MMORPG Romances

Oh yes, it is real, it is out there, and it is a big part of online gaming! Many people (especially ones who avoid the online worlds of City of Heroes and World of Warcraft) roll their eyes at the idea of online gaming romance, and can you blame them? Even those of us who are quite familiar with the idea of being involved with someone online tend to laugh about it and pretend it doesn't really happen.

Really, I believe that the romance aspect of interacting with players in online games is one of a game's main draws! Of course it isn't why the majority of us go out and buy a game, but many of us get hooked into the online worlds because of the people there. Long after a game would have lost its initial appeal, people find themselves still logging on regularly to talk to that someone special.
But how real is what you have online with someone?

Of course there are the obvious problems with trying to have any kind of serious romantic relationship with someone online. They could pretend to be someone they are not, which can be both disturbing and dangerous. Take a fifteen year old female gamer who is flirting with a sixteen year old player online. Basically harmless, unless of course the fifteen year old girl is actually a forty year old man. I'm sure this sort of thing happens a lot more than all of us would like to think! Also, people really aren't themselves online. They may be kind of like they actually are, but the majority of people who seem confident and outgoing online, are actually anti-social shut ins. And of course, there can't be any kind of physical relationship, which makes me question, is that really a relationship at all?

There are ways to get to know someone online, at least enough to be sure that they are not a forty year old man posing as a teenage girl. I think it is the "voice chat" that tends to get people thinking things online are more serious than they would have been previously with just "text" chat. Programs like Teamspeak and Ventrillo are used by almost everyone who plays MMORPGs, and really, when you talk to someone directly, they become more like a real person, and not just someone online. It is easy to get attached, especially if you find yourself playing with them online eight hours every night!

So, what defines an online romance and how can you tell if you are in an online relationship with someone? I find that generally people online are far more open and honest about such things than people in real life. If someone develops feelings for you, or you develop feelings for them, most likely you will end up chatting about it while you kill goblins. I always find that this is when the fun ends and things get complicated.

I had always thought that you could never have real feelings for someone you had never met, and anytime I had an online romance, I never considered it real, and just played along basically because it was interesting and I'll admit, fun. I found that usually people take it pretty seriously however! They expect a monogamist relationship, which basically seems like a crazy request to me. Honestly, I don't think there can be infidelity in a relationship that is made up of only words and pictures.

Without a doubt though, it is possible to form a strong connection with someone online. There can be the flirting, cybering, dirty pictures, everything and anything that can make up an online relationship, but really if you both took a step back and took a close look at it, all you'd actually have is a friendship. Until you meet that person face to face and spend some time around them, you can't know what you really feel for them! Most people I have known who have had online relationships and then met that person, have taken nothing more out of it than an awkward one night stand, and most of the time less than that. I guess if you are looking for that kind of thing, you might want to pick up an MMORPG and start chatting up someone from your area, lol. Mind you, there are those "urban legend" couples who left the game world to meet in the real world and never returned, leaving only rumours passed on by their closest friends that they fell in love instantly and got married.

Really, all I have found of online relationships is that one person is always more into it than the other. If you try and make things progress they tend to fall apart. If you get too personal, someone always backs out. If you meet, things are never as good as you thought they'd be, and usually you don't like the person even half as much (because although a picture can say a thousand words, it really can't describe a person's smell or the sheen of their skin in certain lighting, or the amount of saliva they spray when they speak).

Despite all of this, online flirtations are something else completely! A nice flirty conversation with someone can cheer you up, give you a confidence boost, or just bring some colour to your cheeks. It is only once you try and complicate and label things that they loose their fun, light-hearted appeal, and become dreaded online drama. In a world full of daily personal drama, from work to family, who needs their online fun time to be tainted with tears and heartbreak?!

Basically, if you can keep it simple and keep it fun, MMORPG romance can defiantly add a amusing aspect to your gaming world. . .