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Relationships on WoW

MercylessMercyless Member Posts: 23
in World of Warcraft

Well, I posted this on the off-topic forum, but realized it might generate better responses here.

 

I am a Sociologist trying to do my dissertation work on romantic relationships that start in WoW.  If you or someone you know has had (or has) a relationships with someone they met through WoW, I'd really appreciate them answering a small survey.

 

I am being completely serious with this, so I'd appreciate any help you guys could offer me.

 

Soooo...


1.  How did you meet?  (PUG, Guild, Random, etc.)

 

2.  How long have you known each other?

 

3.  Have you met in real life?

     IF YES, How long after you met on WoW?

     IF NO, Do you plan to?

 

4.  What about this person did you find interesting?

 

5.   Why do you think the relationship has lasted as long as it has?

 

6.  What things (besides your obvious love of WoW) do you have in common?

 

7.  What activities do you engage in together?  (on and off-line)

 

8.  When compared to friendships or romantic relationships with people off-line, what would you say is different or similar about this relationship?

 

 

That's all for now, if you would like to help me some more, I'd really love to talk to anyone that'd be willing to do an actual interview at some point. 

 

If you're uncomfortable with public responses e-mail me at mercilessheart@hotmail.com.

 

 

Comments

  • KawabungaKawabunga Member Posts: 26

    I'd be curious the ratio of relationships that ended due to Online Gaming, compared to ones that met/started relationships.

    I knew of at least 3 marriages that ended due to Online gaming. 

    One was because the guys wife had an affair with their guild master.

    Two were just because the guy wouldnt stop playing day and night and neglected their wife, serious game addiction.

     

     

    If I killed it, it must taste like chicken.

  • MercylessMercyless Member Posts: 23

    I've heard similar accounts as well, so that is not without consideration.  But it's also a whole different study that I don't really want to go into.  I want to narrow my focus.

     

    Actually, a girl in my guild was dating another guy, but he worked all the time.  So, she got cozy with the guild master and now they're engaged and the poor work-a-holic is a distant memory.

     

  • amousamous Member Posts: 169
    Are you looking for people that got together by meeting in the game or maybe started playing together and because they knew each other in RL but became closer because of the time in the game. That happend to a friend of mine but then outside things happened and it didnt last that long but it still happens.

    image

  • Unknown
    This thread is creepy.
  • Unknown

    I know a dude called Hohenheim there dated a girl called Ariya on my server. When Ariya joined the same guild as Hohenheim and figure that she was a girl he vent insane. He started to help her a lot with quest stuff and such and over time they started to fall in love in. However in the end Ariya got feed up with Hohenheim and left him for a other guy with more epics.

  • SinkaelSinkael Member UncommonPosts: 68
    Just curious, but why are you limiting this to WoW?



    Would you not receive a much larger sample base if you were to expand it to people who met online, via online gaming.



    Or is there some special reason you are intentionally limiting your sample base to WoW players?
  • MercylessMercyless Member Posts: 23
    Originally posted by Sinkael

    Just curious, but why are you limiting this to WoW?



    Would you not receive a much larger sample base if you were to expand it to people who met online, via online gaming.



    Or is there some special reason you are intentionally limiting your sample base to WoW players?
    I am just limiting it to WoW in order to make my study easier to manage.  There are several articles that have been written on specifc aspects of WoW alone and I think that just focusing on this game will be more than enough for a dissertation.



    Someone I know got a grant to do a similar study of Everquest. 





    @ amous: I would be interested in that story if your friend would be willing to e-mail me.
  • White-EyesWhite-Eyes Member Posts: 108
    They have websites devoted to this kind of stuff you know.

    Stephan Moffett

  • D4rv3nD4rv3n Member Posts: 164
    I doubt anyone will do this survey
  • MercylessMercyless Member Posts: 23
    Originally posted by D4rv3n

    I doubt anyone will do this survey
    Actually a few people already have.



    And I'd appreciate it if people wouldn't post derogatory comments.



    Site likes Terra Nova and the Daedalus project are very good places to get started on looking at the relationship between gaming and culture.  So, this is not some silly project and I really would rather do without the snide remarks.
  • CarufinCarufin Member Posts: 92

     

    Originally posted by Mercyless
    Site likes Terra Nova and the Daedalus project are very good places to get started on looking at the relationship between gaming and culture.  So, this is not some silly project and I really would rather do without the snide remarks.

