Would You Use Words With Friends to Find a Date?

I have been playing the mobile game Words With Friends for a few years, mostly against people on my Facebook friends list. However, all of a sudden, I started to get new game requests from middle-aged men that I did not know. Not wanting to be rude, I accepted the games. Right away I noticed that there was a message in the chat section waiting for me. Again, not wanting to be rude, I accepted the chats.

At first, and perhaps a little naive of me, I thought these people were just being friendly. However, after a few messages, I realised that these men were actually chatting me up. Most of the messages followed the same rhetoric, as though these men were following some sort of Words With Friends chat up guidance. They all started with “hi how are you?” followed by “how old are you?” and “where are you from?”. Not wanting to be rude, I replied, usually with one-word answers, but trying not to come across that I was in any way interested, or trying to lead them on. When one guy asked me if I was married, and I said “yes” he cancelled the game and blocked me. Another asked me to add him on another networking app, which I declined, finishing the game and ignoring all other game requests.

After a while of playing against several different men, it became clear that they were only on the app to pick up women as they were all terrible at the…