Why Get Married In DAoC?
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I hit a nerve when I posted one player's question in the grab bag - Q: What is the point of in-game, character marriage (or hats, or pretty dresses, or whatever)? I invited you guys to tell me and you did. Boy, did you ever. I couldn't post them all, but I thought people might enjoy seeing what their comrades had to say. Read on, if you're interested:
DAoC is a MMORPG, which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online RolePlaying Game. Part of the point in playing an RPG is to take on a new role, a new persona, to be someone different than you are in the real world. Today's MMORPG's usually focus quite a bit on gaining levels, fighting monsters, and getting loot... but that isn't the only thing to do with your new role.
Some of us get a kick out of actually playing our role: talking in character, acting as our character would, and doing things that don't actually get us any points. That's what the dyes are for - to make your character unique and different, but they don't do much in the game. Same thing goes for the new hats and some of the interesting cloaks: useless, but fun. They let you act out your role. Same reason we have the various emotes, even though they don't do much. It can be fun to act out your role, to actually play the character rather than simply play the game for points/stats/loot. And, if your character happens to fall in love with another character ...doesn't it make sense that they would be married?
Why go hunting? Why RvR? Why craft? Why do anything? It's just an aspect of the game people enjoy.
When you stop to think about it, everyone in this game IS role playing, whether or not they really think they are. I doubt any of us are actually Elven Eldritches or Troll Shaman, though some might resemble it... So it's given that when you log in, you're role playing - taking on the character of someone other than your real life self.
There are many degrees to which people role play - and some people enjoy completely immersing themselves in this fictional world while they are logged in, which may well include dressing up or marrying off their characters. To role play tends to give you an affinity for your character, the characters you come in contact with, and their virtual world. Suddenly there's a story behind everything taking place, and a reason to do whatever you choose to do other than just being uber for the sake of being uber.
So why have marriages or anything of the like? It's one of the many aspects of DAoC that makes it such a fun game. Variety is the spice of life...even life in the Dark Age of Camelot. ;)
