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Get Hitched In Phantasy Star Online
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Spong.com article discussing the wedding chapel that's being added to popular MMO Phantasy Star Online. There's also a PSOWorld article with a little more information on this special lobby, which will appear June 13th-17th and June 27th-July 1st. According to PSOWorld, "..some of you online PSO lovers or RP'ers out there might want to start wedding plans. June brides are known to be the fortunate brides, as June is the most desirable time for a marriage in Japan." As well as some kind of special in-game marriage verification, Sonic Team have even provided a new lobby soundtrack for the chapel, in the form of the Wedding March.
It's not funny when you have to spend most of your online time fending off horny guys looking to cyber. It's actually pretty disruptive.
Yeah, generally I'd think the wedding chapel and all is a pretty cute idea. But it just advocates using the game as a medium for picking up on the opposite sex. I don't go out to singles bars with my wife, and I don't want to put up with the same behavior in my gaming.
Not to mention that for a lot of these people their online relations aren't a joke to them even if it may be to the other person involved. That brings up the whole situation of cyber stalking, which I have seen some dead serious cases of in the past.
My argument is simply that online RPG's are not the place for it. Social community games like The Sims Online or Second Life are better suited for this, if that's what you want to do with your online time.