Have you heard of E-pal? It is a digital platform where gamers can find new friends to play with. Or; they can pay for a new friend to play with. With the virtual currency buff, users pay to order a game friend on E-pal. One of these game friends is 23-year-old “Your Queen”. – Last year I earned approximately NOK 42,000, she tells news. “Your Queen” is the alias the young woman uses on E-pal. She does not want to come forward with her real name, but news knows her identity. – There are some who stalk because they become dependent on a girl they like on E-pal, she says. E-pal has existed since 2020, and was initially a platform where you could rent so-called e-girls. Now you can hire gamers of all genders. “Your Queen” has had a profile on the website since its inception. Today, she is ranked number one among Norwegian e-pals, and can have close to 10 customers in a day. Most of these are from the USA, but “Your Queen” says that she has customers from all over the world. – I often sit for 5-7 hours in the office and play. Playing with lonely men According to the website Similarweb.com, E-pal has between 800,000 and one million users a month. More than 60 percent of users are adults between 18 and 34 years of age. And about three out of four are men. The large preponderance of male users fits well with “Your Queen’s” customer profile. She says that almost all of her customers are men. – Men who make contact are often looking for company. Someone to chat with, or play with. Many are shy at the start, but the conversations flow more easily over time, she says. – Most people talk about everyday life. Others order chat to get better at chatting with women, because they feel they are not quite used to chatting with them. – Do you think that some of the customers are lonely? – Yes, some of them I feel I am, she says. She believes that some of those who make contact spend a lot of time indoors, and do not meet many people outside the home. – I almost feel like a psychologist for some of them. They can talk to me about anything. I think it’s a lot of good to pay for gaming friends. Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes is a research fellow in Behavioral Analysis at Oslo Met. She has done a lot of research on gaming and social relationships. Knutsen is not surprised that “Your Queen” sometimes feels like a psychologist. – Gaming is a social activity. You don’t just talk about the game, but about TV series, school, everything. If you play with strangers, more people say that they miss the social aspect. In that sense, I understand that some people want to buy game friends. Photo: SONJA BALCI / OSLOMET Buying a gaming friend can be good in several ways, she says: – In many gaming environments there is a lot of violence and foul language. But when you buy a gaming buddy, you can get supportive words and a sense of accomplishment. – Many of the game friends are good players with a high ranking, and thus they can also help you progress to a higher level in the game, she says. – So we shouldn’t automatically feel sorry for them? – Not necessarily. Some people buy a gaming buddy to get better at the game, others because they just want to ensure a pleasant experience now and then. But many do it out of loneliness. Nevertheless, Knutsen points out that it is nice that they have the offer. And there is a reason why this has been a phenomenon in the gaming world for a long time. – There are advantages for both parties here. Take care of your own safety Although she has a lot of nice things to say about buying game friends, Knutsen has a warning for those considering becoming an e-pal; regardless of their gender. She confirms what “Your Queen” says about the fact that there have been cases where customers have developed such strong feelings for their e-mail that it has ended badly. – That is why it is important to take care of your own safety and privacy. Know as much as possible about the people you play with, and what their motivation is, she says. Not true friendship University lecturer Egil Trasti Rogstad at Nord University is positive about gaming as a social activity. – Gaming can help us look after existing social relationships and lower the threshold for coming into contact with/trusting strangers. It can also help to counteract loneliness. In the Norwegian Media Authority’s report on children and the media from 2022, it appears that the majority of children and young people between the ages of 9 and 18 who play games think it is a social activity. But even if gaming itself can be social, Rogstad is nevertheless critical of services offered on e-pal. – The fact that you can make money from becoming a game friend raises several ethical questions, as friendship does not normally mean that one party pays the other to get attention and consideration. He says that friendship should normally be built on mutual respect, affection and consideration. – If the person offering this type of service is solely motivated by financial reasons, we are not talking about a real friendship. – It can be appropriate for people who are looking for someone to play with and look for other ways to meet players that do not involve a financial component. – Becomes like a real friend “Your Queen” says that several of the customers are regulars, and that some are happy to pay for several games during the day. She believes that she gets to know the customers she often plays with well, and that some become what she calls a true friend. – On some occasions I play with the person for free, but then they still occasionally pay to support me. Hi! Do you have any tips for things I should look into? Feel free to contact me. Malin Nygård SolbergJournalists
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Using e-pal to make money from gaming – news Nordland
