It’s that day once again, folks. It’s Valentine’s Day. The day where you buy flowers and cards and all sorts of shit for your significant other or crush for some reason. There’s history behind it, sure, but I couldn’t be bothered, so let’s just skip over that part, shall we?
Believe it or not, the worlds of gaming and dating happen to cross over from time to time, resulting in some delightfully nerdy relationships that just so happen to spill over into the real world.
Bethesda, the lords behind the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO), got us the goss on some couples who had actually met inside the game before pursuing a relationship in real life.
Here’s their incredibly cute, albeit, incredibly nerdy stories.
To Perth via Tamriel
Elder Scrolls has changed my life. In so many ways. I purchased ESO and a brand new PS4 to play online with my cousin and brother. It was a way to stay in contact with family who live interstate. After a few minutes of gameplay, I was hooked. A few months later, I joined a few guilds and loved the social aspect of gaming and meeting new people. I was enjoying the escape from everyday life and diving into the lore and adventuring throughout Tamriel (the game’s world). As a happily single female, the last thing I was looking for or expecting was to meet the love of my life.
One day I was looking through the ESO PlayStation communities and answered a notice from someone who was looking to play ESO with people in Perth. Being from Sydney I commented “Well, I don’t live in Western Australia but I’m on the same continent lol”. We started chatting in-game and helping each other in-game. That quickly progressed to daily adventuring, dungeons and crafting along with texts and phone calls.
My partner and I would hug in the game seeing as we lived over 3,000 kilometres from each other. He would open his map around my toon (player avatar) so that it looked like we were hugging. It was the closest we could get to a hug, we won’t talk about what happens in the privacy of our island home or our Orbservatory. There was a time when we were trying to have a cheeky romantic moment in Belkarth when another player joined our hug from behind. A skeleton of all things too. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard while gaming before. Lucky I managed a screenshot to preserve the loving intimate moment. Hahaha.
I’m grateful to ESO, as over Christmas, I moved across the country and now I can adventure both in ESO and in real life with my partner in crime and his daughter.
Happy Valentine’s Day and keep on adventuring peeps. ESO for life !!!!
Beverly Nutcrusher, Tanker of Things
I met my husband in ESO.
During Beta, and shortly after full launch, I was an enthusiastic – yet casual- player. I loved questing on my Nightblade. I loved the lore, I loved crafting.
One day, while trying to expand my horizons, I answered a call for a DPS (a player who deals a lot of damage) for Spindleclutch. I was grossly out of my element.
But in that dungeon I met an amazing healer named Fiora Starbreeze. Through all my dungeon stumbling, she kept me alive. After that, she invited me to her PvP (player vs player) guild (team of players). I began to get my feet wet in PvP and Fiora was right there to show me the ropes.
Years went by and through guild changes and breaks from playing ESO, we remained in touch. I got to know the man (@blitznacht112) behind the toon and we started texting and Skyping steadily every day for several months.
In June of 2015 we made the big leap and he moved 1,400 miles so we could be together. We were married in February of 2017 and I have never been happier in my whole life. He has not only been an amazing life partner, but through his encouragement I realised that my greatest strength in ESO lies in tanking (dealing a lot of damaging). I have never liked my life or my gaming life more since meeting him that day in Spindleclutch. He’s healed my toon and he’s healed my life. Now, I am doing end-game content, AND I have someone to spend the rest of my real life with.
Happy Valentine’s Day, legends.
