Pixilated Love
by Lady Sirse
The question's been
popped, the date set, invitations set out and all the plans are in place.
Nervously the bride and groom pace in their appointed places waiting for
the guests to arrive and be seated. Sounds pretty normal, right? What
if I told you this wasn't real, that it was all a game? What if I told
you that two players in a MMO were joining, not their real lives and family,
but two pixilated characters. Why would anyone go through all of this
trouble for a game?
This month, the topic
for our Tuesday's Take is love and marriage in MMOs. Each week one of
our staff will share their experiences with this, for good or bad. We
encourage you to read their Takes and add your own as well. It is always
interesting to find out why people do things. Is your time in your favorite
MMO real to you or just a game? Let's start there.
If you are playing
day after day, week after week or even in many cases year after year,
bonds with your fellow players are sure to be made. Friendships are forged
through fun, adversity and danger. Sometimes, it can go beyond friendship
and into love. Have you ever heard of two people falling in love for real
over the computer? I can't tell you how many times I have personally encountered
folks that have met playing a MMO and eventually wound up together in
real life.
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/article-illustrations/WeddingInvitation.thumb.jpg" align=left>What about all those
fantastic role players out there. The people who are able to see their
characters as separate personas and let them have a full range of emotions?
Why do they allow their characters to meet people, fall in love and eventually
marry? I can't speak for them, but I am more than willing to tell you
about some of my experiences.
In Norrath, several
of my characters were strictly role-played and enjoyably so. I had created
an enchantress of dark elven origin that was a very fun character to play.
She had all the arrogance and power hungry attitudes that old time pen
and paper role players would expect. She spent much of her time in the
presence of an "older"
much higher level
shadow knight
who was in his words "amused" by her.
Day after day he watched
her grow and attain her goals of power and glory as she moved through
the world. Long after they had both given up hating each other, they came
to a point when it was possible for her to accompany him on his travels.
Soon, amusement turned into trust and trust into respect. After a particularly
difficult battle in the depths of the world, he asked this enchantress
to be his and to remain always at his side.
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/article-illustrations/Wedding.thumb.jpg" align=right>Though the enchantress
was swept away by his admission I, the player, was giggling at the silliness
of it all. The player behind the shadow knight was and is a dear friend
that I have known long before I even knew what EverQuest was. Both of
us at the time were married in real life and just enjoyed role playing
these characters.
Needless to say she
said yes and the game was on! It took weeks of planning to find a date
that our guilds could attend. Finding a Guide that was willing to perform
the ceremony was tricky so we had a back up "priest" on hand
just in case. You don't think clerics are only healers do you? We had
bakers and brewers from the guilds crafting away, bards writing songs
for the party and among all this somehow nerves and excitement built as
if it were a real life event!
Someone once commented
to me that the term "real life" was so misleading since our
life is made up of our experiences. What made gaming not real? I think
I agree with this statement because when you play an MMO or a pen and
paper game, you put your time, thought and emotion into what you are doing.
You are having real experience. How can that not be real life?
I was exiting to stand
in the depths of Neriak and go through a ceremony that proclaimed the
feelings my character had for his. It was fun to get gifts from our guild.
Who doesn't love gifts
even ones made of pixels? Hysterical doesn't
begin to describe the after party. Friends and passers by drank to the
point of incomprehension. The games that were played still make me smile
as I sit here writing this five years later. It was a wonder experience
for all that joined us that day.
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/article-illustrations/weddings_01.thumb.jpg" align=left>When I went into EverQuest
late last year to say good bye and delete my characters, I found in the
depths of one of my banks several items from that day. Though the character
no longer existed, some of those pixilated gifts did. It was bittersweet
to give them to friends and tell them the story that went with it.
Was it real life or
just a game? Am I odd for letting my characters feel emotion and experience
the world in more than a remote way? I will let you find your own answers
as we continue to look at this topic throughout February. In the mean
time, I will excitedly wait for the time when my characters can experience
Telon and who knows
maybe love awaits them there
>
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