Posts with tag dating

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Today's edition of The Queue is one part off-topic and two parts on-topic, but each and every part is worth it. Trust me on that one. Oh, and there's a couple more bad words than usual. You have been warned. I hope none of you are too scandalized by it.

Windswept asked...

"There is this girl I like that works at the mall, I want to ask her out but I don't know how. What would YOU do?"

I can't quite see the purpose of World of Warcraft (or gaming in general) flavored dating sites -- if you were looking for a potential partner, why limit yourself to only people that play this game? But nevertheless, there are quite a few of them around, so someone must be using them. Datecraft is a site that was specifically targeted World of Warcraft bachelors and bachelorettes -- at least until this past week, when Blizzard hit them up with a C&D.

Well, not actually -- they only got threatened with one. We heard from the site's founders, and they tell us that they got a call from Rod Rigole, a VP of Legal Affairs over at Blizzard, who told them to cut out using Blizzard's artwork and terminology on their website was a no-no, and that they would be recieving legal papers soon. Rather than pick a fight, they instead redesigned to the standard gamer dating site you see today.

But here's the kicker: they used an official fansite kit to actually make the site. Even with the stuff they give out, Blizzard seems extremely protective of their artistic IP -- they used this same technique to attack the WotLK wiki and the Glider folks as well. They'll let fans slide, it seems, but if you're making money off of their materials, beware.

The multiplayer in MMO seems to be catching on these days, but for reasons you might not expect. BBC online recently published an article discussing how MMOs in general and WoW in specific make a great place to build romantic relationships.

It used to be that when a couple explained that they met online, their friends would color with embarrassment or quite likely just plain laugh. But nowadays with the popularity of the Internet online rendezvous aren't as uncommon, and now it appears that MMOs are the new trend in online dating.

Our good friends at Joystiq reported on a study earlier from Nottingham Trent University (it's in England) about MMO gamers and their social behaviors. And supposedly-- are you sitting for this one?-- massively multiplayer online games actually help people meet others and make friends. Go figure!

They surveyed 1,000 gamers (which is not a huge sample, actually), and found that almost half had actually met another player in real life, and one in ten developed "physical relationships" with someone they'd met in a game. 40% of people discussed sensitive issues with online friends rather than real-life ones, and 30% of players were attracted to another player. 80% of players also played not only with online friends, but with real-life friends and family as well. And according to the study, women were more likely to both be attracted to other players, and to eventually date them, and while women play for "therapeutic refreshment," men play for "curiosity, astonishment, and interest."

50% of respondents said World of Warcraft was their game of choice, so while the study was actually about MMO players, it's not a stretch to say it's just about WoW players (and pretty hardcore players, too-- average play time per week was 22.85 hours!). Like I said, 1,000 people is a pretty small sample, but apparently a journal approved it-- the study will be published in CyberPsychology and Behavior.

The image says it all (click for a full size version), here. A digg regarding a WoW-themed cake (hey, we've seen some of those recently!) made by a player's girlfriend resulted in the response seen above. What do those 1816 commenters have in common? None of them think you can date and WoW.

[Via Joystiq]

The Onion has published a humorous love letter which makes sense to any WoW player, though it has a poignant side. Sometimes it's hard to understand life without WoW -- just as it's hard to decipher the terminology any Azeroth resident is steeped in -- and relationships bridging the chasm can have their problems.

Ever tried to convince your other half to see the setting sun in Southshore rather than go out on the town? If your love life is eerily like this, perhaps it's time to reconsider your priorities. However, I know plenty of couples who play together and find it a good way to spend time together -- perhaps you can get your other half interested, though mine is quite happy not sharing this particular hobby.

[Via Joystiq]