In an effort to keep young female players coming back to its game, Fuel Entertainment has launched virtual boys (including boyfriends) in its online virtual world Spark City World. The free-to-play browser game allows girls to shop in virtual stores, customizing their avatars with new clothing and makeup, and decorating their apartment with new furniture, flooring or wallpaper.
The boys in Spark City World are all non-playable characters (NPCs), and are found at random throughout the world. Players can interact with them and form friendships via conversations, learning the boys’ likes and dislikes, birthdays and more. These girls can enter light relationships with the boys by developing crushes on them, going out on dates, giving them gifts and even breaking up with them when they’re ready to move on.
At launch, boys appear in four personality types: jock, hipster, skater and pop star, but there’s always the possibility for more to be added as the feature grows.
Spark City World will come to mobile in 2014, allowing players to take the game with them wherever they go. Spark City World is now available to play for free, but does allow players to purchase VIP Membership and currency packages starting at $5.95. These VIP Memberships unlock private / VIP areas, special events, and access to purchasing every item in the game’s stores.