Married for 10 years... in COH for 5 of them.

Today is the 10th anniversary of @Blood Speaker and me being married. Through a year-and-a-half-long engagement, a comedy of errors wedding at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, moves from Tucson to Phoenix to Seattle, multiple job changes, and three separate gaming groups, we are still together.

(There should be veteran rewards for marriage. Badges, at least, since it IS an achievement!)

A couple secrets of our success:

1) Never going to bed angry at each other. Even if that means saying right before going to bed, "I'm angry, but I'm tired, and I want to get some sleep so we can discuss this more rationally in the morning" - the problem has been acknowledged and we know we'll be talking.

2) No relationship games. We agreed on that the first day we started dating. Both of us had gone through that with previous partners and were heartily sick of it.

3) Maintaining both shared and separate interests and friends. We do not do EVERYTHING together. Sometimes that means 'me time'. It is not a privilege - it is a right.

All that being said... one of the things we DO share is CITY OF HEROES. John got started in January of 2007. (He'd heard about the game from the outset, but said he would never play until he could play a villain, damn it. For Christmas 2006, his friends got him a CoV account.) I got started in March. Took me until July to be able to play more than 5 minutes without getting motion sickness, so at first I played on his account. (I also was the one to unlock Kheldians on his account because his first 50 was actually a villain, while mine was a hero.)

Then I got my own account. And we have been playing COH pretty much nonstop ever since.

Oh sure, we've tested the waters of other MMOs - we both tried AION for about a year. No, thank you. John also plays TSW, LotRO and STO (he's a big fan of their source materials). And we both play RIFT. But COH is home. We have NEVER let our accounts lapse. Even when we were down-and-out broke, we made sure we had the $30/month to maintain our subscriptions. The other MMOs would come and go, but COH was OUR GAME. This was entertainment whenever we wanted, as often as we wanted. Instead of dinner and a movie, it was crockpot night and COH.

Strangely enough, our characters have never been romantically involved. None of them on either side. (Here's a side note: my Freedom incarnation of my signature character, Johanna Sinclair, is actually married to Leandro's Doctor Leo. And yes, John knows. He thinks it's funny because Jo's Triumph incarnation is a nun.) Although one of his characters is kinda-sorta the father of one of mine. It's a long story.

When we found out that COH was being closed, we both cried. Even in the other games we play together, it still wasn't OUR game. Paragon City and Grandville are home for us. We have met several friends IRL thanks to befriending them in COH (including the friends who helped us move to Seattle when we made a fresh start on our lives). And now it feels like we're not only being forcibly evicted, but that we're being forced to stand and watch as it's torn down behind us.

This game holds not just our characters and the friendships we've formed throughout the community - it holds five years of shared stories, ideas, laughs, tears, memories, failures, triumphs, hardships, successes, friendships, and sheer goofiness.

Just like our marriage.



Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Congrats on dinging 10!

My wife and I have just hit our 5 year anniversary this year, but I can say that I 100% agree with your secrets to success.

Congrats on level ten. Now you can get debt!

Stated on Twitter but I will say it here too: Happy Anniversary!

also: my wife and I have been playing this game together longer than we have been married - 7 yrs

Nice! I just dinged 9 months with my boyfriend. Not as good, but geek love is always special.

You two look adorable together. Thanks for being so darn awesome!

Gratz, DR and BS. 10 years is a good roadmark to hit.

Congrats.

Still single as the day I was born and actually pretty happy that way.

Still, I'd like to know why most women's first reaction to me is "GAH! Get away from me!" and then sprint like FloJo.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.