They're the typical tokens you'd always buy for mom. Perfectly assembled gift baskets, cakes, teddy bears and flowers.
Digitized and small, a catalogue of virtual gifts put on offer this week for Mother's Day will set you back only 99 cents or a couple of virtual bucks. Thrill your Farmville fanatic mom with a Victorian house (that'll be 27 Farmville bucks). Can't be there to make her breakfast in bed? Send her a digital one on Restaurant City.
But can a virtual pancake really cut it for Mother's Day?
Even the most tech-savvy moms are wincing at the thought, preferring traditional gestures even as the virtual world becomes a bigger part of their lives. Meanwhile, developers continue to fine tune the relatively recent virtual present to become much more personalized.
That said, we're still years away from the day mom will be blown away by that sort of intangible token of love, experts say.
"As the economy gets virtualized, those real-world gestures become more valued," says Darren Barefoot, the Vancouver co-founder of Capulet Communications, a Web marketing company. "It's like 'Look I went to the actual florist!' " The experience of virtual gifting is still "pretty lame," he says, adding that augmented reality technology hasn't made its foray into that space where floral bouquets leap off the screen.
Even if mom really is obsessed with virtual games such as Petville or Hotel City, the concept hasn't become mainstream enough to win her over, Mr. Barefoot says.
"You'd really want to know that woman well and know that she really loves the game, whether it's Farmville or World of Warcraft. And you'd better have a backup of real flowers at the ready," he said. "You'd have to say, 'Here's some virtual flowers and we're going out for a real dinner.' " The in-person gift is valued because tangible items embody our emotions, says Jay Handelman, professor of marketing at Queen's School of Business in Kingston.
Those nostalgic acts of love, such as delivering breakfast in bed, can't possibly translate in the virtual realm. Sending a virtual bouquet instead of real flowers can be seen as a copout, he says.
"When you make breakfast for your mom, that is something that's tangible, you're expressing your emotion," he says. "It may be acceptable to a mom who maybe participates in virtual communities, but in a broader cultural world, it's not."
The whole concept leaves a bad taste in the mouths of mothers and their children alike.
Vancouver blogger Catherine Jackson, who writes on parenting issues under the handle EarnestGirl, says she thinks it's a bad example for children to suggest that sending virtual gifts could in some way be an equivalent to an in-person gesture of love, gratitude or friendship.
"If it's a vocabulary you already share with them, if it's already part of your relationship and the vocabulary for your relationship, it's okay. But if you think 'oh, I'm going to send my mom a little [virtual]flower,' come on."
Jenna Somerton and her mother, Carla, are always trading gifts on Farmville - piles of wood to help build a barn, given free to help rack up points and build goodwill among players.
But the 25-year-old won't get any goodwill from mom if she offers one of Farmville's Mother's Day bouquets.
"I get people sending me hearts and stuff, I'm thinking 'what the heck is that,' " says Carla, 56. This year, the Ottawa-area family will stick with tradition - a bouquet of tulips and perhaps a hike in the nearby woods.
Some think participating in that virtual economy is just another avenue to share the love.
Avid Farmville player Maggie Dudka, 25, of Toronto often bestows virtual gifts to her beloved aunt who lives in Acton, Ont.
"I have sent her Mother's Day gifts and would probably send my mom gifts if she played online," she says. "Of course, it doesn't substitute real gifts, like flowers or a nice letter and card."