Quick Summary:
Hookup potential: 3/5 Features: 4/5 Design: 4/5 Content: 3/5
- Seems to have a decent base of “real” users, although profiles are fairly content-lite
- Straightforward and clean design
- Some fun features, including “Rate Booty“
The Full Story:
One of the first things that I try to assess when I’m reviewing an adult dating website is how “authentic” the site’s membership base is. Sure, it’s fun to look at naked pictures of hot models, but you know most of those profiles are spam, shill accounts, or bots dressed up to artificially inflate the site’s social proof statistics. And looking at porn online is fine, but you’re there because you want to hook up, right?
Well, when it came time to review to Online Booty Call, I was pleasantly surprised. The member’s homepage gets right to the point of the site – finding booty calls. Everything’s laid out clearly for you when you log in: booty requests, messaging system, online booty calls, and, of course, the pièce de résistance – random booty. There’s also a search option to the right, which lets you determine a prospective booty call’s proximity to you.
One thing I noticed immediately was that the random booty calls are not so random. Results are always confined to within your stated area. A small thing, but I appreciated it. I mean, imagine seeing an oh-so-hot random booty, only to find out that she’s in the opposite coast. That would suck, right?
One thing I didn’t like, though, were the sparse profile pages. Sure, there are a couple of photos, and maybe an uploaded music clip. There’s basic info on height, weight, age, orientation, and the like, but the About Me is almost always empty. This is supposed to be the profile’s “calling card,” no? And a way for members to filter according to their preferences; but when you look at a lot of them, they’re empty. I won’t put all the blame on the members. I mean there’s here’s hardly anything in my profile, either–I signed up for an account, and when it didn’t FORCE me to fill anything in, I didn’t.
I think it probably relates to the site being relatively new, so they’re trying to lower the barrier for entry to new members. I disagree with the policy in terms of the effect on the user experience, though–there should be more required questions or fields, such as about what a person likes or dislikes, what’s he or she is looking for, etc. This way, when I browse through my booty call prospects, I can filter them based on more information, instead of just deciding on one’s booty worthiness via a (let’s-face-it-usually-deceptive) photo or two. Why waste time on someone you can’t even get any mileage out of, right?
The Rate Booty section is something that really amused me. Sometimes, I’d log in not even looking for a hot date. I just want to rate people.
The design and layout of Online Booty Call is really pleasing to the eyes. I like that it’s clean. No gaudy banners, no awful animation. Navigation is easy and everything’s organized neatly. It is hard to get lost here. There was one thing I found counter intuitive, though: my booty invites. I sent a couple of booty invites to people I found in my searches. And for the life of me I can’t seem to find those invites anywhere. They’re not in the Booty Requests page under “Sent”. They are nowhere to be found. Now, I suppose that I’d have to wait till they accept my booty invite before I see them in my Booty Call page. But I think there should be a way to “follow up” or something. Plus, what if I want to see whom I’ve sent invites to so I won’t accidentally do it again?
Overall however, I liked Online Booty Call. It’s user friendly, genuine, and I think I’ll be able to find a decent playdate or two in there. Profile content may be lacking for now, but perhaps once the membership is large enough there’ll be more; especially if the service really takes off. For now, it is obvious that the site owners are keen on just populating their member database. (There’s even a sweepstakes going on right now–the number one member referrer wins!)
