I've made some great friends in game, and even have a few friends from WoW in real life now. Hopefully I will meet many more friends on my MoP journey!
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
I personally use WoW as an escape from my personal life. I chat with my guildies, but mostly play it for the game's entertainment value.
Wouldn't be playing still if it wasn't for my guild. :)
Well, they are my life. I was in a car crash 12 years ago breaking my neck and becoming a quad, MMORPG's became my life. I play about 12-18 hours a day. If that wasn't enough I met my fiancee on a RPG 9 years ago and we are still together, both playing WOW in fact.
Sadly, I'm still solo this Valentine.However, many of my current friends are people I met online on video games first. Over the years, I've met them in person and we've been good friends ever since.Online, you see the person's personality up front without context. Looks don't come into it. Peer pressure doesn't come into it. Wealth (or lack thereof) doesn't come into it. Considering all that, finding friends online really has some advantages : )One friend I met on Diablo 2.One friend I met on Counter-Strike.One friend I met on World of Warcraft.
Online gaming has done nothing but strengthen my friendships and make new ones. The people I meet online (and like) are always nice people that are valued friends and it's had no negative effects on my current friends as they're all geeks anyway. As for my relationship...ohh please, I'm an online gamer hehe.
WoW caused an interesting turning point in my relationship with my boyfriend.Before I met him I had always played video games, just had never gotten into MMOs because no one I knew played them or admited to playing. So I stuck with NWN and the original Warcraft games plus all my console games (Suikoden!). When I met my boyfriend it was through friends, neither knew of the others love of video games. Eventually he discovered how much I love RPGs and talked me into playing Everquest with him. I loved it!6 months into our relationship he got deployed. it was a hard time for both of us. I stuck with EQ and made friends with his friends, some of which I am still very close to.When he got back from deployment 16 months later we ended up breaking up due to both of us being in a weird place after being apart for so long. However, while we were breaking up he told me that he was playing WoW and a lot of our EQ friends had moved over to WoW as well. He ended up talking me into playing as well, in the same conversation we were breaking up in....We stayed in touch through WoW and 6 months later he ended up moving in with me....That was 3.5 years ago and we are still going strong. We have since bought a house and gotten a dog. Still play WoW together. WoW is not the only thing we do as a couple but plays a good sized role in our relationship. We enjoy playing together and it's a lot cheaper than going out all the time =)2 of our close friends met in EQ, they are now married and expecting a son. We have all made life long friendships through our MMOs and I don't think any of us would give that up for anything.
following is a letter i sent to Blizzard telling my story. i recieved a response from blizzard too thanking me for sharing the story. included were several pictures which i cant put in a forum post. enjoyDear Mr.Metzen It comes to my attention that I owe you, to explain this I would like to tell you a story;Roughly 6 years ago, when I was 18 I moved away from all my friends that I had grown up with, as my mother was moving I had to move with her. As you can imagine that left me in a somewhat lonely situation, yes I got a new job and made a couple new friends but I was still 200miles away from the people I wanted to see and I couldn’t drive. I was bored, lonely and depressed until one fateful visit back to see them when I see one of them playing World of Warcraft.I had the usual skeptical “oh that’s lame, geeky and addictive” but my goodness how wrong I was (except for the addictiveness :P) within 2 hours I was beginning my adventures in Azeroth with some of my best friends by my side. As it was online I gave me an easy way to stay in touch with my friends and enjoy time I spent with them, in general because I had little else to do I played WoW lots…lots and lots, surpassed my friends in levels and really started to love this game.Fast-forward a few months, I’m going about my business, questing here and there when my discussion with a guild member turns into knowing names and location, turns out her name was Hazel and she lived a mere 50 miles from me, quick and easy trip on a train and before we know it we’re meeting up. At first it was a case of, it’s great to meet someone that I have spent a lot of game time with (aside from previously mentioned friends) but it quickly bloomed into a relationship that would change everything.In the ensuing months we met up more and more until I eventually broke the parental bonds and moved in with her, a pathetic small place to live but it didn’t matter, Anyway, we were happy with each other and we still had wow so all was good :D. We thoroughly settled and were comfortable with everything and after about a year I decided…”this is it” and proposed marriage. We