Has your character ever found love naturally* through roleplay?
Were the feelings requited?
How did the characters’ relationship, if any, turn out?
*that is to say, unplanned, or mostly via in-character interaction
My troll warlock (then mage)
It was requited.
It ended badly and I have sworn off romance RP since.
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I am in a long term commited relationship with my runeaxe. It’s going very well, though we often argue over where to draw line on bloodstains on the blade, what is intimidatingly bloody and what is just being lazy about cleaning up.
Real answer, no. I’m here for the sword and sorcery not a romance novel. I have Sims 4 for when I want relationship drama RP.
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An old RP char of mine had a romance with my ex’s char at the time. It was nice! Never had any romance RP otherwise I don’t think.
Me and my partner have linked RP characters of ours together over the years and across settings we roleplayed in. I’ve also done so with friends I trust, wouldn’t feel comfortable with anyone else. I also can’t say it’s terribly frequent. Only really happens when said trusted person or I notice our characters vibing extremely well, and figuring OOC to give it a try together.
Strictly in a WoWRP sense, I’ve had three characters who ended up with a partner of their own in the years since I begun RPing in the game. Not all of those relationships worked instantly or crystallized as quick, but it was all lovely and very much worth it in the end.
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“Naturally through roleplay”, it has happened a few times but not lasted. Even though IC is the main focus, OOC compatibility of what narrators want out of the dynamic can still create issues. No matter how natural we want IC to be, ultimately we’re all limited by our OOC capacity to work through interpersonal challenges. My earliest experiences of romance RP have been nothing short of toxic and while there are scars, it also taught me to not be naïve about the allure of “all-natural RP”.
The longer I’ve played WoW however, the more healthy experiences I’ve found. Not all romance RP that has fallen apart has ended up on toxic terms, but simply agreeing that it isn’t working out in the long run. For example, someone might want me to be available for RP more often but just on 1-2 sporadically decided days, whereas I prefer less often but more extensive periods. Quality time is the key for me, but it might not be for everyone.
One thing I’ve noticed, my characters tend to attract “moods people”, who decide which character they want to roleplay based on the mood of their day. Whereas I prefer to schedule with friends and guilds in advance to respect everyones time (ie. promising to be there for an event, but then canceling on last day, it’d not be respectful towards the DM + communicating that to not keep anyone hanging). This is something that frequently creates challenges, when people might want to progress IC relationship and they may also play a lot of alts with their demands of freedom, but they might not allow the same freedom for me to choose/schedule or else it’s “hindering the naturalness of RP”.
However, I believe that OOC communication and collaboration are the key to keep any relationship RP (not only romance) sustainable and healthy.
Then there can also be different expectations of how romance RP looks like to different people. Some prefer more “dating simulator” approach which I think is the ultimate form of natural romance RP - with least emphasis on OOC collaboration and most emphasis on IC sync. Personally I prefer to have the OOC collaboration and mutual goal of long-term, as naturalness/IC sync can still exist within that framework - and I’ve found it more healthy, for not subjecting my characters to dynamics that I might not want to roleplay out, such as IC love triangle that I’d not know OOCly about. Which can risk OOC toxicity if lines of any involved party are crossed.
I’d also rather spend my time on emoting in-depth conversations, but don’t have interest to emote the stuff that cinematically would create a fade-to-black moment. This can also create disinterest in people who are looking to emote out those acts of physical intimacy etc. or find romance lacking without it. It’s just not my cup of tea.
One thing which also turns people away from romancing my characters is that I’m only looking for my characters, but don’t want anything to transfer into RL. Whereas I’ve also met people who have met (or want to meet) their RL partners in WoW and I can respect that wish, it’s not the intensity of what I want.
While I low key crave for sustainable romance for few of my kaldorei characters and being able to explore themes of traveling together, character marriage and building a home etc. I still prefer it to be an enriching factor to my RP, rather than the main point of interest, which is war in warcraft - the epic storylines and such. Romance shouldn’t create so much enmeshment that my characters couldn’t fight in wars, pursue villains or have petty fights with IC friends. sips drama juice
…
However, while it was not natural but more on OOC background story agreement, there is that one long-term relationship between my nightborne and a highborne, which was mostly roleplayed in past-tense. When the characters were young and then separated for ten thousand years to be briefly reunited. It was fun OOC, even though ultimately shelved with characters having bittersweet memories.
