So I read the posts here and it never ceases to amaze me the number of different opinions on this topic. Thus, I toss my own into the fray.
I have played MMO's for...*thinks* maybe ten years now? Started on Dark Age of Camelot, went through a library of others, ending up on World of Warcraft until recently. In all that time, I've learned a lot about RP, the way people define it, and what it can do to people, both immediately and over time.
RP relationships, they can be cute, romantic, deep, insightful and meaningful, regardless of the OOC element. I've seen people who are married, RP a marriage with someone else, but both of them were completely comfortable with it (being swingers I suppose had something to do with it.) Others just made close friends with someone of the opposite sex and had a great time RP'ing their relationship. Sometimes, ultimately, said relationship turned into real life love and the two got together, got married, you know how the process works.
In my experience, especially in World of Warcraft (not to put too fine a point on it,) most RP'ers, despite their level of "experience" with the RP community, can't truly define what a "healthy" RP relationship really entails. Do I know personally? No. But that being said, I've tried to do one and had little success because OOC, the two of us didn't really mesh. It was more a relationship of convenience, so she could get pregnant and begin an entirely new RP story on the Horde side. I wasn't keen on all of this and so it killed the RP.
More often than not, I've seen RP relationships turn into brutally ugly real life scenes. Divorce, break ups, drama, extreme jealousy, it runs the gamut of bad juju that can make real life miserable. At one point, I even found myself in a real life love triangle that I didn't really realize was going on. My best friend introduced me to this girl he met through WoW. They had a pretty flirtatious relationship. After a few months of all of us, including a number of others, chatting over Ventrilo, she whispers me and tells me she's got the hots for me.
Sure, okay. Uhh...sorry, but I'm married.
Next thing I know, she's selling the same words to another guy who is so caught on the hook with her, he informs her that he's coming to meet her and propose to her. Mind you, they had BOTH been married all this time. He wasn't happy in his marriage, she was cheating on her husband (call it what you want, the emotional cheating is the same as the physical,) and the both of them made extremely poor choices...at least imho.
See how this is spiraling out of control?
Ultimately it does more harm than good unless you are completely aware of your feelings, the feelings of the other person, and the laundry list of potential consequences if one or the other, or both of you, aren't prepared for all possible outcomes of said RP relationship.
Therefore, my choice, is that I don't engage in RP relationships. I typically play characters that are jaded for some reason, don't like to get involved, or some RP element makes it "safer" for them to remain distant from potential suitors.
My two cents, and then some...
I have played MMO's for...*thinks* maybe ten years now? Started on Dark Age of Camelot, went through a library of others, ending up on World of Warcraft until recently. In all that time, I've learned a lot about RP, the way people define it, and what it can do to people, both immediately and over time.
RP relationships, they can be cute, romantic, deep, insightful and meaningful, regardless of the OOC element. I've seen people who are married, RP a marriage with someone else, but both of them were completely comfortable with it (being swingers I suppose had something to do with it.) Others just made close friends with someone of the opposite sex and had a great time RP'ing their relationship. Sometimes, ultimately, said relationship turned into real life love and the two got together, got married, you know how the process works.
In my experience, especially in World of Warcraft (not to put too fine a point on it,) most RP'ers, despite their level of "experience" with the RP community, can't truly define what a "healthy" RP relationship really entails. Do I know personally? No. But that being said, I've tried to do one and had little success because OOC, the two of us didn't really mesh. It was more a relationship of convenience, so she could get pregnant and begin an entirely new RP story on the Horde side. I wasn't keen on all of this and so it killed the RP.
More often than not, I've seen RP relationships turn into brutally ugly real life scenes. Divorce, break ups, drama, extreme jealousy, it runs the gamut of bad juju that can make real life miserable. At one point, I even found myself in a real life love triangle that I didn't really realize was going on. My best friend introduced me to this girl he met through WoW. They had a pretty flirtatious relationship. After a few months of all of us, including a number of others, chatting over Ventrilo, she whispers me and tells me she's got the hots for me.
Sure, okay. Uhh...sorry, but I'm married.
Next thing I know, she's selling the same words to another guy who is so caught on the hook with her, he informs her that he's coming to meet her and propose to her. Mind you, they had BOTH been married all this time. He wasn't happy in his marriage, she was cheating on her husband (call it what you want, the emotional cheating is the same as the physical,) and the both of them made extremely poor choices...at least imho.
See how this is spiraling out of control?
Ultimately it does more harm than good unless you are completely aware of your feelings, the feelings of the other person, and the laundry list of potential consequences if one or the other, or both of you, aren't prepared for all possible outcomes of said RP relationship.
Therefore, my choice, is that I don't engage in RP relationships. I typically play characters that are jaded for some reason, don't like to get involved, or some RP element makes it "safer" for them to remain distant from potential suitors.
My two cents, and then some...
