I Just Bought Me a Boyfriend!
Seriously, I just bought myself a boyfriend. Even better, I bought four--yes FOUR--of them. Okay, so I should tell you to close your jaws, get your minds out of the XXX store, and take note that I bought the said boyfriend(s) on Sorority Life. SL is game I sometimes kill boredom woes with on Facebook. The game itself is a sad testament to real sorority girls, but none-the-less . . . tonight I noticed a new feature under the "glam" button. I bought me a nerd, frat boy, foreign exchange, and a guy across the hall. Each of them costs 40,000; 600; 600; and 30,000 respectively. Now, this story gets even better. "Neville the Nerd" costs 20 bucks in upkeep, the others cost nothing, and they can all be sold for 20,000 (nerd), 15,000 (guy across the hall), and 300 (frat and foreign exchange).
Granted the money you make and spend on SL is of gross proportions, and you can purchase Brownie Points (with real green bucks) for higher end things. There is even a boyfriend for like 19 Brownie Points; he is a surfer dude. I do not spend my non existent funds on these games, so . . . But seriously, I don't know if I should be laughing so raucously at this purchasing of a boyfriend. In the game the more stuff you have helps you beat the tar out of and steal money from other girls. So the more boyfriends the better, but there is the question of why a woman (anywhere) should need a boyfriend to give her an edge. The feminist in me wants to scream with rage, but the jokester in me is laughing hysterically while a voice tells me some teenage girl sees this game element as another marker for her need for a man-type. Snort.
Like I said, I now have four boyfriends in the game, and I can't help but wonder what is the purpose of each one. Is the nerd the guy I sucker into writing my term paper, is the guy next door my cry on the shoulder connection after the frat boy sleeps with someone else, and is the foreign exchange my kitsch romance? Is my character sleeping with them, is she teasing them, or are they friends? More so, for a woman like me--with few boyfriends in real life--am I supposed to be more connected to the game and see it as an alternative reality?
The men I've had in my life, aside from the true and true friends, have not been good other halves. None of my college, or post-college-- dudes were available for purchase. I guess putting the perpetual liar and womanizing bastard on there is not idealistic or PG rated. What about the alcoholic, verbally abusive, semi-controlling ass? He could in many ways relate to the frat boy. Let's not forget the one who has another woman he lies about . . . Okay, okay . . . I know. I have gone past humor, and now I am into the depths of a single thirty-something's life. Yes, folks, this is the real thirty-something's life and not that over-glamorized fictional nonsense of Carrie Bradshaw. Come to think of it, the life of an avatar in SL is very close to that of Carrie Bradshaw.
Now that I have marred a meaningless online game for some, I'll leave you be. And . . . just so you know, I had every intention of writing a girly blog tonight about not being able to ride the Schwinn for another season. Yea, archery season started up a few weeks ago, and ammo season starts on the 15h (that's hunting for those of you unfamiliar). So, riding my trusty purple Schwinn on back roads, without markers, in the midst of autumn toned trees to the meeting of the horizon with reality won't be happening soon. Instead, I took a drive today, amidst the fields with harvested tobacco and peanuts, the remnants of the last cotton haul, and leaves ablaze like a homecoming bonfire. I attempted to clear my head, not so much on that, and then I decided to play SL. Yea . . . that killed the serene in a heartbeat.
Granted the money you make and spend on SL is of gross proportions, and you can purchase Brownie Points (with real green bucks) for higher end things. There is even a boyfriend for like 19 Brownie Points; he is a surfer dude. I do not spend my non existent funds on these games, so . . . But seriously, I don't know if I should be laughing so raucously at this purchasing of a boyfriend. In the game the more stuff you have helps you beat the tar out of and steal money from other girls. So the more boyfriends the better, but there is the question of why a woman (anywhere) should need a boyfriend to give her an edge. The feminist in me wants to scream with rage, but the jokester in me is laughing hysterically while a voice tells me some teenage girl sees this game element as another marker for her need for a man-type. Snort.
Like I said, I now have four boyfriends in the game, and I can't help but wonder what is the purpose of each one. Is the nerd the guy I sucker into writing my term paper, is the guy next door my cry on the shoulder connection after the frat boy sleeps with someone else, and is the foreign exchange my kitsch romance? Is my character sleeping with them, is she teasing them, or are they friends? More so, for a woman like me--with few boyfriends in real life--am I supposed to be more connected to the game and see it as an alternative reality?
The men I've had in my life, aside from the true and true friends, have not been good other halves. None of my college, or post-college-- dudes were available for purchase. I guess putting the perpetual liar and womanizing bastard on there is not idealistic or PG rated. What about the alcoholic, verbally abusive, semi-controlling ass? He could in many ways relate to the frat boy. Let's not forget the one who has another woman he lies about . . . Okay, okay . . . I know. I have gone past humor, and now I am into the depths of a single thirty-something's life. Yes, folks, this is the real thirty-something's life and not that over-glamorized fictional nonsense of Carrie Bradshaw. Come to think of it, the life of an avatar in SL is very close to that of Carrie Bradshaw.
Now that I have marred a meaningless online game for some, I'll leave you be. And . . . just so you know, I had every intention of writing a girly blog tonight about not being able to ride the Schwinn for another season. Yea, archery season started up a few weeks ago, and ammo season starts on the 15h (that's hunting for those of you unfamiliar). So, riding my trusty purple Schwinn on back roads, without markers, in the midst of autumn toned trees to the meeting of the horizon with reality won't be happening soon. Instead, I took a drive today, amidst the fields with harvested tobacco and peanuts, the remnants of the last cotton haul, and leaves ablaze like a homecoming bonfire. I attempted to clear my head, not so much on that, and then I decided to play SL. Yea . . . that killed the serene in a heartbeat.
Comments