Swiping apps have gamified dating. Date Like Goblins wants to solve that by turning first dates into gaming sessions.
The app, which launched today via Kickstarter, gets users in the dating game through rather traditional means. They set up a profile, answer prompts, upload a photo (only if they want to), and search through a database of profiles to find people who pique their interest. When users find a potential match, they can book time on each others’ calendars to jump into a game—anything from World of Warcraft to free mobile games—and voice chat on Discord. The idea is for people to date in goblin mode—being one’s true, most unfiltered and self-indulgent self, often the opposite of how many people portray themselves on traditional dating apps.
“Why not show up as the version of yourself that they’re going to see and hang out with in the next three months?” says Lise Keeney, a publicist who built the app after struggling on dating apps herself.
Date Like Goblins is a crossover between dating and gaming, territory that online gamers have already waded into over the past two decades. But it’s also indicative of a larger shift among singles: People are so over swiping. Some have been doing it for years and still haven’t found their match. More than half of people who have never been married report having used a dating app at some point, according to a 2022 survey from Pew Research. But about 10 percent of partnered adults met their significant other on a dating app. As many boomers are exploring the apps, Gen Z is ready to say goodbye.
The discontent has spurred alternatives. There was the rise of Date Me docs in 2022, where people would write lengthy descriptions of themselves and what they were looking for into Google Docs to be circulated. Since ChatGPT’s rise to prominence, people have looked for ways to incorporate generative AI into conversations with strangers online, either by having a digital twin go on first dates for them or by turning to chatbots to come up with new pickup lines. Some singles have even ditched the apps entirely, opting to try to find love IRL.
“It’s hit an inflection point where people are really starting to pay attention to other ways of meeting—whether that’s in person or on more niche, specialized platforms,” says Liesel Sharabi, an associate professor of communications at Arizona State University who has studied niche dating platforms and dating app burnout.
