Online Gaming

In reading many of the posts here on Ageless, it seems like more and more relationships have begun with meeting friends through online gaming. I am interested in what games people play and how you came to enjoy them. I actually started online gaming to TRY and do something with my husband, since he was playing them all the time. Our marriage was snowballing downhill and what I came to find was that our online gaming friends started to fill an emotional connection/void that was present in my "RL" relationship. Well, anyway, I did meet my YM online...and we were friends for months before we even knew each other's age..or before we admitted we had feelings for each other. Most of the people I was talking with were in their 20's and the group kind of prided itself on being an "adult" or more mature guild in the game...so I was shocked when I found out Chris was 18...but by then, it was too late :o

Anyway, almost 10 months later....as he puts it - he hasn't stopped falling for me. Our visits have been amazing, the game is a backdrop and occasional entertainment now but I will always have a special place in my heart for that particular game because it introduced me to some amazing friends and one soulmate...

Oh yea...the game. A freebie called KalOnline :)

I actually met my guy in a gaming forum, but we both played Everquest at the time. That was years ago. Then it was City of Heroes, and now we play World of Warcraft.

Kye

Loved City of Heros and I *love* WoW. Bring on the expansion pack!

My dh and I met in an online game. It was called There. It is also a free one. It is more like a nightclub than a game though.

I will always have a special place in my heart for that particular game because it introduced me to some amazing friends and one soulmate...

Oh yea...the game. A freebie called KalOnline :)

Count us in..

We met on SWG so I will always have a big ol' softspot for it. Even if it does kinda suck nowadays. :p

We are currently playing WoW.

We met playing games online but we're unique in that we were playing board games -- specifically Scrabble -- instead of war and/or role playing games when we met.

Sort of embarassed to say this, but my first online game was Sims Online. I thought of it as sort of a sociological experiment. Do you remember those sociograms? They fascinated me, as did the house building and decorating aspect. It was a completely open ended game; no leveling, no guilds, very sweet and creative. (I was a vampire and ran a dance studio.) It was also loose and simplistic, so when creative players moved onto other games, it became a bit boring. A friend from that game asked me to play SWG with him. Awesome game! (I was a Zabrak tailor after a frustrating stint as a CombatMedic). We played for about a year; I think my excellent advice about girlfriends, life, and college were actually quite helpful to him in RL! Lol. He is a game hopper...always trying out the latest beta's. So when he left I sort of cooled my gaming. Then one day he invited be to play FFXI with some art institute buddies of his, where I met my YM. Been playing that game since Fall of 2003 and still play. (I am a WHM, YM is a BLM)

That's my history in online gaming. Now for my take on the friendships. They absolutely filled a deep void. They were absolutely real! Contrary to what many think, these games are not all about hooking up and cybersex. In fact, because you are engaged with a team of people in a cooperative activity, you can actually learn quite a lot about people by how they play the game. Are they honest? Do they cheat? Do they help newer players? Are the reliable? Do they follow through? A guy crudely hitting on you in a game is just as repugnant as in RL. They are sort of a microcosm our larger society and what struck me when I finally did meet my YM after more than a year and a half of gaming with him, was that he was exactly in RL like I expected him to be!

Rozie I could not agree with you more. You are absolutely right on. This has been my experience too.

BTW... I also played Sims Online... started in Beta. :) I also played SWG... Human Master Docter here. Never played FF tho... hmmm... I think I might be one of those "game hoppers" hehehe.

Roz, you're absolutely right.

We're game hoppers too, although I played UO for over 5 years. That's where we met. And I've never found another game to match the magic of that game in it's beginnings. That's why I hop. WOW is as close as I've come, and now I'm just waiting for the expansion.

Sims Online, starting in beta here as well.

Also played beta Sims Online. Thought I was gonna sound so dorky for that! lol And honestly, I think real true gamers are probably mostly game hoppers, its just that I suck at mastering new interfaces! So I stick with stuff until its long overdue that I get out! Its that staying in my comfort zone thing...sort of like RL! lol :eek:

wow. thought i was by myself. i met my ym on an online game called everquest. im finding out more and more people are getting on line to that game. he's 19, im 52. what a gap i know. but i have to tell ya he keeps me young :) i drove from Chicago, IL to Waco Texas. this has been quite an experience for me. i love the game and i'll never stop playing if even we break up. there are so many who like to role play. if you any of ever play everquest, my character names are Seanna, Lydianbang Geller and Oonah. Have fun. :cool:

3 years in Eq here too. :D . I have met alot of great friends through this game. I have also played beta for WoW and the 10 day free trial. Contemplating buying Wow for my son so we can share before my characters are deleted ( I have a 20 hunter). I have also played the DDO beta and numerous other beta's. Wasnt quite hooked onto DDo since I couldnt get used to the awsd movement keys.

DDO sucks, unless you strictly want to group. I like soloing mostly. I don't mind short term grouping, but once I got past the tutorial, I couldn't do much of anything on DDO.

I'm doing EQII right now, it's ok....

