Love is in The MMO

Couples rejoice, for it’s 14th February - the day all of you resurface to spread all that sickening mush in the air! While there are many of us who’re just weary of all the bright shades of red plastered on every God forsaken dinner menu out there, there are many who can’t get enough of the lovin’. It seems that a lot of these people are into massively multiplayer online games, World of Warcraft to be precise (since it IS the defining MMO of this decade so far), so Blizzard’s busy extending a hearty dose of love to all the lovesick gamers in the world of Azeroth.

I know that a lot of you don’t play World of Wacraft since it isn’t released in these parts, but it’s never really that harmful to stay up to date with how the biggest persistent massively multiplayer world out there is celebrating this highly commercialized occasion (forgive the cynicism!), is it now?

The mood in every major town in the land of Warcraft is filled with love, and to ensure that you don’t miss the point Blizzard’s shoved some form of themed decor in every nook and cranny to remind you that it’s the season for love. From the pink streamers strewn across the Auction Houses, to the flowery garlands placed around random objects, the entire world of WoW’s begging you to join in on the festivities. If you wish to hop aboard the love wagon, there are tonnes of quests placed across Azeroth that are meant to let you do just that. These include lovesick Orcs sending you on errands with letters proclaiming their love for that special tauren woman, to the Undead apothecarian skeptics sending you on fruitless adventures to figure out what it is in the air that drives the masses wild with love.

Completing these quests bestow upon you many rewards, such as a box of chocolates that may contain anything ranging from well, chocolates, to love poems and friendship bands. The friendship bands are a nifty feature that allow you to help your friends when they’ve got their heart broken.

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Yes, that’s right! You can win over hearts, and get yours broken too. On all the Innkeepers in WoW, there are Colognes and Perfumes available (at just 10 copper each) that allows one to ‘appeal’ to the opposite sex. Hah! If only cheap cologne worked that way in real life, I’d be swimming in love!

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Every one hour you can approach a city guard, or a shopkeeper, or any other NPC that’s looking for affection and give them a token of your love, which again, can be bought at the many Innkeepers. If the NPC accepts your token, they give you a box of chocolate in return. If they don’t, they break your heart and you have to get it mended before you can look for love elsewhere. All a friend has to do is use one of the friendship bands you find in these chocolate boxes, to take away your ‘heartbroken’ status.

For those who are addicted to achievements, there are a ton of “Love is in the Air” achievements that can only be completed during this week. If you complete all of them, you even earn the title of “the Love Fool” at the end of your name, so that you can prance around all of Azeroth flaunting your mushy side to the rest of its virtual population. You can even find a bunch of V-day themed firecrackers and picnic baskets in many of the quest rewards, and indulge yourself in some seriously sissy ways to spend the evening.

While I’m not a big fan of commercialized festivals, or any festival for that matter, I think Blizzard’s treatment of adding these innovative World Events to the World of Warcraft to celebrate the occasion is a nice way to spread cheer amongst the masses that spend day after day slaying beasts in their virtual world. If you wish to join in on the festivities, you can get yourself a free trial account at the official website.