Hunting for love in MMOs

For some reason best known to himself, Tom Francis over at computerandvideogames.com decided to set himself the task of finding love in a MMO. While that sort of thing does happen, and more often than is suspected, it probably wasn't a very good idea to expect anything to blossom in a mere week - any more than if he'd been trying to find love in the big blue room with the bright yellow light. Perhaps if mmodating.com was still running he'd have had more luck?

Tom's first foray is into Eve Online, where - as freshly created roguish pilot Cad Dashing - he meets a lady by the name of Kasteen Hawkeye. While he doesn't progress beyond flirting, he does at least congratulate himself that he's found 'a cheerful, friendly girl-gamer who genuinely did want to be a spaceship'. Tom has less luck in City of Heroes, where he opts to play a Defender. Sadly, he makes a mistake here, assuming that Defenders: 'have access to Heal Other: the closest superpowers get to flirting.' All characters have access to Aid Other as a pool power, and as anyone knows who's stood by Ms Liberty while a noobsauce Empath dishes out unneeded heals, healing can be a lot more like spamming than flirting.

The final, and most rewarding, venture is into World of Warcraft. It's probably best to let Tom's experiences here speak for themselves.