had a massive in game ceremony followed by a party then a few months later we did it for real. I looked but can’t find any screenshots of our wow wedding, shame, it was great.The second significant part of this whole story I would like to introduce now…meet Willow She was born on December 5th 2009We decided to marry before she was born so engagement was brief and we married on September 11th 2009She really is a child of wow, she has attempted to play it already but didn’t have much luck, the guild couldn’t quite understand her messages but she knows what to do with a keyboard and mouse infront of her. She is an incredibly clever young girl and I could never hope for anything more.There she is doing her best to say hello to the guild. Our baby griffon and windrider cub now belong to her and one day when she is older she’ll know the importance of this game in her parent’s lives. Of course once she was born the amount of time we both played dropped significantly but we worked out a system that still allows me to raid twice a week and allows hazel to play often enough too. Although I get to play when she sleeps in the day whilst hazel works as I am the stay at home dad.So put in a nutshell this letter is a real thank you, its more than just that though, its gratitude from the deepest most epic parts of me, I am who I am now because of wow and without it, I wouldn’t have my beautiful daughter willow, consider her a god-daughter of all of you there. I don’t know if you have heard other similar stories like this, they are probably one in a million but consider how many million players there are on wow I’m sure there must be a few, it really did change my life, got me from being down in the dumps depressed teenager to a family man that couldn’t be more content with the fact I am married, and have a wife that allows me to play (I didn’t think such a thing would be possible). Without it, there is no telling what I would be up to these days but I don’t think I would be as content and happy as I am now. The reason I send this to you specifically is because I see your name mentioned lots with regards to the game development, I couldn’t find exactly whose idea world of warcraft initially was but as I have heard of you most…this letter goes to you and anyone else you think should read it, or would like to read it.So once again, to you and all at the WoW team…Thank youYours truly,Tarrant Bass
My wife and I first met while playing WoW. We started hanging out and getting to know each other for a good six months before we started dating and after another six months of dating finally met each other in person. WoW gave us a medium to interact with each other from completely opposite sides of the country. If it had not been for World of Warcraft I know we would have never come across each other. Because of that I am very thankful for the role World of Warcraft played and continues to play in our lives. We are now happily married and living in the same house...YAY!
Raiding with the same people for 3-4 nights a week, for as many or more years, WoW has become a huge portion of my social interactions, friendships, and relationships. I've met up IRL with most of the people I play online with, and have continued friendships with others who have since quit raiding or the game completely.My boyfriend and I met through WoW. For several years, he was a casual acquaintance. I didn't know much about him aside from the sound of his voice, and that he was a good player; our guilds held joint alt runs throughout TBC; we danced outside the Scryer bank, and then the north bank in Dalaran; I joined in on the alt runs he lead through ICC. A few months into Cataclysm, his raid group was dwindling, so he joined up with my team. We chatted a lot, and got more friendly as time went on. This past summer, it came out that he had friends in my area, and was going to be visiting soon. We met up, had a date, and have been together since!
One of my best friends that I have known for years moved across the country. Since we both played MMOs, we were able to keep in touch on a daily basis without running up phone bills.
If it wasnt for online gaming (specifically WoW), I would have never met my future wife. We met as a random RP encounter in Silvermoon city... found out OOCly that we lived near each other.... got to talking..... one thing led to another.... and here we are one year later, as close as a couple can be. I love my girlfriend with all my heart, and cherish what got us together every single time i see her smile.
I've been playing WOW since it launched. My husband plays, as well as my youngest Son and Daughter. My twin Grandsons (that I've raised since birth) - also play with us. That makes three generations in one home playing together. Jordan (Grandson), is 6, he's been tanking in WOW since he was 2.5 (and doing well at it). It keeps the communication open and allows for a "family" event that we all enjoy equally. I'm trying to talk my Mom and Dad into playing - but no luck as of yet.
I have tried so many different ways to get my significant other into WoW,... but alas... it is not meant to be. I can already see that I am going to have to make a choice between them someday. Not sure which one I am going with yet...