Looks like a riff of the fake online shopping site. Kinda funny that the premise could be legit: All the novelty seeking and exploration behaviour and none of financial burden (or in this case, calories)
That's the semi-real shopping site's fake journalism site. Try to keep up!
netsharc•Jul 18, 2026
I somehow want to make a brick and mortar shop with products with 5-digit price tags and the famous brands, but they're all fake, and visitors can pick and choose all the fancy products they want. They can then go to the cashier and go through a simulation of the purchase of all those products, but walk out with nothing... Or maybe even a receipt so you can look at it and pretend you just bought those things, hah.
"The keys to the Lamborghini Aventador, and a Louis Vuitton bag. That'll be 350,000 dollars. How will you pay, ah with the made-up cheque? Certainly sir!".
Charge $40 for half an hour of this sort of entertainment (or more for a virtual chequebook with a bigger account behind it), rake in the bucks...
starkparker•Jul 18, 2026
So effectively a downtime session of D&D where everyone levels up and goes shopping for gear.
em-bee•Jul 18, 2026
shopping LARP
em-bee•Jul 18, 2026
NFTs instead of nothing? equally worthless, but you can pretend otherwise
forgetfreeman•Jul 18, 2026
Whaaaaat?? In a world where brick and mortar retail has been almost completely replaced by Amazon and a handful of mega big-box retailers there's a market for people going through literally all of the steps required to shop local retail (including spending money)....to end up having purchased nothing? Are y'all on drugs??
mmooss•Jul 18, 2026
That would be a fantastic art installation. In some places, landlords allow empty storefronts to be used for art.
You might get people to contribute satirical spins on different trends or designers.
It's too fast. There should be an artificial pause while adding to cart or capturing the payment
DangitBobby•Jul 18, 2026
Where are the promo pop ups and the CTA asking me if I want to buy a giant cookie, cheese sticks, or a 2 liter at 200% markup?
ballenf•Jul 18, 2026
I need to enter a coupon code for more dopamine. And a loyalty program.
actionfromafar•Jul 18, 2026
Free spins?
mmooss•Jul 18, 2026
Seriously, the project's code name could be dopamine delivery. They could make it a demo of all the tricks.
eichin•Jul 18, 2026
and "cookie clicker" is already taken :-)
NDlurker•Jul 18, 2026
Practically no vegan options. Very realistic
zippyman55•Jul 18, 2026
This is great. I need one for building permits.
airstrike•Jul 18, 2026
OK, this actually worked as advertised. I feel dopamined.
I just wished the delivery took longer and there was a payment process that longer than an instant. Could have a saved card on file that you could use.
zippyman55•Jul 18, 2026
I like to tip my delivery person so they do not spit in my food.
I actually thought the Reddit context was quite helpful. I wouldn’t have guessed that this would be particularly meaningful for people with a binge eating disorder.
netsharc•Jul 18, 2026
God damn, the AI-generated pics.
Well, since it's a site for Artificial Food Ordering, why not use AI images.
I wonder how Baudrillard would think about all this.
mimischi•Jul 18, 2026
Does this have the ridiculous dark patterns that Deliveroo in the UK has? “Pay a monthly fee for free deliveries!*
*We won’t tell you, but you might notice, we’ve now increased the service charge by almost the amount of what you saved on that free delivery.
cynicalsecurity•Jul 18, 2026
Isn't it just like porn and video games work too. Weird no one thought of it before.
makifoxgirl•Jul 18, 2026
I was really hoping to add some fries, a drink and to customize my burger. Not that I customize my burger except maybe take off the pickles or remove the ice from my drink, but it adds to the dopamine factor.
thehamkercat•Jul 18, 2026
wait what? shouldn't it make you more hungry/angry? when the food doesn't come...
bnfcl•Jul 18, 2026
Humans, huh
layer8•Jul 18, 2026
> It's just to replicate the ritual of ordering food and give you the dopamine that the real process gives you.
I’m confused. How does the food-ordering process give you dopamine? It generally just gives me anxiety due to the uncertainties involved, until the food arrives in good condition, which here it won’t.
tom_•Jul 18, 2026
The link is to the BingeEatingDisorder subreddit. From the link,
> I know that at least for me, the actual process of ordering food delivery is part of the addiction
sidewndr46•Jul 18, 2026
I'm seeing a business opportunity for a gambling site where it is extremely cheap to play, but the payout is always 0 dollars.
teraflop•Jul 18, 2026
Well the context is that it was posted to a subreddit for people who struggle with binge eating. So I guess you can think of it as the equivalent of sucking on a lollipop when you're craving a cigarette.
pengaru•Jul 18, 2026
think window shopping
which upon writing I realized may not even be something folks born after 2010 have even heard of...
Do you get anxious when you order at a restaurant? There is the same exact uncertainty there compared to ordering ahead by 10 minutes while you are on the way there.
tejohnso•Jul 18, 2026
Counterproductive for me. Seeing all that tasty looking food makes me want to binge.
firefoxd•Jul 18, 2026
The hardest part of food delivery is the tip section. It's where you use all your brain power to make a decision. That's the only part I would have given me dopamine hit from pretend tipping. Missed opportunity.
pxx•Jul 18, 2026
Doesn't quite meet the fantasy threshold. I can't seem to filter by allergens or dietary restrictions.
realo•Jul 18, 2026
Next step:
Fully customized sex worker service at your doorstep ... faked for the dopamine, of course.
19 Comments
"The keys to the Lamborghini Aventador, and a Louis Vuitton bag. That'll be 350,000 dollars. How will you pay, ah with the made-up cheque? Certainly sir!".
Charge $40 for half an hour of this sort of entertainment (or more for a virtual chequebook with a bigger account behind it), rake in the bucks...
You might get people to contribute satirical spins on different trends or designers.
I hope you or someone does it.
I just wished the delivery took longer and there was a payment process that longer than an instant. Could have a saved card on file that you could use.
Well, since it's a site for Artificial Food Ordering, why not use AI images.
I wonder how Baudrillard would think about all this.
*We won’t tell you, but you might notice, we’ve now increased the service charge by almost the amount of what you saved on that free delivery.
I’m confused. How does the food-ordering process give you dopamine? It generally just gives me anxiety due to the uncertainties involved, until the food arrives in good condition, which here it won’t.
> I know that at least for me, the actual process of ordering food delivery is part of the addiction
which upon writing I realized may not even be something folks born after 2010 have even heard of...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_shopping
Fully customized sex worker service at your doorstep ... faked for the dopamine, of course.