My daughter likes WOW. She's so dorky though. She moved her character into a farmhouse outside of Stormwind to help a farm family guard their chickens. She plays it like the Sims.

For some reason most of the girls I've met in SWG, WoW, EQ2, AO, and Guild Wars were dudes :eek:

ROFLMFAO!!! :p that happens to all the guys that try to hit on the girl toons!!! I think its funny :D LOL

Funny that I always had problems trying to convice peeps that I was a real life girl playing a female character :p Of course they'd believe me when they'd hear my voice =)

Ok here's how I understand it when I asked a male friend of mine why he plays a female toon. A long time ago before online gaming even before muds there was Dungeons and Dragons (pen and paper of course). Now I dont know how to play D&D or even pretend to understand the ruleset but it's in my understanding certain classes were females(ie cleric) and races(ie dark elf) and many people still make their toons in this tradtion of roleplaying. Now my son plays a female character and enjoys it. He says he gets treated differently, has an easier time getting buffs and even free gear. I myself have never been able to play a male character too much of a female I guess and a little too vain for it lol.

Lol....yeah, lots of guys have female characters. Our guild uses Teamspeak when we play, so we talk instead of type....much easier to play when in big groups.

I love WoW, could never go back to EQ after WoW. I've got many characters, but my main is a Lvl 60 Troll Mage.

City of Heroes is a lot of fun, but the control sucks big time. Making the characters tho, is SO much fun.

My guy also taught me to play Magic cards....that was interesting. Talk about confusing!

Kye

OK I will come out of the closet too. I play SWG . I love it and have played for almost 3 years. I play on the Euro server and have met some awesome people from all over the world. Its not at all about hooking up its about friendships and having fun. But yes sometimes love is a by product of those :)

Sort of embarassed to say this, but my first online game was Sims Online. I thought of it as sort of a sociological experiment.

I've played Sims Online. I prefer Sims 2 much better, because you only had to pay once, but Sims Online is a very similar game!

I liked it very much. I would highly recommend it.

I recently saw a CNN report that said that women over 40 are the fastest growing demographic group of online rpg'ers. My BF says its very easy to tell whether a character is female or male. He says its in the way they play and chat. I have to say I think he's right. In our guild/linkshell we have several guys that play female characters, because their attributes are better than the other avatars, and of course these hard core gamers have to have the best starting attributes. I have attributes I don't know what to do with! I am amazed that these guys bother to ponder these numbers so deeply. I'm there to cure things and chat! :D

LOL Rozie...I'm the same way! In our game, I 'm a pure healer...the guys can't understand why I would want to heal all the time instead of killing and fighting. I tell them I'm a lover, not a fighter ;). And I also love the interaction with my friends online. Which was part of why I asked the question originally. I never expected to have such strong friendships (and more....) from meeting people online. It happened in game, but here at ageless too :)

Hi, just wanted to add that I am an ardent online gaming woman too ;)

And I met my b/f in an online game, Dark Age of Camelot. Long since moved on though ;) From the game, I mean .... :p

And yes, I was told by another online friend that he thinks you can always spot an irl female in a game where many female toons are indeed played by males: He said it's in the way they chat - so many more smilies lol. He used to call me the "Queen of Smilies" ...

And I guess it's true, I have been paying attention to it and yes, it helps spotting other irl females. Conversely, if I DON'T want to leave clues, I drop the smilies altogether from chat ...

Lol. I would have to say your right about the boob thing. The game I am currently playing doesn't have as much customization, so when not in battle the girls being played by guys tend to run around without their tops on. (They have underwear, of course, but its still referred to as being nekkie!)

Thought this was a good thread. Just thought I'd resurrect it. We've got the transgendered toon thing going in here and the running around naked stuff. Any new thoughts on anything?

Ok here's how I understand it when I asked a male friend of mine why he plays a female toon. A long time ago before online gaming even before muds there was Dungeons and Dragons (pen and paper of course). Now I dont know how to play D&D or even pretend to understand the ruleset but it's in my understanding certain classes were females(ie cleric) and races(ie dark elf) and many people still make their toons in this tradtion of roleplaying.
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Aaaaaaaaaaah D&D That brings back so many memories :) No classes or races in the original D&D had to be female, it was always a choice. However, if one threw the right states (your character's traits were determined by rolling die) eg high charisma, there were several advantages to playing a female. A high charima female MU got far better results from 'charm' spells, for instance, then her male counterpart.

I played both male and female characters, one of my most successful was a half elf FW/MU with a charmed 'Bugbear' sidekick :D

Thought this was a good thread. Just thought I'd resurrect it. We've got the transgendered toon thing going in here and the running around naked stuff. Any new thoughts on anything?

Still playing Wow for the lack of anything better to do. Started a horde warlock character but I'm pretty much just messing around until something new or better comes along. My son and I are both waiting for beta invites to a couple of upcoming games, the names of which elude me right now( Warhammer maybe).If they are geared toward pvp I probably won't play long. Sims 2 keeps me occupied sometimes lol. Think I'll go find a good book hehe there's a couple dozen out there atm I want to read.