(Edit: Typos. Always typos!)
Yes of plants. It was requited.
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I think the best way to do character romance is have it develop naturally over the course of a long time of roleplay, rather than just actively seeking out characters to explicitly romance. A real life relationship would be shallow if it formed from people just deciding to date, so why treat your ic romance like that?
Rhaethas spent over a year bonding with someone, and becoming very close best friends - with neither of us OOC having any intention of them dating, until back in Feb we realised “hey, we actually kind of ship this, and they have great chemistry.” So we then initiated a slow burn that eventually (with some traumatic kidnapping rp) ended up with the pair realising their feelings.
Rethas is now my OTP, and I spend a lot of my free time thinking about how the duo are affecting eachother’s character development. If a relationship didn’t develop my character in some way, and didn’t make sense for my character to be invested in, I don’t think I’d bother with romance RP.
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I did have an IC relationship on my other character once. The other part became too clingy IC and OOC, which demotivated me to even rp with the character.
Nowadays as I rp with an undead Ebon character, the answer is obviously no.
Disturbingly enough, that hasn’t stopped people from trying to romance her.
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I had a relationship once in RP, it was kind of cringe looking back on it.
All my characters are aromantic now, no exception.
A very long time ago when I was younger, a hormone driven teenager, I found that sort of thing interesting.
At first it undeniably included ERP which I’m evidently not proud of but also understand that to me as a 14yo at the time, that was a big portion of what I had on my mind at all times and it really isn’t all that surprising that I dipped my toes into that among other things. Gradually I grew to understand how icky it really was and advanced to just more restricted social interactions with my character’s partners. As the time progressed I paid all of that less and less mind.
All of those relationships just happened and weren’t planned, when I look back at it now it feels like it was often stressful, devolved into stupid drama and took my attention away from more interesting things.
Today at almost 30, I really find nothing about it interesting. I am here to have an epic adventure rather than try and turn the game into a romance simulator. It’s just not my jam, I’d rather go around slaying dragons and looting treasures than doing couple RP.
But if I was to indulge in something like that now, it’d be a very minor part of interaction for a relationship that’d exist solely for the purpose of advancing some other storyline. Something like what we see in WC3 between Malfurion and Tyrande where the exchange of affection between the two of them comes down to occasionally referring to one another as “my love” and nothing besides that really - or maybe something like Genn and Mia Greymane have going on where they rule together but don’t really partake in any evident display of affection or romance.
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1 ) A couple of times 2) yes 3) it varied. During BfA I really enjoyed focusing on my orc for a couple of years, and the other person’s character moved on in the meantime. The other time was back in Vanilla with a guildie’s character, and ended when the player entered a RL relationship, the characters remained friends however. Other times where romantic themes were involved I wouldn’t say things went beyond a short-lived attraction.
While I happily consume romance in most entertainment mediums, and would watch Pride and Prejudice for the unth time… in recent years, I’m not too interested in roleplaying romantic relationships. In my experience, they quickly grow stagnant and limiting. I’ve grown to appreciate that my character can come and go wherever independently, and retain their own agency in the world. I’ve also figured I prefer the yearning over characters being together, the “will they/won’t they?” that goes on forever. The subtle moments and actions amidst everything they go through.
And, as things currently are, I’d only do romance roleplay with my boyfriend’s character. Fortunately he has a similar view on this matter, and enjoys the adventure aspect of our roleplay the most. The relationship between our main characters is ambiguous; a romantic relationship doesn’t fit in their priorities so we don’t force it, but it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t deeply care for each other. Our friends are still waiting for them to kiss after five years, and may yet have to wait some time longer. It’ll be the slow burn of a lifetime if it ever gets there.
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In my younger days I had quite the tumultous relationships on Felentrick, he ended up in many partnerships that either ended in some weird drama or just fizzled out.
Yet it was only when he stumbled across Avriella in the Spine of Kalimdor campaign and he was constantly getting injured and she would always heal him.
After that campaign and some flirtatious banter they never really met again for another few years where they randomly bumped into eachother in Silvermoon. She was walking out the Silvermoon Inn (The one in the middle of the City) and Felen was passing through because, he was away to pester his good friend Commander Tharandor Val’alor, the old man that he is.
