This is one of the sillier articles that PC Gamer UK has probably ever written about massively multiplayer online games, but still, I enjoyed it. One of their writers went (only half seriously) looking for love in a few popular virtual worlds, and he found it, surprisingly enough, in Azeroth.
Neither EvE Online or City of Heroes were very helpful in the love-finding department -- despite finding a fetching young lady superheroine in CoH, the writer was a little disappointed to find out she was a he behind the keyboard. But WoW, as usual, provides the best of MMO experiences -- the writer finds some cute love in the Night Elf starting area.
Sure, it's silly (and probably not true -- just because someone says they're a Finnish college student means nothing at all online). But I found it strangely touching, the thought that a real human connection could be made in an online game. And isn't that why we play these in the first place?
We've asked before where people would like to live or vacation in Azeroth, and have gotten a surprising variety of responses.There are many lovely, scenic, and adventurous places that would be fantastic to visit.But is there anywhere you'd like to go on a date?
Sildurcausius of EU-Arathor (who needs an easier name to spell) asked on the EU-General forums where he should take his girl on a date in WoW. He said that he's bought a tux and some fireworks for the occasion.Amazingly enough, the responses offered some great suggestions:
Delilan of Nordrassil, "On the cliffs at Hinterlands is very preeeetty at sunset on a clear day..And feels like a romantic sorta place.."(followed by "Cant believe I just typed that")
Nyala of Steamwheedle Cartel, "In Feralas, the Twin Colossals. There is an npc near them that will teleport you to the top of one of the colossals. At the top is an npc who sells parachutes that allow you to jump down safely."
Erinys of Vashj, "The view from the hunting lodge balcony in loch modan is pretty especially at sunset and sunrise."
Thundernut of Quel'Thalas, "Perpetual autumn, very nice trees here. The sky is an orange/pinkish glow at night. If you like water an island in the bay of storms also gives a pretty view.
MMO Couples is a new blog about "how people successfully combine online gaming and relationships," and it's a pretty interesting read, whether you're a fan of online gaming or romance in general. It's written by "Gabi," a woman who met her boyfriend in WoW (she tells the story on the site), and while there's not much to read through there yet, it does seem like it might be an interesting look at how couples find themselves in virtual worlds.
There are also some tips on how to find love in a virtual world, and I like how down-to-earth they are: communicate as much as possible, be realistic, have a backup plan. Online romances are often full of drama, and it seems pretty tough to get a good relationship out of having met in a place where the whole point is that you're pretending to be someone you're not.
But a site like this would help fix some of that -- providing a community and a forum for folks in online relationships would probably help everybody involved.
This machinima is almost three years old, yet it still holds up today. Here Without You, by Dimoroc, doesn't have special effects, a flashy intro, or even any dialogue. It tells the story of a Forsaken and how they became that way. Using music and powerful scenes, he is able to convey emotion that I did not think possible of World of Warcraft.
The story of Dimorochimself is a mystery. He showed up at Warcraftmovies, uploaded this one video, and then disappeared shortly after. Almost two years later, he popped up under a different account to thank everyone for their comments, then disappeared again. However, present or not, he has left a lasting impression on the WoW machinima community. If you're out there, Dimoroc, thank you for creating one of the few machinimas that made me cry!
It's that time of year again: Love is in the Air in the capital cities of Azeroth. From now until the 15th, that sweet and sinister holiday where you show your affection to your fellow citizens and your faction leaders is upon us. Be sure to visit your local Innkeeper for a supply of perfume, cologne, and Love Tokens, and see if you can finally capture Qwee Q. Peddlefeet this year, or at least get that dress you've always wanted.
Teza at World of Raids has posted some information about changes that will be coming to the "Love is in the Air" holiday this February. Apparently, a player named Mushuu has kept a stash of the pledges from last Valentine's day. Upon opening them recently, he found several new items, including the new fireworks, Love Rockets, pictured next to this article. These items have made appearances on item database sites and were added in recent patches, but their exact use and purpose were unknown up to this point.
Check out World of Raids for the full story, including pictures of the other new item, the Romantic Picnic Basket.
Oh dear. Well, there goes any hope of name calling, hair pulling or other ungentlemanly behavior. (Or unladylike, I don't know the actual gender of the folks involved.) So, then, what can we actually take from all of this? Well, here are my own incredibly long winded 'point/counterpoint' thoughts.
Well, to be completely fair and honest, I have had a lot of the same problems with rogues Mirshalak mentions. While I don't believe that the entire class is sociopathic or full of people who can't work with a group, I have several stories stored up from my time playing WoW of rogues who decided to wipe the group and vanish because they didn't get a drop they wanted (not that someone else did get it, just because the boss did not drop the item, mind you) or rogues deciding to try and train bosses over the hunter who has feigned death to hopefully use his jumper cables to res a few healers in order to help prevent a reset wipe.