    Well, with all due respect, it actually is a pretty silly project. The large majority of WoW players are quite young for any serious study of relationships, in the first instance. Secondly, the number of relationships spawned will be predictably minute.

    Were there many, it would become a noticeable phenomenon, at which point perhaps worthy of study in some academic fashion.

    My experience with online relationships, though admittedly anecdotal, encompasses many years of continuous online gaming beginning with Sierra's "The Realm". In all cases that I've experienced, such relationships were furtive betrayals of one sort or another, seedy weekend get togethers, and other such pairings of vulgar and amoral character.

    Without exception, the healthy adult relationships I've witnessed were of those who were married prior to gaming together, and are naturally sharing a mutual form of entertainment.

    For most people, the idea of using an onling game as a matchmaking device is as silly a thought as using a matchmaking service to select online gaming partners.

  • MercylessMercyless Member Posts: 23
    Originally posted by Carufin


     



    Originally posted by Mercyless

    Site likes Terra Nova and the Daedalus project are very good places to get started on looking at the relationship between gaming and culture.  So, this is not some silly project and I really would rather do without the snide remarks.

    Well, with all due respect, it actually is a pretty silly project. The large majority of WoW players are quite young for any serious study of relationships, in the first instance. Secondly, the number of relationships spawned will be predictably minute.

    Were there many, it would become a noticeable phenomenon, at which point perhaps worthy of study in some academic fashion.

    My experience with online relationships, though admittedly anecdotal, encompasses many years of continuous online gaming beginning with Sierra's "The Realm". In all cases that I've experienced, such relationships were furtive betrayals of one sort or another, seedy weekend get togethers, and other such pairings of vulgar and amoral character.

    Without exception, the healthy adult relationships I've witnessed were of those who were married prior to gaming together, and are naturally sharing a mutual form of entertainment.

    For most people, the idea of using an onling game as a matchmaking device is as silly a thought as using a matchmaking service to select online gaming partners.



    I am not at all suggesting that people use the game with the intention of finding someone.  I am well aware that it is not a dating site, but a game.  Matches do, however, happen.  Whether they are "seedy" and "amoral", they are still relationships.  And if it is largely true that on-line games produce such pairings, then that in itself is worth studying.  The sites I mentioned performed similar studies and are academically recognized, lending some credibility to what I am trying to do. 



    WoW players are not all children either.  In my experiences on the game, and with the guilds I've played with, the players were (by and large) adults with adult responsibilities that usually got in the way of gaming.



    In a game with over 6 millions subscribers, I don't know how anyone could say that relationships spawned in-game would be "predictably minute."  I've heard of many and received a good number of responses to these questionnaires.
  • AxlinAxlin Member Posts: 27
    Originally posted by Carufin
    Well, with all due respect, it actually is a pretty silly project.
    ...


    Were there many, it would become a noticeable phenomenon, at which point perhaps worthy of study in some academic fashion.
    Are you kidding? Human interaction on the Internet and in video games is huge for sociology. I mean, there are so many set standards for human behavior in social circumstances, but the Internet and video games break a lot of these rules. I mean, the way in which people willingly enter into intimate relationships online and stay committed to them for long periods of time without ever seeing each other in person is amazing. You would have never seen anything like that before the Internet. And the way in which people behave due to such factors as anonymity and a lack of numerous social pressures and influences is also very interesting. I would call this a study of a n incredible sociological phenomenon rather than "silly." =P



    I have seen many people enter into these kinds of relationships in various games, though never in WoW. When I have a little bit more time, I will shoot you an email with one personal experience of mine that took place about 4 or 5 years ago; unless you only want stories from WoW?
  • MercylessMercyless Member Posts: 23
    Originally posted by Axlin

    Originally posted by Carufin
    Well, with all due respect, it actually is a pretty silly project.
    ...


