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建议 How Real Is Your Love
Genevieve Grossmann is a prolific secret admirer. So much so that she anonymously sends dozens of virtual gifts to her Facebook friends simply to see their reactions. And with so many Valentine's Day gifts to choose from -- roses, kisses, flowers, chocolates -- the gifter plans to be busy today.
"Some people say that paying for one of these is a waste of a dollar, but I disagree," said Grossmann, 24, of West Chester, Penn. "The cost of sending a gift is a dollar; the cost of driving someone crazy? Priceless!"
Valentine's Day has become a hot seller when it comes to virtual gifts, a growing part of online commerce. They range from cartoonish images on social networking profiles to three-dimensional-looking objects that people exchange in virtual worlds and on Web sites.
These virtual gifts hardly exist without a computer or mobile phone to display them, but as people place more value on their online presence, a bottle of champagne, diamond earrings and even lingerie have real-world prices and meaning.
"Sending a virtual flower is a way of showing lightweight attention and affection to someone online," said Susan Wu, a partner with Charles River Ventures and Menlo Park, Calif., who's been following the growth of virtual gifts. She estimates that the virtual-goods market is worth about $3 billion today. "It's become commonplace behavior on social networks."
Virtual goods have been a form of currency within video games and Web-based worlds such as Second Life for some time. But the latest wave of gift-giving began a year ago when Facebook began selling $1 graphical icons for members to exchange. Facebook says more than 24 million gifts have been given in the past year, and about 280 million gifts are currently available. MySpace offers Valentine-themed videos and other graphics users can exchange.
But does a collection of pixels have as much value as a physical gift?
Adrienne Miller, 27, said it's "cute" to receive online trinkets from friends on holidays, "but they're not a substitute for something tangible that required some offline effort."
What would she do if a romantic interest gifted her a graphic of a diamond instead of the real thing?
"Let's just say there wouldn't be another date," she said.
Nonetheless, Valentine's Day has mass appeal among social networking addicts, said Tammy Nam of Slide.com, the maker of interactive applications and widgets for users' profiles. One of the most popular features, called the SuperPoke, lets people blow a kiss, cuddle, have a candlelit dinner, or fall in love with other members.
Valentine's Day resonates with people more than other holidays partly because "the concept of love and self-expression go hand in hand," Nam said.
Companies like Gaia online are making a significant portion of their real world revenue stream from the creation and exchange of virtual goods, said Forrester Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang. "Like real life, inanimate objects --physical or virtual-- can hold value for consumers," he said.
Virtual entrepreneurs can also cash in on the holiday. Sales at Dianne Marshall's Second Life flower shop doubles on Valentine's Day with as many as 11,000 transactions. In the virtual world There.com, members plan on taking part in a scavenger hunt and Valentine-themed pajama party. Clothing is the most popular type merchandise traded on the holiday, said Ben Richardson, vice president of business development at There.com's parent company Makena Technologies.
"For the younger demographic, the line between the virtual and real world is fairly blurred," Richardson said. "The value of receiving a virtual gift can have more meaning because it has such a novel experience associated with it."
Giving such gifts may be easy, but they still cost real money. Grossmann said she might send her boyfriend a Valentine token today, but she doesn't expect one in return.
"If I send him a free one, he'll probably retaliate," she said. "But I don't think he'll actually spend a dollar."
你的爱有多真实？
Genevieve Grossmann 是一个有许多爱慕对象的暗恋者。她爱慕的对象如此之多以致于会以匿名的方式给她在Facebook上的朋友发送许多虚拟礼物，而仅仅是为了看看他们的反映。情人节这天，网络上有那么多的礼物可以挑选——玫瑰花，吻，各式鲜花，巧克力等等，这位送礼人一定会忙得够呛。
“有人会说花钱买这些虚拟礼物是一种浪费，但是我不同意，”Grossmann，这位24岁住在West Chester, Penn的女士这样调侃说，“发送一份礼物的花费是一美元，把某人逼疯的花费是多少呢？是无价的！”
情人节为虚拟礼物这种网络朝阳商业提供了火热的销售平台。这些虚拟礼物包括社交网络平台上代表个人形象的卡通图像，以及人们可以在虚拟世界及网站上进行交换的三维视效物体。
这些虚拟礼物如果没有用电脑或者移动电话来显示，它们根本就不存在，但是随着人们对于自己在网络上的形象越来越重视，在他们眼中，虚拟的一瓶香槟、钻石耳环，甚至是内衣都和现实世界的具有同样意义。
“发送虚拟鲜花是向你的网络友人表示一定的关注和好感的方式之一，”Susan Wu，一位一直关注虚拟礼物发展的女士说。据她估计，虚拟产品市场现在价值大约30亿。“在社交网络平台上它已经发展成为一种公众行为了。”
虚拟礼物同视频游戏、网络虚拟世界（如Second Life）一样已经流行一段时间了。但是这股虚拟之风真正刮了起来是在Facebook开始把可交换的价值一美元的图绘标志卖给用户之后。据Facebook说，去年超过2400万的虚拟礼物被送出，而现在有大约2亿8千万的虚拟礼物待售。而MySpace也给用户提供了他们能够互相交换的情人节的主题视频和其他图像。
但是这些像素的集合和真正的礼物具有同样的价值吗？
27岁的Adrienne Miller认为，假日从朋友那里收到这种网上小装饰物很有趣，“但是他们不能够代替那些需要离线时努力才能获得的切实的礼物。”
如果一个浪漫的求爱者送给她这种虚拟的钻石图片而不是真正的钻石，她将如何反应呢？“我只能说，不可能会有另外一次约会了。”她说。
然而，来自Slide.com为用户外形而设计互动软件和装饰品的Tammy Nam表示，情人节对于那些网络社交的上瘾者来说有着巨大的吸引力。其中一种名叫SuperPoke的流行图片，可以让人们打飞吻，吹蜡烛，“吃”烛光晚餐，甚至和其他的成员“坠入爱河”。
Nam说，情人节之所以比其他的节日更能够引起人们的共鸣，是因为“爱的观念和自我表达其实是密不可分的。”
据Forrester Research公司分析师Jeremiah Owyang说，像Gaia online这样的公司从虚拟产品的制作和交换那里获得的收益占他们真正收益的很大一部分，“就如同在现实生活中一样，这些没有生命的物体——不管是真实的还是虚拟的，对于消费者来说都是有价值的。”
虚拟商店的主人同样可以利用假期赚大把的钞票。Dianne Marshall在Second Life上开的花店在情人节这天生意翻了一倍，差不多有1万1千个商店都同样收获颇丰。在 There.com虚拟世界上，成员们打算参加清道夫狩猎和情人节主题的睡衣派对。据There.com主公司的商务发展部副总裁Ben Richardson说，服饰是假日里最受欢迎的商品品种之一。
Richardson说，“对于年轻的一代，虚拟和真实世界的界线是相当模糊的。收到一个虚拟礼物也许更有意义，因为它带来了一种全新的体验。”
虽然送出这样的礼物非常容易，但是它们一样需要花费真实的金钱。Grossmann说她今天也许会送给她男朋友一个情人节火鸡，然而她却并不期待他的回赠。
“如果我送给他一个免费的，他也许会回赠，”她说，“但是我不认为他真的会花一美元来回赠我。”