Once they bumped into eachother they kinda just started talking went for a walk to ye olde Stillwhisper Pond and kinda chatted and drank IC through the night chatting and catching up.
Couple of days later they did infact get together and eventually the characters got married and had twin children.
In a humerous nature, I also ended up actually being one of the first people Avi met on the server when she transferred over wanting to begin and try RP. Without either of us ever knowing until we re-met properly and spoke about it. But, I am now with the RP’er behind Avriella for 5 years and today we have two kids (Who are ironically irish twins) and are happily married. 
Building relationships are great in Roleplay it’s when you make it your main focus that things can get messy or weird. Sometimes people get a bit too attached and it either works out horribly or grandly. Depending on the circumstances.
I was fortunate enough to actually find love and going through some rough ships after Felen and Avi had been together for about 2 years OOC wise. It was Avi’s narrator that really helped me through a lot and then yeah we ended up doing a thing and having two children from it. 
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I’m not sure of what “naturally” means in this context. Some characters of mine have stumbled into relationships but it rarely works out.
Sometimes things are unrequited because of how the characters on either end simply aren’t compatible or otherwise involved, or maybe there’s a strict rule against it within the guild(s).
Relationships are tricky as time commitments demand everyone involved understand and respect each other’s gaming hours. It’s a collaborative story after all and when people don’t understand that or get too attached OOC things just can’t work out. Where that mutual respect exists and understanding can be reached, that sort of story can be enriching.
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I’ve clarified the language.
By ‘naturally’ I meant incidentally, much in the way Felentrick described.
I find their story probably the most interesting because, knowing what I know about the history of Blizzard Entertainment and the making of WoW; you now have entire human beings, and all the lives touched by those lives, who exist by virtue of a video game being produced and released successfully.
That’s sign that whatever you’re making in life, or whatever job you have, no matter how hard the struggle, you do matter, in the greatest of pictures.
She had a favourite dagger. She named it Sir Stabby.
It’s unlikely the dagger loved her back.
Otherwise no.
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In the timeless words of the Bronze Dragon “Future”,
Chase a check. Never chase a witch.
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I am generally apprehensive of relationships in roleplay because your character becomes ‘bound’ to another player and that player may one day decide to quit WoW or disappear without a trace, so you’re kinda left not knowing what to do with your character and their other half disappearing from their life. Activity is also something to think of, if you’ve got a romantic link with a character that only shows up once every few months it can leave you wondering whether your own character would find that satisfying. Me, personally, I could never be in a long distance relationship IRL.
But romantic roleplay can absolutely help you develop your character more and engage it in ways you hadn’t thought of before, because realistically you treat a romantic partner different than you would friends ( or at least I would hope so ) so you explore situations and dialogues you wouldn’t find otherwise.
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My mage did.
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They feelings got returned: and it got me an OOC best friend for several years now, in which I meet twice a week to do table top with.
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They are still together, exploring the wild life of the world and arcane mysteries. ( More off screen now since we both retired our characters from the open RP scene)
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It was not planned. | In a time I was less weary of relationships in the game.
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Now however, I rarely aim for it and if so: Only with long term friends, and we OOC clarify boundaries and expectations a head of time for our self and our characters.
- My recent main however, all planned with another long term friend from the same friend circle.
- They are married.
- No drama other than what we agree to play out IC, it’s great
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Has your character ever found love naturally* through roleplay?
Dae’dion certainly tried, but in the end there never was enough writing or time to properly develop something. As they are also deeply on the aromantic spectrum, this is additionally hindered. Such a thing would always require a lot of time and care to even get close to romance.
Were the feelings requited?
In a likewise underdeveloped sense.
How did the characters’ relationship, if any, turn out?
It came down to different priorities, with one party not wanting to continue the roleplay. Such is the natural cycle of roleplay partners.
I’m now firmly settled in that my elf does not seek romantic connections, due to other developments. The only way I can see them get somewhat close to the topic is to reach a position of political power, but that is also not something I expect to be touched on in roleplay due to its complexity.
The only person I’d trust with this status is my irl partner, whom I ironically met through roleplay on a different character - someone who is a lot more approachable in the context of potential romance. That character remains in a relationship, even if our writing and roleplay has significantly decreased by now.