Ahh, the holiday season is upon us: People have begun bargain hunting, department stores are donning premature decorations, turkeys are being shot to death, and email inboxes everywhere are being graced with season-appropriate promotional materials so absurd, one might think they were actually written by the clinically insane.
I received one such email earlier this week from the suspicious, Yoda-esque alias PartyWeDo. The subject line: "An Internet Full of Gift Thieves. A White Elephant Gift Swap on Facebook."
Hoo boy. I knew I was in for it. But I realized how serious the situation was when I saw the press release came from something called MyPRGenie -- a.k.a., a site for do-it-yourself PR. Like a self-publishing outlet, but for the worst product ideas of the century.
That's exactly what PartyWeDo's upcoming Facebook application called "AlbinoPhant" is: the absolute worst thing I've heard about in 100 years... 100!
This Facebook application allows family and friends the opportunity to party together in a virtual gift exchange, just like they would if gathered together in one location. They exchange real gifts, share friendly banter and enjoy the holiday spirit, through the online party.
Gift exchange parties are social events that focus on sharing gifts with family and friends and then "stealing" gifts from one another in an organized party game.
Groan.
As if the recent noise over Farmville -- a collaborative Facebook application through which people help each other raise farms (what!) -- wasn't insane enough, more people have come up with new ways to interact with one another on Facebook in a wholly unproductive manner. But this time... it's tied to the holidays.
And what goes better with the holidays than spending money on frivolous throwaways? The purpose of AlbinoPhant is to have a virtual "White Elephant" party with a group of people, through which participants buy gifts on Amazon.com (from $15-$50), virtually wrap them, virtually discuss them, and virtually steal them from one another.
"When all of the gifts are virtually wrapped, opened, discussed, stolen and re-stolen, the game ends," states the release. "The application's management system then sorts out who gets which real gift and sees that each present is delivered to the correct address."
That's the only consolation here with AlbinoPhant: At the end of it, everybody gets a gift in the mail. But unless that gift is a new family -- whose priorities don't revolve around playing holiday games on the Internet -- I'd consider it lost time.
Oh well. As I always say: Nothing quite says "Happy Holidays" like a do-it-yourself PR firm and stealing (and re-stealing) presents from family on Facebook. Just add this silliness to the list of many more mistletoe-wrapped inanities and marketing gimmicks to still cross our virtual paths.
"An Internet Full of Gift Thieves"? Not quite. Try "An Internet Full of Attention Thieves" -- and you might be a little closer to defining what's likely lurking in your email inbox and on social networks this holiday season.
The Net merely says to you, smkinoshita, "Bwa ha ha ha..."
I just wanted to make a note that in these white elephant exchanges, yep, the gifts are, not so much stolen as they are 'traded up.' Say you draw first pick and get to unwrap the much vaunted margarita pitcher and glasses. I draw second pick, and the thing I unwrap is a deck of Elmo playing cards. But since I covet your pitcher and glasses, I can force you to trade with me, leaving you holding the deck. But if Nicole (who, say, loves puppets) draws third and unwraps a necktie you covet, you can still win. Because she'll force you to hand over the Elmo cards and YOU will take home the beautiful tie. Unless of course someone who also likes the tie draws next. In these kinds of swaps, it's better to get the chance to draw last so you get the pick among all the junk that's been opened already.
At any rate, it's dorky in real life, and really dorky in Web life! And yes, some folks will flock to it, just as they love building their farm or restaurant.
A. How could someone come up with an idea like that
I've actually been to holiday parties where this was how presents were divvied up. I dated a woman whose family did something similar. So it's not totally unprecedented.
It's not a bad idea for a gift game - some big families with many members, and much socio-economic differences between them, resort to gift-exchange schemes like this, to ensure that everyone gets a chance at a good gift. The silly thing about it is that this information is definitely going to be used to market more products to the people who use this.
I am one of those people FB doesn't LOVE because I don't use the applications. Well, I have the cities I've visited posted and I do post some photo albums. But, I don't farmville, bejeweled blitz, mafia war or throw anything at anyone. I don't pass drinks, hearts or endangered plants or animals. I block all updates from friends who use them. I don't care about your farms and your scores.
I have read on this site that they can be dangerous, and I have friends whose computers have been comprimised by some of these applications. And most of the apps that are not harmful are marketing schemes, which I feel no need to be entered into.
Having said that, if I did play applications on FB, there is no way I would play this one. I hate christmas as it is. The commercialism offends me. My family offends me. The combination of the two is almost unbearable. I have been to Secret Santa events where the gifts are stolen. I can tell you first hand that friends and coworkers can become enemy nightmares if you take the margarita pitcher and glass set. There is enough trauma in the real world...why do some think it is a good idea to extend it into the virtual world?
I am trying my hardest and have yet to imagine a scenario where this would be considered "fun."
Let me get this right, Someone is able to "steal" my gift? Or steal, then re-steal, then have the computer send the corresponding gifts to the right people...
So.... what is the point of the stealing in the first place? Fun?
hmmm i know this may sound crazy but Farmville can offer virtual animals for sacrificial purposes for Muslims. and then the meat can be virtually send to one's neighbors friends etc. and we can even enjoy Kebabs and yeah of course..... stealing each other's kebabs:))))))))
Sheesh i sure have gone bonkers. But hey lets just blame it all on the holiday season:)
I think we have to sue the Facebook for religious discrimination:))))). Why it is only about Christmas? Let's steal Hanuka presents and blow out Hanuka candles! What's about Muslims? They also should have an opportunity to ruin their holidays on-line:)))))
This idea is totally bizarre. Why would someone want to steal somebody's presents? Or the total amount of kleptomaniacs are higher than statistics says?
Experimentation would and should always remain abound Mr Nasimson. But i m afraid internet is still not showing enough maturity as is expected of it. I believe experimentation and churning out total mediocrity are two different things altogether. Churning out mind numbing and logic suspending stuff can hardly be termed experimentation. I am sure you'd agree with me that low IQ stuff only lowers one's mental capabilities.
I think more than the holiday season, its about the internet's honey moon period that is at work here.
Internet's honeymoon period has gone on for too long now. Crzay ideas with no revenue stream were abound during the dotcom boom & are still abound. Experimentation must be encouraged, but doing-it-just-beacuse-its-doable should be discouraged. Orkut, Amazon could have never surfaced if there was no experimentation, but if the business eco system does not churn out worthless physical products, why do we still have the worthless virtual products on internet.
jingle bells jingle bells it madness all the way. I guess people tend to enjoy the most bizarre idea because its holiday season. look at what Hollywood churns out every holidays, utter nonsense. I guess Sheryl Crow was addressing the mind set of the promoters when she crooned 'these are the days when anything goes"
holiday hooplas are the best time for any mediocrity to make big bucks.
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