How many of you have heard of this massive multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) called World of Warcraft (WoW)? I first heard about this game back when I was in high school. My friends introduced Warcraft III to me, and then, many of them started talking about World of Warcraft. It's interesting to see them talk about WoW, because they're always mentioning what kind of character they have, the level their characters are, the types of weapons and armors they added to their characters, the difficulty of quests, etc. I never really got into World of Warcraft, mainly because I was too focused on academics. Plus, I didn't like the fact that I had to pay a monthly fee to keep playing this game. Sure, it is reasonable to pay a monthly fee when playing a MMORPG, but I just didn't feel that WoW was something I would get into.

Despite that though, I was still curious was to what exactly is WoW. I did a little research and found that it was not an ordinary game you would play on your computer or over the Internet. People can get really addicted to this game. Some would spend an entire day just focused on WoW, because they want to level up their character, or they want to collect that special weapon or armor piece that will make their characters stronger, or they just want to complete a lot of missions and quest to see what happens later on in the game. This may not sound very interesting, but once you start playing the game, developing your character and completing quests becomes a priority. I've heard stories that people who play this game become so addicted that they would spend several days just playing the game. Everything else in their life, such as hanging out with friends, studying, dating, eating, and sleeping become secondary or nonessential. Back in high school, my friends would often joke that the computer labs at Michigan State or University of Michigan would often be filled with Asians, playing WoW or some other type of game for long periods of time. I'm not sure if this is true, but given how addicting WoW can be, I don't find it surprising.

As of today, I still have not touched World of Warcraft. I really think that World of Warcraft can be damaging to one's social and academic life. However, a couple of weeks ago, I read something interesting on The New York Times about WoW. The article was titled "It's Love at First Kill". I'm pretty sure all of you have heard the phrase, "It was love at first sight", but how many of you have heard the phrase "It was love at first kill"? Probably none of you, and that is perfectly fine, because there is no such phrase...until now. The article starts out with a little love story. A young woman in her 20s was playing WoW in her Santa Barbara, CA home, when her character came across another character fighting a "yellow-eyed demon". With several clicks of her mouse, she commanded her character to fight the yellow-eyed demon and help out the lone character. The fight piqued the interest of the owner who controlled the lone character. The owner turned out to be a young man also in his 20s. The two moved their avatars to a safe location, and from there, the two people chatted through the messaging system installed in the game. For two months, they met on WoW and chatted about their interests, families, and goals in life. It would appear the two were on a date (more like an online date, since they were not meeting in person). Finally, after many months of chatting on WoW, the two decided to meet in person. The male decided to come to the female. When they met at the Santa Barbara airport, they were extremely happy to finally meet each other in person. The male originally decided to stay for two weeks with the female, but the two weeks turned into two months, and according to the article, the two are still together to this day.

Sounds like an interesting story, doesn't it? Two people, both with WoW accounts, meet virtually via their WoW characters and eventually develop a relationship. At first glance, you may think that this is an unusual love story. Who would fall in love with some random person they meet on WoW? It just doesn't seem possible, nor does it seem practical. However, such stories are not really that rare. The New York Times article claims that love stories like the one I just described are not uncommon. Many people are actually finding romance through WoW. It's as if WoW has developed into an online dating environment, where two people can meet, chat, and develop a relationship.

When I finished reading the article, I was completely astonished. People finding romance on WoW? Some even marrying that one person they met when playing WoW? This is absurd! What has our society come to? This is completely ridiculous! How can romance develop from this....game?

Eventually, when I sat down and thought about it, I realized that it is possible, and it is not really that crazy. Our society has come to a point where online social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, have become our main means of communicating and staying in touch with other people. In fact, online dating is becoming very popular nowadays. Our society has become so dependent on online social networks, that everything we do, from asking a small question to asking a person out to setting up a date, relies on social networks.

I remember reading this one story about a girl named Kelly Hildebrandt, who found a guy on Facebook with the same exact full name. She friended him, and the two flirted with each other on Facebook for several months. Eventually, the guy decided to fly to the girl's hometown and meet her face-to-face. A few months later, the two became married. And all this happened, because the girl decided to see if anyone else on Facebook had the exact same name she had. The two became married eight months after their first contact on Facebook.

So, if you're looking for love and romance, there are two ways of achieving them. You could do it the classical way: go to bars, pubs, or parties, and meet your special someone there. Or, you can do it the online way: find that special someone through Facebook or some MMORPG game like WoW, and go from there. Frankly, I can't tell you which method is more appropriate. I would like to suggest the online way over the classical way, since I am a fan of all things tech, but I have not had any success using either method.

I remember meeting this one girl on Facebook during the summer before my freshman year at Cornell. It all started with a simple wall post. And then, the wall posts became more frequent, turning into an everyday conversation. And soon, the conversations moved to instant messaging. And then, about a week later, it turned into phone conversations. We would spend many hours over the summer, chatting away. If I recall correctly, we once spent an entire day chatting with each other. We got to know each other so well, that by the time we arrived at Cornell, it seemed like we had known each other for years.

So, did this particularly story end happily like the two other stories I mentioned here? Well...let's just say I wasn't that lucky. Things didn't turn out the way I hoped, nor did they turn out in a way similar to the two love stories I mentioned above.

But, enough about that. The point is, technology is changing the way we do things. Dating is no exception. If you're looking for love, and the classical way is not working out for you, try doing it the online way. You may have more success. Thanks to advancements in technology, we now have more ways of meeting and connecting with other people...and we also have more ways of finding romance and love. Just remember that the technology itself cannot help you form that magical relationship with that special someone. All of that depends on you.