Had an urge lately to slap your boyfriend, send flowers to your best friend's girlfriend or send a hoot after a babe in the street? Want to see your nastiness chronicled in the tabloids?
European and Asian cell-phone subscribers can do exactly that this spring, albeit as part of the first game to mix virtual characters, wireless phones and the Internet.
Supafly -- named for the famous 1970s blaxploitation film -- sets up a world where players either rise or fall in standings based on how they zap each other with short messages from their cell phones. The juiciest trysts and tangles are automatically tabulated and published as a gossipy Internet news rag.
"We're all tied down by social rules and boundaries," said Sven Hålling, CEO of Sweden's It's Alive, the game's creator. "You couldn't just walk up to a pretty girl in the street and make out. In this game you can. It's your own virtual soap opera."
Supafly includes some novel ways for It's Alive to make money: Players can equip their characters with clothes and accessories from advertisers. In turn, they get discounts at the retail stores that sell that merchandise. Users also will pay to become members of the Supafly club or participate in special competitions. There's a toll-call service that lets players sing karaoke songs that get posted on the Net. And, of course, players pay for every message they send.
The game will be rolled out this spring on two continents by a media company and two wireless service operators, Hålling said. The media company, with big television and Internet interests, plans to cross-promote the site with its own popular TV soap operas.
Hålling declined to give more details, citing contractual agreements with the three companies. The game was tested this fall in Sweden. The company won't launch yet in the United States because of its less-developed cellular infrastructure.
The company's earlier game, Botfighters, has formed a fanatical following in Sweden, Finland, Ireland and Russia. In Botfighters, players shoot each other with cell phones along the way to European domination.
Both Supafly and Botfighters rely on features built into new cell phones that allow operators to determine a person's geographic location. Players determine whether an opponent is within a few hundred yards of them, then fire messages the opponent's way. Besides chatting, players can also perform one of 30 "actions" with their cell phone's messaging system, ranging from sending someone a "love gift" to whispering or shouting.
In advanced phones, users will be able to send pictures of their character and more graphic representations of their actions.
People can meet, even date, in Supafly. Hålling expects that to happen, but insists it's not the game's intent.
"People don't want to have stamped on their forehead, 'He's the kind of guy who would use a dating service,'" he said.
People dating and forming friendships (or feuds) after meeting wirelessly also pose the problem of what happens when you meet a creep -- or worse.
"We give people warnings: Don't give out your name; don't be too accurate about your location," Hålling said.
Players can also block other players who get too friendly. And there's a complaint line to report players who go too far.
Supafly doesn't have winners, per se. Players rise up or down in the virtual environment depending on whether their deeds are good or bad. If their actions are cool or evil enough, they get a story written about them in the online newspaper.
To determine their virtual characters, Hålling said, players must first answer questions online such as: "If you run over a bird with a bicycle, do you congratulate yourself on a good hit, or go back, bring it home and nurse it back to health?"