There's an interesting piece up over at the BBC's State of Play blog about how online games are becoming more and more social places, not just for friendly relationships, but for romantic ones as well. While meeting online used to be an embarassing thing for couples, nowadays it's much, much more common, and what better place to meet online than in a social MMORPG like World of Warcraft?
Unfortunately, the idea doesn't quite fly with me. In an online situation like, say Facebook, you're more or less playing yourself-- odds are you've posted your own picture, your own opinions, and your own favorite music. But in World of Warcraft, you're playing a character. And even if that character isn't completely different from your real-life persona (most people actually are themselves in the game, unlike hardcore roleplayers), it's still different enough, in my opinion, to be a significant barrier to actually judging someone as a relationship partner.
But that's just me-- lots of people have found significant others in online games, and even more have met lots of people in MMOs, and then actually become better friends or partners after meeting them in real life. But while an online space like Myspace or Facebook might be very conducive to getting a real sense of new people, an online game set in a fictional universe like WoW is still too separate from the real world to allow for a real love connection on its own.
We've congratulated and encouraged every class but two now, so the time has come to tell druids what we love about them! You know druids can do just about anything you might want them to, and very likely are seeing druids in prominent roles now more than ever before. Whether you play as a druid, with a druid, or against a druid, Elune knows there's lots to love -- but have you told your druid friend how much you love their druidic skills? Today's the day to say it! It's Druid Day and it's time for an encouragement innervate!
What do you appreciate most about the druids in your midst?
There are so many hunters out there that really there's no excuse for this post to not get at least 5 thousand comments from all the people who love being hunters so much. Obviously I exaggerate, but seriously, almost everyone who plays WoW will at least try out a hunter at some point, perhaps because they want to choose a nifty pet, or because they want to know what all this much ado about hunters is for.
Lots of us feel more at home in this class than in any other... but why? What is it about playing this class that people love so much? Do we love playing with hunters as much as we love being them? Doesn't fighting a hunter fill you with that joy of challenge that makes you want to come back and fight them again?
So today let's encourage all those hunters out there with a volley of positive comments -- and if you haven't noticed the class encouragement for other classes, be sure to leave them a note too!
Someone's gotta tank, and it's often warriors. The class most famous for standing under the nose of the most dangerous enemies in the World of Warcraft and taking everything such monsters can dish out on them sometimes just want a break, to sit back and just kill things like rogues get to do -- and they do that well too! Today is Warrior Day in this breakfast topic, and it's time to show all our warrior friends out there what we love about what they do for us.
So if you play as a warrior, with a warrior, or against warriors (and good ones!), shout it out how much you love it!
Mark it on your calendars! Our class encouragement continues today with Paladin Day, the special day when we give thanks to the Holy Light for the Divine Intervention that paladins can bring about. So many things make the Paladin class (and the people who play them) welcome on a team, that today we count our Blessings and talk about what it is we really love about our Paladin friends... or... perhaps enemies too! What do you love about playing as a paladin, playing with a paladin, or playing against a paladin anywhere in Azeroth or Outland?
Your comments about mages and shamans from a few days ago left me wishing I had time level two of my own. But today we return to our encouragement topic for a class I have already played quite a bit: What do you love about the Rogue class? When you play a rogue, group with a rogue, or play against a good one in PvP, what makes you say, "Yeah, that was classic!"
It does a rogue heart good to know how his or her play has left you stunned with surprise or appreciation.
You all were fantastic with your praise and encouragement of mages yesterday! Now today we turn toward shamans -- share with us everything you love about playing a shaman, playing with a shaman, or going head to head against a very competent one in PvP. Today is "Shaman Day" here in the Office of Breakfast Discussion at WoW Insider, and the time has come to see shaman hearts uplifted!
Think of it as a Chain Heal of love for our elementally spiritual friends.
I'm interested to know what you all love about each the various classes in World of Warcraft, going through them one-by-one. So here's the idea: today's topic is the Mage -- post a comment here and say everything you love about playing a mage, working with a mage, even the challenge of fighting a mage in PvP. There are plenty of places where all people do is complain in one way or another, but let's avoid that today. Let's think of today as "Mage Day" and put all our focus on saying good or encouraging things about them.
Think of it as an evocation of love for our arcane friends.
This is one of the sillier articles that PC Gamer UK has probably ever written about massively multiplayer online games, but still, I enjoyed it. One of their writers went (only half seriously) looking for love in a few popular virtual worlds, and he found it, surprisingly enough, in Azeroth.
MMO Couples is a new blog
Teza at 
Mirshalak
There's 
Subscribe
