Let's talk about a real couple who became partners in Guild Wars 2. Glitzy and Cameron met in a guild in 2015, grew close running raids together, and got married in real life in 2018.
And on the night the wedding ended, the two logged back into the game and reenacted that day's vows with their characters. In a sense, they left even the final scene of their wedding in the world where their bond began.
A Bond That Began in a Guild
✦ Glitzy and Cameron's Timeline
From joining the guild to the wedding night
Cameron joined Glitzy's guild in late 2015. When raid content was added, Glitzy put together a regular group to tackle it on a schedule, and Cameron was one of the early volunteers. Before long he was even made an assistant leader.
In early 2016, the two ran raids two or three times a week and talked in the game.
The moment the relationship changed came during a guild WvW event. WvW is content where many players fight over castles and strongholds on a large battlefield.
During that event, Cameron whispered to Glitzy that he had fallen hard for her, and Glitzy answered that she felt the same. After that, the two found themselves on the same team in the game more often.
That November, for Glitzy's birthday, the two decided to meet in real life. Glitzy visited California for a week, and after feeling they were a good match, they set a date to visit again around Christmas.
The second visit led them to look for a place to live together, and in January 2017 they moved to Texas. Then in March 2018, the two got married in real life.
Even the wedding itself was done their way. Just the two of them and the officiant were there in a small office as they exchanged vows, and they listened to Guild Wars 2's music, 'Fear Not This Night,' in a piano arrangement.
That night, they logged back into the game. In Lion's Arch's Deverol Gardens, they stood their main characters face to face and exchanged a few words, like the ceremony they'd held in real life.
It wasn't a scene of completing a wedding quest prepared in the game; it was a personal celebration in which the two themselves revived a moment from real life inside the game.
When You Have a Goal to Reach Together
✦ A Goal They Reached Together
Crafting the legendary weapon "Chuka and Champawat"
It wasn't only a single raid that tied the two together. In the interview, Glitzy named the journey of crafting the legendary weapon 'Chuka and Champawat' as the most memorable adventure they shared.
For several days they stayed on the same crafting step and finished the related tasks together, and after completing it they took a screenshot to commemorate the achievement.
Making a legendary item is content with a long chain of collecting and challenges, so what made it special was that they matched each other's progress and finished it together.
✦ Glitzy and Cameron's Numbers
All as of the interview
The two also enjoyed fractals, dungeons, map exploration, world bosses, and WvW together. They didn't skip customizing their characters' looks either.
When they made a new outfit or dye combination, they say they took pictures of each other to find the best angle. The combined play time the two stated at the time of the interview was over 17,000 hours.
That number must include not only combat, but also time spent progressing through story missions side by side, exploring new regions, and admiring each other's characters.
✦ Content You Can Do Together in Guild Wars 2
Beyond raids, there is plenty
You can't call any of this content unique to Guild Wars 2. Similar content is common in other games.
Still, besides raids, this game has several things two people can do together, such as dungeons, fractals, world bosses, large-scale battles, story missions, and collection goals.
Even after one party ends, there's a reason to gather again next week, and while pursuing a long goal together, you learn what kind of play the other person enjoys.
Looking at MMORPGs released these days, they support party play, but many of the really important content pieces have to be played alone, right? Compared with that, Guild Wars 2 offers many chances to run toward a goal together with someone.
How Did the Other Couple Grow Close?
✦ How the Two Couples Grew Close
Glitzy & Cameron and Tyler & Nicole
There's also the story of Tyler and Nicole. The two met in guild voice chat. About ten friends played together every day, and when it got late and the others logged out one by one, the two would keep playing.
Nicole was absorbed in completing the map of Tyria and earning the 'Been There, Done That' title, and Tyler recalled being glad to have someone to play with consistently.
The two spent thousands of hours together running bosses and dungeons and gathering materials at every gathering point they passed. They also met in real life for the first time at a gathering of guild members.
They played Mario Kart 64 there, and Tyler beat Nicole, they say. Nicole joked that she'd probably come in second in every game for the rest of her life. The conversations and time built up in the game led to an offline meeting, and the two became a couple.
What to Know Before Starting from Korea
✦ Starting Info for Players in Korea
At a glance
Guild Wars 2 can be played in Korea on the global PC version, but it doesn't support a Korean interface or subtitles. But an unofficial Korean patch has come out recently! Search on Google and you'll find it right away.
It's not perfect yet, but even that alone removes a huge barrier to entry. With this kind of MMORPG, you have to learn the in-game dialogue, the various settings, the items, and so on, and if all of that comes in English... it's really hard to adapt, isn't it?
(Of course, global users are officially offered English, French, German, and Spanish, so access should be easier for them.)
A Korean account falls under 'Other' in the official region classification and by default connects to the North American data center, but after registering the account, you can choose either North America or Europe as your home world.
If you have friends to play with, you should choose the same region so it's easier to play together.
You can start the base game for free, and there's no monthly subscription. However, expansions and some additional content are separate purchases. And free accounts come with a few restrictions.
You need each character to reach level 30 before you can use the Looking for Group feature, and you can't enter raids.
Whispers to other people are only possible within the same map unless they're friends, and there's a limit on how often you can send them to new people. Still, just because raids are blocked doesn't mean there's nothing to do together.
Public events in core regions can be joined without forming a party with other players, and if you join a guild, you can meet regularly through guild chat and guild hall activities.
Once a character reaches level 30, Looking for Group opens up too, and from then on you can look through recruitment posts for a party whose play times and goals match yours.
Boss events in the open world can be attacked together with nearby players without forming a party, which is also good for experiencing a big fight early on.
When choosing a guild, it's better to look at activity times than at the name or size.
The atmosphere differs quite a bit depending on whether they gather on weekends, whether there are events beginners can join, and whether they also do story missions or exploration besides raids.
The stories of the two couples who met in Guild Wars 2 also began, in the end, from time spent meeting the same people again and stacking up goals to pursue together.
✦ How the Bond Forms
The path confirmed in these real couple stories
Guild Wars 2 isn't a game optimized for finding a partner. But it creates chances to spend time with someone you like many times over.
Glitzy and Cameron started in a regular raid group and carried it through to a real wedding and a celebration in the game, and Tyler and Nicole grew close in the time they kept playing after their guild friends left.
What's more impressive than any single special event is that reasons to log in together again kept piling up.
That's all for this post. See you next time.
Related posts
- From Game to Real Marriage: The Eternal Bonding Stories of Final Fantasy XIV
- Can You Meet a Partner in Latale? A 20-Year-Old MMORPG
- Mabinogi at 23: Finding Bonds and What Eternity Will Change
🌐 Korean version: 레이드 파트너에서 평생의 반려자로: 길드워 2에서 만난 실제 커플 이야기
No comments:
No comments yet. Want to leave the first one?
Post a Comment