work some days, doing without excess CD's, etc. And over the last year I've saved quite a bit of money.
Before Christman I thought it'd be nice if I could transform gifts into savings. So when people called my wife to ask what I wanted, she told them that I would prefer money because I'm saving for something.
Besides my wife herself, not 1 person went 'out of their way' to give me cash. I don't get it. They think they're doing me a favor by buying me alluminum coffee mugs and gift certificates to clothing stores I don't even like.
My Mother actually told me that there's no thought in giving money. So she gives me a gift certificate to Target instead. Go figure.
wbs.
Huh?
However, a number of Slashdot posters are critical of EverQuest items, as well. Furthermore, the EverQuest items at least have a use, even if that use is constrained to virtual progress in a virtual world. In contrast, the FunHi items are purely ornamental -- you can't even use them within the virtual world.
On the other hand, there's one thing that I think does justify the FunHi system -- the trick is to look at the real money being paid as donations to keep the site going. The status symbol rewards are just fun little virtual recognitions of those donations. This isn't like EverQuest where everyone is already paying monthly to keep the servers up and running.
There is a factory north of here that makes synthetic gems that are guarenteed to fool even experts.
Shelby diamonds, in shelby michigan. they have to laser etch their logo into the edge of every gem to make identification easier for most experts.
They prefected a process that adds natural like imperfections into their gems, but they are chemically identical to the natural thing.
this is why I laugh at everyone that buy's gem's for their finger or neck. It makes me want to sell them a DVD rewinder.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The items in everquest can be re-sold and potentially for a profit. The items at FunHi (to my limited understanding) can't be regifted or sold.
It's makes all the difference in the world. It's why people will buy 'shares' in a company which are esentially vitual property too -- because they're resellable.
Since they IR network and transfer data objects, I'm working on an infectious Tamagotchi plague. It's for the children's sake.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I got my wife a Mac Cube and flat screen. Nothing like being married to a computer geek (she's a telecom analyst and loves having Mac DTP and command line tools all together).
I drank what? -- Socrates
Speaking of real-world, where are you living? All women will do that. Don't believe me?
No, I don't. My wife doesn't care about diamonds or other gems. We have gold wedding bands with no decorations. Cost less than $100 for the pair. If I had wasted money on diamonds, she probably wouldn't have married me.
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig
Several, including my wife. We actually had people ask "What do you do when you get to the 'with this ring' part?" in our wedding ceremony, as if it was mandated by law. Sheep.