I just finished reading about the Maplestory divorce (read it here – thanks to Avarwen for the article) and it got me to thinking.

 

Online games are getting more in-depth these days. More and more developers are trying out new ideas and features hoping to strike it big by getting the jump on the next hottest thing. So it’s only a matter of time before a game is released that actually encourages online relationships within the game itself. A few games have already toyed with the idea (World of Warcraft offers a few pieces of “Wedding Gear”) but there’s nothing that actively promotes its use by players.

 

Don’t misunderstand me though. I’m not against the idea, quite the opposite in fact. I’ve had a few MMO relationships myself and despite all the people crying out “But it’s not a real relationship!” or even the more vocal “zOMG!! Tob is teh cYb0rZ! LOL!” the actual feelings involved were very real (for the record, I have never “cybered” in my life… it’s just too weird). This is the biggest appeal for the idea behind online relationships. It’s also the biggest danger.

 

The problem is bringing real emotions into a fictional environment. Everybody has feelings, so each and every one of you reading g this should already know what emotions can do to a person. Emotions cause people to make bad judgments, make stupid mistakes that they always end up regretting later. Worse still, these bad judgments can affect people other than the player:

 

 

*Emotionally: Like the wife/husband of the player in the fictional relationship.

 

*Financially: As in the girl who flies overseas to meet up with her online lover, only to be rejected at first sight (I have seen this happen with my own two eyes).

 

*Electronically: In the case of the guy in the aforementioned article, he had his Maplestory character deleted… Maplestory might suck, but I’m guessing he put a lot of time into his toon.

 

*Physically: Any of the previously mentioned people decide to instead beat the crap out of the person who wronged them.

 

 

The list could go on, right down to the tragic murder/suicide that is bound to occur when the love lost is so hurtful, the scorned lover decides to go to those kinds of extremes.

 

Go on, tell me it’s just a game… Wait, screw that… Tell –them- it was just a game. Tell those whose real emotions were really involved… tell them their pain is just a game.

 

People always seem to think that games and life are totally separate, and they used to be right too. These days the gap is closing and everyone involved in games –from developers to players, hell, even the adolescent cashier at the game store – needs to start taking things a bit more seriously. Games are starting to have power in the real world and the second they can start touching a persons real feelings… well… then it’s not just a game…

 

Not anymore…

 

-Tob