Help me break my new dating app so it can break Tinder!
I saw a clip from a dating podcast where a group of girls were talking about their alternative to the dating apps, being getting together online and playing video games to talk to and meet people in a romantic context and it hit me!
Plyr 2 is a dating app specifically FOR gamers.
I do intend to eventually add a toggle to enable recording other activities the same as currently set up for gaming to find people based on interest but I definitely FINALLY went with "Make it first, then make it better."
So here it is!
This test flight is limited to 1000 users, because I DO want feedback, but at least for right now, I'm just one person.
[iOS Testflight](https://testflight.apple.com/join/KpNawynZ)
The big deal isn't gaming, that's permanently the theme, because it's a personal love and passion; but what's special about Plyr2, is VISIBILITY.
Every other dating platform, paid and free, (even Fb dating now!) has BOOSTING! Dating isn't meant to be pay to win. In case you don't know what boosting is: without it, you can swipe 1000 profiles that all get notified in their paywalled "matches", but very few of them are ever shown your face, just to keep you coming back.
Boosting will never be a Plyr2 feature, it's a core ethos, it matters to me, that everyone feel SEEN in a world that needs more love. More on that in a minute hehehe.
Every Plyr2 user will see every potential match that meets their filters, all you have to do is show up, not consistently, just "recently" is enough.
So how do we drive up user engagement?
Eventually Plyr2 will have dating challenges to "level up" your profile, and levels give you POINTS TO SPEND! Thes points will affect your mean weighted ranking of matches, rearranging the pool based on what is most important to you!
AND those preferences get more power, stronger, with time, as you level up, and spend more points (up to 25).
The matching algorithm already supports adding up to 25 points in any spread, across the categories, but again, I wanted to get this out, and start building matches, to help me build the features in the order the people want!
BUT another engagement technique I've already completed and baked in, is the Love bank. I know it has room for improvement, but once you elevate one of your matches to your "Player2", the two of you gain the ability to send each other love credits, as rewards, to be spent on items from your "shop" where you add things like "going on a date" or "massage" for your partner to spend credits on as positive reinforcement.
There is no negative reinforcement anywhere in the app, no streaks to fail to keep up with.
Ads will eventually get inserted so I can pay the bills for the real services already billing me for safe photo uploads, SMS # verification to keep bots out, ID checks on anyone reported, or who wishes to be "verified" are the most costly of them all.
Do you miss myspace? I promise, you don't have to be my friend, I won't be in your top 8, but whether you come as Player 1, for your Player 2, or as a couple looking for your Player 3, or just want to make new friends who play the same games on Player 4: there will be free and paid cosmetics soon, so that you can make your profile stand out from the rest, customize the art on your Player Card, and even the layout!
There will also be a growing selection free and paid frames for photo grids. The only other monetization strategy I have in mind is an ad free version that includes free ID verification.
This isn't meant to be mindlessly swiped through, it's meant to connect people, and grow love.
Player 3 is only available on Web for now, but I feel like it's a missing piece of a lot of dating apps.
Anyone who has spent time on one has seen "NO COUPLES" but that's not a thing on Plyr2, because there's a place for that, AWAY from everyone else. Messaging about it outside of Player 3's framework is an instaban. No one is being excluded, I do have to slightly censor 😝 but everyone, is welcome, on Plyr2.
**On privacy, since it's a dating app**
* Your phone number is stored only as a one-way hash
* Your exact coordinates never leave the backend; it converts them to a ZIP code and drops the rest
* GPS data is stripped out of every photo you upload
* There is no analytics SDK in the app. Not "we anonymise it"; there isn't one. On a dating app, which screens you visit is the sensitive part
* Every photo is checked before anyone else can see it, and report and block are on every profile and every conversation
**Android**
The Android build exists, it just hasn't been through a beta track yet; that's coming soon. Comment or DM if you want to be on it and I'll come back to you when it opens, or if you want to make my life easier, drop your email over on
[FindYourPlayer2.com](https://findyourplayer2.com)
**What I'd most like broken**
Sign-up and the SMS code, photo upload and reordering, "Use my location", and anything that looks wrong on your particular device, especially text overlapping the status bar or running off the edge. Tell me the device and iOS version and I'll chase it.
If a lot of people find the nifty gaming font too hard to read, I'll happily change it, usability matters most, of course.