Every once in awhile a private beta comes along that is so hot, that it can literally whip people into a frenzy over the prospect of securing an invite. First it was GMail, then it was the The Venice Project (Joost), and now comes i'm in like with you, the unwieldly named online flirting game and dating site (herein: IILWY) that caused readers of trend-watching blog Josh Spear to get, quote "kinda crazy" and prompted IILWY to offer a free 24 universal invite code as a result.
]]> So what is IILWY? It's a slickly-designed online flirting game that is borderline addictive. The basic premise is that users are awarded points for interacting with the site (logging in daily, uploading profile pictures, answering silly yes/no questions), which can then be used to bid on the ability to talk with other users.
IILWY's super simple sign up form.
In order to attract the bids of other users, you must start a game. A game, which runs for either 3 days, 1 day, or 3 hours, is an invitation for others to try to gain your attention. Usually that means a question, ranging from the practical, "What should I do on a Saturday night in San Francisco?" or "What would you wear to impress me on our first date?" to the more cryptic, "Fill in the blank." In order to post a response to a game, you have to outbid the previous responder. When the game ends, the game's starter can declare a winner from among the top 5 bidders. The winner and the game starter can then talk to each other.
IILWY offers a range of communication options: a private messaging system, email, protected SMS or voice (i.e., without revealing your phone number), or chat. The design of the site, meanwhile, is very simple and attractive. Corners are rounded and text boxes are big, in true Web 2.0 fashion, and user-uploaded photos and videos are delivered via a nifty flash viewer. Status messages pop up in the lower right-hand corner of the screen to let you know when new users have joined or new games have started.
Conclusion
IILWY is a fun and amusing site that has a lot of Web 2.0 cred -- great design, addictive social networking features (it's easy to spend far too much time browsing people's games and straining to come up with a witty response), and a hot closed beta. As more people sign on in different geographic areas it might become more useful as a legitimate dating site (what better way to get someone's attention than pledging all your points?).
Thanks to Veronica Belmont of CNet for my invite.
UPDATE 1, by Richard: Read/WriteWeb has got about 5-6 invites to hand out. So if you want one, please leave a comment. Staying with the theme of IILWY, to get an invite simply provide an answer to this in ONE WORD:
Describe Web 2.0 in one word.
:-) (note you'll need to enter a real email address, so we can email the invite to you. the email address won't show up on the site)
UPDATE 2, by Richard: whoa, that was an overwhelming response for just 5 or 6 invites! We'll give them away on a first-come-first served basis. So commenters 13 (icekernel), 14 (Scott), 15 (Oleg), 16 (Jonathan), 17 (lau) definitely will be sent invites. Also commenter 19 (jessie) if there is indeed a 6th.
We'll see if we can rustle up some other invites, or if you have some leave a comment.
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