    Were there many, it would become a noticeable phenomenon, at which point perhaps worthy of study in some academic fashion.
    Are you kidding? Human interaction on the Internet and in video games is huge for sociology. I mean, there are so many set standards for human behavior in social circumstances, but the Internet and video games break a lot of these rules. I mean, the way in which people willingly enter into intimate relationships online and stay committed to them for long periods of time without ever seeing each other in person is amazing. You would have never seen anything like that before the Internet. And the way in which people behave due to such factors as anonymity and a lack of numerous social pressures and influences is also very interesting. I would call this a study of a n incredible sociological phenomenon rather than "silly." =P



    I have seen many people enter into these kinds of relationships in various games, though never in WoW. When I have a little bit more time, I will shoot you an email with one personal experience of mine that took place about 4 or 5 years ago; unless you only want stories from WoW?

    I would love your story, thanks!  Any little bit helps.



    And it is an incredible sociological phenomena.  It's still virgin territory and the literature starting to emerge is very compelling.
  • amousamous Member Posts: 169
    Originally posted by Mercyless

    Originally posted by Sinkael

    Just curious, but why are you limiting this to WoW?



    Would you not receive a much larger sample base if you were to expand it to people who met online, via online gaming.



    Or is there some special reason you are intentionally limiting your sample base to WoW players?
    I am just limiting it to WoW in order to make my study easier to manage.  There are several articles that have been written on specifc aspects of WoW alone and I think that just focusing on this game will be more than enough for a dissertation.



    Someone I know got a grant to do a similar study of Everquest. 





    @ amous: I would be interested in that story if your friend would be willing to e-mail me.

    I will let him know

    image

  • Eben032Eben032 Member Posts: 15

    Kinda going along in this thread..I saw a news report of a person on MSNBC who was playing everquest (not sure if it was 1 or 2). This guy met a female player while playing the game and fell in love with her. I dont think they ever met if i recall the story right. But  she ended up leaving him or stopped playing or something along those lines, and in the end he ended up commiting suicide. i found the article online, apparently the kid had several other issues as well.

     

    I know its Wiki..but its the best one i could find quickly.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Woolley

  • FaelanFaelan Member UncommonPosts: 819
    Originally posted by Mercyless



    Actually, a girl in my guild was dating another guy, but he worked all the time.  So, she got cozy with the guild master and now they're engaged and the poor work-a-holic is a distant memory.
     
    Well, that story doesn't encourage one to play less and work more, eh?. Quite the opposite lol

    I'm a big ol' fluffy carewolf. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

  • RecantRecant Member UncommonPosts: 1,586
    Very recently, a couple who met through Everquest 2 and were maintaining some kind of relationship through the game, won the lottery here in the UK.  Aside from the obvious amazing nature of their luck, It was on a PvP server too, which I think is interesting.



    People often tend to look at the negative community aspects of a PvP server, but they forget the companionship players forge through struggle against a shared foe.  You could argue that PvE can offer the same kind of thing, but I think that PvP offers a wider range of somewhat negative emotions which can require strife or companionship to overcome or mitigate.



    Sorry if I'm rambling off topic.

    Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...

  • MercylessMercyless Member Posts: 23
    Originally posted by Recant

    Very recently, a couple who met through Everquest 2 and were maintaining some kind of relationship through the game, won the lottery here in the UK.  Aside from the obvious amazing nature of their luck, It was on a PvP server too, which I think is interesting.



    People often tend to look at the negative community aspects of a PvP server, but they forget the companionship players forge through struggle against a shared foe.  You could argue that PvE can offer the same kind of thing, but I think that PvP offers a wider range of somewhat negative emotions which can require strife or companionship to overcome or mitigate.



    Sorry if I'm rambling off topic.
    No, actually, that's just the kind of speculation I'm starting to think about in order to reach some sort of point with all of this.   Thanks for the input.
  • Unknown
    Originally posted by Eben032


    Kinda going along in this thread..I saw a news report of a person on MSNBC who was playing everquest (not sure if it was 1 or 2). This guy met a female player while playing the game and fell in love with her. I dont think they ever met if i recall the story right. But  she ended up leaving him or stopped playing or something along those lines, and in the end he ended up commiting suicide. i found the article online, apparently the kid had several other issues as well.
     
    I know its Wiki..but its the best one i could find quickly.
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Woolley



    Im shocked. That 21 year old kid took that game to serius. He was heavy addicted to that game, like most ppl are to World of Warcraft these days. But commit suicide over a girl or game it just too sick.

    Womens will come and go, thats is just the way of life.

     

    There is also this link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/17/48hours/main525965.shtml

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