So earlier this week, the good majority of us celebrated the romantic holiday Valentine’s Day by sharing the day with someone special. We spend the day with friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses… anyone special to us that we consider near and dear to our hearts. Well, that got some of us here at Nfamous to wondering if it would be possible to find love with someone that we share videogames with either in person or online. We’ve all heard the stories of people who meet over an online game, some of us have even lived those experiences - both good and bad, but we wondered just what some of us here had to say about the notion of finding a special someone through gaming. Some of us had positive things to say about the idea, others not so positive. In either case, you can read our opinions and agree or disagree.

Marron Marvel:

I know only a few people that have found love through video games. My relationship with my "WoW boyfriend" spilled over into real life for a while back in the mid-2000s when I was a hard-core player, and we dated for about a year. Long distance complications made it impossible to keep the relationship going.

Delta:

Yes I know someone who has met love from gaming. And actually I myself have met someone from gaming before. I could say it went pretty well. Now I may still be young but we were dating for about 3-5 months or so. We have since broken up, but we still text each other once in a while. I do see flaws in dating and relationships of this kind, like with her and I. She lived in L.A. and I was in Texas and we couldn't see each other so we decided to see other people closer to us. But sometimes, if circumstances are right, you can work things out. Like if that person might live near you or somewhere close to you, it could all work out for the best. I wouldn't really rely on it to much, but you know, you could make it work.

Shadow:

With the rise of internet dating, one would like to think that dating within the video game worlds would be ok, right?  Not so much.

Now, before you start berating me with examples of how you know someone who has met their loved one in a match of Halo, I know there are exceptions to every rule, but know that love found through gaming is just that;  an exception.

Why is that?

The answer is quite simple really.

Love found in video games are created through the gamers’ own love for video games.  The meeting place for the love birds is already filled with euphoria and nostalgia giving off feelings one would mistake for love.  I mean, they’re already playing video games. How can they not feel great around each other?  Once you take the game out of the equation, you’ll find that there isn’t much left to talk about.

I’ve know someone who fell in love with a guild member in the World of Warcraft.  They didn’t know this person outside of the game.  They met, and spent all their time, inside the digital world.  Everything was going well while they were fishing or mining for ore together, but once they started spending time on the phone, or Skype, things started to slow down.  It was only within the game where these two people felt they were at 100% together.  Turns out that they were both very chatty and very much into the World of Warcraft.

Finding love in a video game is a lot like finding love in a club, or bar.  You’ll be getting drunk off either booze, music, energy, or video games.  Once you let go, you can fall in love with anyone.  I mean, it could happen, but how likely would that be?

KYABen:

The internet has pretty much been integrated into everyone's daily life one way or another. With the ability to meet and interact with people right at your fingertips, it’s no surprise that love has found a way to blossom. I have read several stories over the years about people who meet in online games, find a connection then carry that over into real life. A friend of mine did just that while playing World of Warcraft. As the leader of one of the more accomplished guilds on his server, people were always trying to join. At one point, an entire guild merged with his and with that other guild came a certain lady. I don’t know all the specifics, really, but i do know that they ended up hitting it off when the guild met up at Blizzcon 2007. At the time he lived a little bit north of Los Angeles, and she in San Francisco. Over about a year or so, one way or another, they would meet up once a month or so on the weekend. As time went on these meetings got closer and closer together, either my friend would fly up there for the weekend or she would drive down. Eventually, about 6 months ago, she decided to look for a job in Los Angeles and they have lived together ever since.

I have read a few other stories around this time of year on Blizzard’s website about this sort of thing, and while it’s pretty uncommon, it does happen from time to time. I suppose meeting someone in an online game really isn’t very different than meeting them at the gym or anywhere else where people partake in some sort of activity they enjoy. Starting a relationship from a common interest, can be more fruitful than say, meeting someone randomly at the grocery store or a bar since you already have one thing in common!

Nightminx:

Love through gaming I feel is a possible way to meet that someone. Hell, people meet their future spouses through popular websites; it's not an impossible idea. There are always the possibilities of people meeting their other half through anything and that’s the way life is really. Now personally I don’t know anyone who met their other through gaming but if you feel that connection I can’t see any harm in at least trying. Now don’t be one of those people who are automatically in love, you have to take it slow and get to know one another. As with anything in life take it slow and TALK. And not just gaming talk, talk about things to get to know each other. When I think of the whole meeting people in gaming I think of this episode of South Park and how Stan’s sister meets her online boyfriend and they really don’t have anything to talk to each other, but when they have that computer oh they are so in love. Now that kind of relationship isn’t a relationship at all. And YOU have to know what is right for you. So if you feel that special someone is the person on the other side of that game take your time and get to know them before being and idiot. Because we know a lot of idiots out there right? Be careful and be safe, those are the best rules to follow if pursuing that relationship. Thank you.

Arcee:

I personally don’t see why people couldn’t meet a potential life partner in a gaming environment. I myself once met a few people whom I dated while playing online games like EverQuest back in the mid and late 1990s. As with other relationships, it is simply a matter of chance as to whether they end up working or not. Same as a person you meet at church or a club, every relationship has a 50-50 percent chance of working out.

The relationships I had with people I met online gaming were nice, but each ended up running its course. Not because all we had in common was gaming, but because it just wasn’t the right relationship at the time. Oddly enough, seven years ago I met a wonderful woman on MySpace. Two years later we were married, and now five years later, we have three wonderful children and are quite happy together. But that relationship could have just as easily ended up as the others if certain conditions weren’t right.

Aside from me, one of my co-workers also ended up meeting their spouse during the 2008 E for All event in L.A. They already had the common interest of gaming to help start off the conversation, but as they continued to talk and see each other they discovered other interest and likes they had in common. And last year, they tied the knot with each other.

It is always a good thing when you can start a relationship with something in common. That eases the way for the conversation to lead to other potential common interest. And if everything works out right, it could be a great relationship that could lead to other things. But as with other types of relationships, sustaining it beyond that one point of interest requires work and patience from both people. Trying to rely on just one thing in common will lead to the same end it will in every other relationship.