Opinion The Third Edit: You don’t need a Tinder game – just go say hi

Something important was lost, romantic Luddites argue, when the thrill of approaching someone new — of striking up a conversation and feeling the charge of that intangible thing called “chemistry” — was digitised and made algorithmic. A generation has come of age in the era of “swiping” left and right, of thinking love can be found on an endless cyber menu card. That the mystery of connection is a function of interests and tastes, displayed in emojis and cliches like “wanderlust” and “sapiosexual”. However, it turns out that the art of conversation still matters. But the solution some are proposing to bring it back is part of the problem.

Earlier this week, Tinder — one of the OG hook-up and dating apps — released a game called The Game Game (having “game” is a euphemism for an ability with the opposite sex). In it, users have a simulated conversation with a chatbot in “real life” situations — meeting at the airport, for example — as practice for the real thing. The goal is to score a date or a phone number within a time limit. Apart from Tinder, other dating apps like Hinge and Grindr, too, have AI assistants to help people talk to strangers. Ironic, because one of the reasons they can’t is that they spend their lives glued to a smartphone.

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It bears repeating, perhaps, that apps, bots and their developers don’t care about your happiness. They are in the “engagement” — as in keeping you hooked to their product, not a precursor to marriage — game. There is a simpler solution for those who want to talk to a real person and spend time with them. Fight through the butterflies and the nervousness and just go say “hi”. The rest will follow, if it’s meant to be.