【eroticizing violence】

What started out as a fun,eroticizing violence entertaining way to get people hyped about Spectacles is now just frustratingly annoying.

That's right, I'm talking about how SnapchatSnap is still milking Spectacles out with its extremely limited release using Snapbot vending machines.

It's been three weeks already. Either sell me the damn camera glasses without me needing to stalk your website or I'm throwing my money on other more useful gadgets, like a pair of Beats Solo 3 wireless headphones for my headphone jack-less iPhone 7.

Look, I always give credit where credit is due. And Snapchat certainly deserves a great amount of credit for its guerrilla campaign for Spectacles.

Setting up a Snapbot online, asking people to wait until it wakes up, wait for the countdown timer, and then get the location for where the physical vending machine will appear next? It's genius, really.

By not selling Spectacles directly to people through an online or physical store, or even through the Snapchat app, Snap creates the illusion of scarcity and keeps buzz going.

"How badly do you want a pair of Spectacles?"is essentially how Snap is selling them. "And to what lengths will you go to get a pair?"

For diehard Snap fans (especially ones with huge followings), driving hours to a location, only to wait in line for more hours to maybe-- you might not even make the cutoff! -- get a chance to buy a pair of Spectacles is well worth the journey.

The "joy" it brings to people to be amongst the first of their friends to own the shiny new toy everyone can't stop talking about is priceless.

And it was definitely an interesting tactic at first. The excitement (real or not) for Spectacles is the most intense I've seen for a product in ages.

But again, it's been three weeks already. How long is Snap going to keep drip-feeding us until we stop caring?

Personally, though I really like Spectacles and think they'll succeed where Google Glass failed miserably, I wouldn't have the patience to see where the Snapbot will land next.

This game is too damn stressful.

At a certain point, you have to consider your own sanity when the Snapbot's location disappoints you over and over and over again.

At least Snap has opened up a pop-up shop in New York City so I don't need to bother getting played by its interactive map every day, but my friends in San Francisco -- ho, ho, ho, do I feel for you guys. Like, what's the point of life without Spectacles and round videos right?

But it's not like the store solves the problem. I would happily skip over the the Spectacles pop-up shop and pay $130 for my own pair of camera glasses (the ones I reviewed belong to Mashable), but the line to get in is beyond ridiculous.

The NYC store is open Monday-Friday from 4-10 p.m. Not only am I still at work at four o'clock, but there are already people in line who have been waiting since morning. Either these people don't have school or work, or they're professional line-waiters who are just going to flip the Spectacles for a tidy profit.

I mean, one look at this video of the line snaking out of the store, down into the subway (yes, down into the friggin' subway) and all the way around the city block is enough of a NOOOOPE.I don't want Spectacles that bad to wait in a line that deep in the freezing cold.

A couple of my colleagues and I have gone back and forth on how long we think Snap can/will keep up with these shenanigans. Some people think it'll continue until the end of year -- I think it will since the NYC pop-up shop is open through New Year's Eve -- and some think Snap could keep playing its Snapbot game until spring.

Honestly, even the end of 2016 is too long in my opinion. Just think of how many heartbroken users out there who will be in tears because they won't be Snapping with Spectacles on Christmas day.

Why must you toy with us Snap? Whyyyy?

And remember, Spectacles haven't even launched internationally yet. In theory, Snap could deploy the same hype-generating Snapbots to sell Spectacles in Europe and Asia.

The worst part, by far, are the people taking advantage of the situation. For instance, there are people who snagged a couple of pairs of Spectacles and are renting them out to suckers. It only makes me more mad.

If Snap just sold Spectacles to everyone like Apple sells iPhones, these kinds of exploiters wouldn't be in business. People wouldn't be renting Specs out, and the people reselling them wouldn't be making almost 10x of what they're worth (though reselling hot new products for profit will always be a thing).

I admit, my plea is really the first-worldliest of problems. Boo hoo, I can't get a pair of Spectacles for myself because I don't want to wait in line until I'm old and have gray hair. Logistically, it's very possible Snap doesn't have the production prowess to mass-produce Spectacles to sell through traditional channels, even though the components inside don't appear to be all that complicated (certainly not as sophisticated as Google Glass).

Still, there's a fine line Snap's walking here by testing the Snapchat faithful's loyalty to such an extreme. Despite my amour for Snapchat Stories, I could live without a pair of camera sunglasses and I could definitely live without circular videos.

The big question is: will others also be over Spectacles because they're tired of waiting for Snap to bless their neighborhood with a Snapbot? If Snap's smart, it'll cut the games soon and sell Spectacles directly before momentum for Spectacles cools off and people move onto the next hot thing.