I just ran across this from a recent article at Massively, and it made me lol. Money quotes:
The article goes on to state that even though we all know it's a bad idea, we do it anyway. Cause we're roleplayers, and to really play a role, you have to deal with your character's attractions, for better or worse.
Quote:Why romance in roleplaying is a terrible idea
I'm just going to put that out there right away. Romance in roleplaying leads to almost all of the drawbacks of a relationship with virtually none of the bonuses. More often than not, it means that you get to go through every single horrible break-up fight you've ever taken part in with the added benefit of a cold, lifeless computer screen relaying all of the words to you.
And the extra benefit that you're paying money for the privilege of having a relationship argument.
Ideally, yes, all of this is done completely in character. But unless you know a group of people who are supremely good at distancing themselves from the characters they play, you can't help but internalize what happens to your character. That, in turn, leads to you taking things personally, especially in matters of the heart. And thus begins a vicious cycle wherein two people keep raising the stakes on emotional blackmail for an activity that they used to find fun.
Should you be dating someone at the time, of course, you have to either explain to them why you're pretending to date someone on the Internet (which promises to be a fun conversation) or you can hide it from them (leading inevitably to an even more fun conversation, this time with bonus tears and screaming). On the flipside, if you're single, it's like dealing with your hunger by staring at a steak. Or drawing a picture of a steak and then staring at that.
The article goes on to state that even though we all know it's a bad idea, we do it anyway. Cause we're roleplayers, and to really play a role, you have to deal with your character's attractions, for better or worse.
