This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
My husband, when we started dating nearly 6 years ago in March of 06 (holy jeez, that was freshman year of high school!), played WoW. I didn't get into it until October of that year, didn't like the druid he had me start on (was still a MMO noob, somehow would aggro everything in Mulgore), but when I made my nelf hunter, my obsession was born lol. He stopped playing soon after, moving on to different games, but I've still stuck with WoW. Though it did cause some issues in the first year or so (when I had to use his computer, thereby leaving him bored to death), it got better once I had my own laptop and wifi at my house, so I could spend better time with him when I was at his house. We've been married nearly a year now (anniversary in April), and WoW is simply a part of my life, but I never let it get in the way of spending time with him.
I found friendships and relationships within an MMO awfully fleeting.I've had a relationship with a guy from Romania (being Dutch myself), whom I had met in our guild - however, in the real world there wasn't much left of whatever attracted me to him in-game. I quickly ended the relationship when I realised it was an unhealthy one, and that the guy I fell for wasn't the guy that was within arm's reach.Without wanting to sound bitter over a failed relationship, I also found nothing but this fleetingness in the friendships I (thought I had) built. You can chat endlessly with people, you can talk about the most serious subjects, entrust the closest of secrets - in the end it'll only prove to be meaningless. People will suddenly stop playing the game, or you will stop playing it yourself, and the close contact you had will vaporise. I used to raid frequently, but when I retired I suddenly found myself outside of the 'inner circle'. The same thing happened when I retired from being an Officer, and later when I logged to a certain faction/server a bit fewer in order to level some alts with friends. After a while people will even stop greeting you when you login, or maybe just a 'hey, how are you?' - as if you're forgotten before you had a chance to actually leave. People in an MMO really live up to the 'out of sight. out of mind' saying.Another fitting example is that of my boyfriend's ex - she died about 2 years ago, and all her friends and guildies in WoW lamented her death, saying she was such a warm and caring and loving personality. She wasn't, in fact she was quite egocentric and heartless (not my personal experience, but all heard from the people I met who knew her irl), but this was how she portrayed herself to the community. A maskerade. Imagine that any of those friends/guildies had experienced her how she really was... they probably would've felt shattered.You can't build a friendship on lines of text on a screen - it hides too much of how a person really is. You'll need face-to-face contact to be able to break through that barrier. After over 4 years of WoW, and after having been tremendously open-minded regarding online friendships/relationships, I now drew the only possible conclusion - no matter how close you feel you are with someone online, they're only letters on a screen, only that part of themselves which they decide to show you. It will never become a true friendship, unless you can meet up in the real world and become friends there as well. For the rest, it's all a maskerade. All a game.
My guild of 5 friends have been playing WoW every Monday night since launch, for 7 years! We now span across 3 different states—Colorado, Wyoming and Pennsylvania, but playing WoW every week has kept us in contact and our friendships alive. Before WoW, we played Dark Age of Camelot and there used to be more than five of us, and I'm afraid I've lost touch with some of the people we used to play with... so it really shows how WoW has kept our five friendships going strong for so long!
I met my fiance in our guild back in BC. Back then, we were both just being playful flirts, but over the next year it carried out moreso, and we started arranging meets to see each other. Over 1000 miles one way each trip was. After 4 years, we decided it was time to stop the travel game, and 2 years later we are engaged. We've always raided together since the meet, healing side by side.
I usually play a druid for the added flexibility in what i'm doing. WoW has been a social lifeline for me the past few years as my health has become poor and i'm somewhat isolated as a result.
A couple that plays together stays together!
My fiance and I have always worked well together, but playing WoW has just strengthened us as a team. We like to duo encounters together, and we have become really good at communicating so we can accomplish the challenge. A lot of the time we don't even have to say anything, we just have each others' back a when CC or taunt is needed. It's also a great way to spend a relaxing evening together when you're on a tight budget.
My fiancee and I play WoW, and Rift together. He is really excited to teach me to play Guild wars when the new one releases. We did not meet playint the game and neither one if us introduced the other to the game. It just turned out we both played, to beat it all we both played on the same realm already! We have been leveling toons and raiding together ever since. It really is fun to have something we both enjoy so much.
i met my girlfriend on wow, so i guess you could say it plays a big role in our relationship
MMOs by themselves, are fun. I've played many where I liked my character, and the graphics, and the gameplay etc. But they become ADDICTIVE when I meet a set of people that share my humor and interests and are exciting to be around. GUILDS make MMOs addictive... for me, anyway. Every single MMO that I've been addicted to was addicting because I had a guild that I logged on every day to talk and have fun with.
Online gaming has been a great way to keep in touch with friends that have moved away and reminding them who's boss :P , also meeting new people theres no better watering hole in the world than an MMO you meet people from all walks of life some of my best friends ive meet in game, visited a few and no surprise but 90% of them ARE their in game characters they are exactly as goofy or serious or funny as they are in real life real pleasure :)
believe it or not, wow saved my relationship with my boyfriendi used to always play wow and he would sit in the other room on his silly playstation. we would spend the whole night not talking and then we would just argue about itso one day i asked him to sign up with a trial account and he loved it :Dnow we always play together and everything is just greatso thanks wow for saving my relationship! ♥
My husband & I met online way back in 1998-ish. We had mutual friends in a chat room and would talk. We got married in 2001 :) I knew he loved online games and console games. You name it, he probably played it. He brought home World of Warcraft one day. At the time, we only had one computer, so it began mostly sitting there watching him play. I talked him into getting me my own account so I could play too. I ended up leveling my first character to 70 a week before he hit 70 on his. :)Here we are, many years later and we still play daily. We've gotten compliments at how well we work together in game, and out. I think the game has brought us closer together because its something we can share and have fun doing. Of course there is one downside to gaming with your spouse, at least on his end, he's always gotta give me all the good loot ;)
I met my BF on WoW. We'd been friends for 2 years or so prior, kinda distant, but he was a pretty good friend. I was transferring my toons away from his server though, and I offered him my Real ID. My friends ditched me on my new server, so I drifted back to the old one and ended up spending a lot of time with him.
Well, I met my girlfriend on Warcraft. I've now moved country to live with her.I remember her application to my guild, still visible on our forum. To be honest, I had a lot of members back then, and I don't remember her as well as I should, something which she berates me for even today. After a couple of years, we had our first guild real-life meeting - for which I flew (my first trip without my parents) from Glasgow, to a crap little town called Karlshamn in Sweden (which I now know how to pronounce).Fast-forward a year, and we were both flying backwards and forwards to see each other, and stuck on Skype the rest of the time. Anyone who's tried long-distance will know how that is. We also had an in-game wedding at this time - in Stormwind Cathedral, with most of the guild present. We had a short honeymoon in Stranglethorn, at the beautiful cove just north of Booty Bay. We were hounded by guild-comrades-turned-paparazzi too. I still keep my Flawless Diamond Solitaire in my bags. Not equipped, of course - wouldn't want to kill my DPS...Screenshots! http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/5503/wowscrnshot021408205515.jpg - Weddinghttp://img705.imageshack.us/img705/9887/wowscrnshot021408211950.jpg - HoneymoonA year later, and I had moved to another country, learned a new language and slightly different culture, and gained a whole new family. So a positive experience, all round.As an aside, our characters are also married on LOTRO, where we share the last name of Cumquad.
In 2008, Blizzcon was held on October 10th and 11th. Because our anniversary is on October 13th my wife and I decided to attend the convention for an "Anniversary Trip". Then we went to Disneyland in our Blizzcon shirts. :D