Gaming and the Coupling Index: Strange Bedfellows

By Orogurath

Somewhere in ourselves, there is a deliberate mechanism grinding away, driving us to find attraction to other people. This inner machine blazes through hundreds of calculations in the span of a second, and sends the relay to your conscious brain, which can interpret the data and form an opinion. The result: Male A sees Female B and is instantly attracted. If the message were different, he might take no notice of the female and vice versa. The standards fall within a well defined boundary that becomes easily predictable in the majority of cases. When we factor in gaming, however, the mathematical predictability falls through the floor. Why is this?  What strange factor brings seemingly disparate people together in romantic ties?  I delved into the theory of attractiveness to discover the truth!

The basic feedback you receive from your inner mechanism is simply ones and zeroes. This creates a binary code that breaks down into: 1) You would, or 2) You wouldn't. This happens so fast that you can walk by someone and simply say “yep” or “hell no”.

Behind the scenes, I discovered a series of root factors that play into this equation, individual attributes that can be swayed within a few points on a scale of 1 to 10. One through five are relayed to you as “I would rather kill myself” while six through ten communicate a much more pleasant “Yes, have some”. The following is a breakdown of contributing factors.

Outward appearance: the first thing you check and predominantly the most important for attraction. The average human would be, say, a six. This takes the factor of species-specific recognition, allowing for a +1 to average, and explains much of why men would court most anything with human mammaries. Well groomed folks exude an additional +1, confidence nabs a peppy +1, and there is a + or – 1 due to personal preferences of height, weight, size of cranium, etc. Thus, an average human with no aberrant qualities, well groomed and confident becomes an instant 8 and thus highly attractive to the opposite sex.

Money: this became a huge factor weighing in!  Although diametrically opposed, men and women both place huge emphasis on money in the attractiveness quotient. According to most women, men exuding an aura of cash-flow receive a complimentary +8 to their score, explaining why hideously disfigured millionaires always have trophy wives. Conversely, women with a great deal of money receive a substantial -4 on the scale. When asked why, a survey of 100 million American men revealed:

• 99% - She's probably a self centered bitch.
• 1% - Abstained, married to the aforementioned.

The shocking truth came through and the numbers made sense. The remaining categories were alcohol and shared ideas. Alcohol consumption produced a steady rise in attractiveness for both sexes, up to a point where ethical filtering became impossible and all bets were off.

The equation of the inner mechanism typically creates couplings of like-attractiveness and similar social/moral background. The real wrench in the whole thing comes from the GAMING FACTOR. This is a factor that comes into play only when two people both enjoy games, such as our beloved Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach (DDO). In fact our Ralsu mentioned something of this nature in his editorial, Romance & Dragons. When tested with a very attractive female, we'll call her Sasha, the results were astounding. The geeky looking, poor male we tested her with we'll call Tim.

Sasha's equation in Tim's perspective:
6 + 1 (grooming) + 1 (confidence) + 1 (preference) – 4 (money)
Tim's prospectus: “She's hot, but she's probably a real self centered bitch.”

Tim in Sasha's perspective:
3 (looks) + 0 (grooming) + 1 confidence + 0 preference
Her initial reaction: “Ew.”

Obviously, these two were not going to hit it off through any natural occurrence.

However, when asked if they like DDO, they both lit up and started talking. Sasha was immediately struck by Tim's knowledge of "clericism" and the infinite permutations of multi-classing. When he learned that she could get him a +4 Holy War hammer from her guild, he dropped all of his previous concerns about her being self centered. The resulting backfire of their inner mechanisms produced the equivalent of a +4 synergy bonus applying only to gamers, placing both of them squarely back into the “Let's get it on” category and creating an instant match. Their children will be odd looking aberants and their families may commit suicide, but the two have found a kind of happiness that defies logic.

My conclusion is that gaming is one of the great equalizers, bringing together like-minded people through good times and giving us a reason to look beyond the outer shell. It's a great passtime and fun environment, allowing people from all over the world to play together and drop their boundaries. If the rest of the world could find that same kind of social adhesive, I think we'd see some dramatic improvement in everyone's quality of life. Enjoy the game and see you online!

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