<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>With this virtual ring, I thee wed
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>More youth marrying - and divorcing - online in the name of the game </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Amanda Tan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
ST ILLUSTRATION: JASTER NGUI
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->AMANDA Lee is just 15, but she is already twice divorced and is now in the midst of another nasty split with her third husband. Oh, and she also has a daughter who is older than her.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Tying the knot...to improve game play
ASIASOFT Online, which publishes games such as MapleStory and AuditionSEA, said getting married in these games is purely for fun.
'It's just a platform where players can train together,' said marketing director Ng Kok Khwang. Amanda Tan looks at how online marriages are made.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Such a bizarre family structure could only exist in the world of online marriages, where all you need are in-game money and a willing partner - and a match is easily made, and just as easily broken.
Such virtual unions are becoming increasingly popular in the gaming community, especially among young gamers.
Details of an online marriage also cropped up in court last month during a coroner's inquiry into the death of undergraduate David Hartanto Widjaja: The 21-year-old Indonesian was 'married' to an 18-year-old girl on Destiny Online, a monster-killing game he was hooked on.
She was initially married to another gamer but 'dumped' him when he quit the game and married Widjaja instead. They never met but chatted online often.
There are at least four massively multiplayer online role-playing games with in-game marriage functions that are popular with Singaporeans.
On MapleStory, at least 9,000 Singaporean gamers have taken time off from quests killing monsters to get married. And on dancing game AuditionSEA, more than 3,000 players have tied the knot.
Virtual marriages can cost from as little as $25 to $40, depending on how elaborate one wants the ceremony to be.
In MapleStory, for example, players use prepaid cards, available at convenience stalls and cyber cafes, to purchase wedding tickets for three types of packages - cosy, sweety and premium. Couples looking for a divorce must wait four days and pay 500,000 mesos, the non-cash linked game currency.
Most gamers choose to wed for very practical reasons. Among the perks of being married in these games are increased powers, skills and better-looking avatars.
MapleStory couples get added abilities such as intelligence, dexterity and strength.
For World of Warcraft gamers, characters usually choose their spouses based on whether they complement each other, said Mr Jeff Tan, of the game's distributor Asiasoft Online. 'For example, if I'm a warrior and my partner is a healer, then I fight the monsters while she heals my injuries. It is easier for players to overcome challenges and complete quests.'
Other gamers choose to tie the knot to add an extra dimension to the game, so that it is not all about killing monsters or defeating enemies in the main quests.
Some couples even try to mimic real life by having children - usually other gamers whom they know online.
Eric Low, 16, has an online daughter on MapleStory who is three years older than him and his wife. 'We met while playing and she decided to partner us and so we called her our 'daughter'.'
His daughter, Esther Teo, 19, follows her 'parents' around for the 'added security'. The waitress added: 'It's just like when we were younger, we played families as kids. This is just taking it online.'
Eric, his wife Sharon and Esther have all met up in real life for meals and are all close friends now.
Amanda, a Secondary 3 student in a top girls' school, got attached to a youth she met online. 'I usually meet these strangers in a group because it's safer and I only go if there are other girls around. But I rely a lot on my instinct to judge if I can trust a person or not,' she said.
But she recently broke up with the 17-year-old boy and he quit the game, leaving her 'widowed'. She now plans to 'marry' a friend she has known for about a year in AuditionSEA.
In most virtual marriages, though, partners do not take their online affiliations into the real world.
Cecilia Aw, 15, said she will never meet an online partner. 'We're just playing different characters in the game and I've got no real interest in who he is in real life.'
Though Amanda's parents consent to her meeting her online friends, some parents cannot help but worry.
Housewife Chong Kim Teck, 41, who has two children aged 10 and 12, said: 'I am against it and will stop them. I always show them reports of people getting cheated so they know what the consequences are. It's really dangerous to go out with someone they don't know.'
Youth counsellors such as Dr Carol Balhetchet, director of youth services at the Singapore Children's Society, do not think parents should be alarmed, saying teenagers are doing it out of curiosity.
However, she pointed out that getting hitched online might symbolise a need for companionship. If that were the case, then the problem has to be addressed.
'If they spend their time finding company online, they will miss out on learning social and communication skills in real life. This is something they cannot miss out on at that age,' she said.
Other counsellors said being able to wed and get divorced so easily online with little consequences may give teenagers the mistaken impression that things are just as simple in real life.
The young are not the only ones experimenting with online marriages.
A 52-year-old businessman, who gave his name as only Mr Tan, is married with a 12-year-old daughter in real life, but has also been married twice online.
'My wife doesn't know, but I don't think she'd mind even if she does. This is all just for fun and I'm just doing it to get more exclusive stuff for my character,' he said.
[email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>More youth marrying - and divorcing - online in the name of the game </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Amanda Tan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
ST ILLUSTRATION: JASTER NGUI
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->AMANDA Lee is just 15, but she is already twice divorced and is now in the midst of another nasty split with her third husband. Oh, and she also has a daughter who is older than her.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Tying the knot...to improve game play
ASIASOFT Online, which publishes games such as MapleStory and AuditionSEA, said getting married in these games is purely for fun.
'It's just a platform where players can train together,' said marketing director Ng Kok Khwang. Amanda Tan looks at how online marriages are made.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Such a bizarre family structure could only exist in the world of online marriages, where all you need are in-game money and a willing partner - and a match is easily made, and just as easily broken.
Such virtual unions are becoming increasingly popular in the gaming community, especially among young gamers.
Details of an online marriage also cropped up in court last month during a coroner's inquiry into the death of undergraduate David Hartanto Widjaja: The 21-year-old Indonesian was 'married' to an 18-year-old girl on Destiny Online, a monster-killing game he was hooked on.
She was initially married to another gamer but 'dumped' him when he quit the game and married Widjaja instead. They never met but chatted online often.
There are at least four massively multiplayer online role-playing games with in-game marriage functions that are popular with Singaporeans.
On MapleStory, at least 9,000 Singaporean gamers have taken time off from quests killing monsters to get married. And on dancing game AuditionSEA, more than 3,000 players have tied the knot.
Virtual marriages can cost from as little as $25 to $40, depending on how elaborate one wants the ceremony to be.
In MapleStory, for example, players use prepaid cards, available at convenience stalls and cyber cafes, to purchase wedding tickets for three types of packages - cosy, sweety and premium. Couples looking for a divorce must wait four days and pay 500,000 mesos, the non-cash linked game currency.
Most gamers choose to wed for very practical reasons. Among the perks of being married in these games are increased powers, skills and better-looking avatars.
MapleStory couples get added abilities such as intelligence, dexterity and strength.
For World of Warcraft gamers, characters usually choose their spouses based on whether they complement each other, said Mr Jeff Tan, of the game's distributor Asiasoft Online. 'For example, if I'm a warrior and my partner is a healer, then I fight the monsters while she heals my injuries. It is easier for players to overcome challenges and complete quests.'
Other gamers choose to tie the knot to add an extra dimension to the game, so that it is not all about killing monsters or defeating enemies in the main quests.
Some couples even try to mimic real life by having children - usually other gamers whom they know online.
Eric Low, 16, has an online daughter on MapleStory who is three years older than him and his wife. 'We met while playing and she decided to partner us and so we called her our 'daughter'.'
His daughter, Esther Teo, 19, follows her 'parents' around for the 'added security'. The waitress added: 'It's just like when we were younger, we played families as kids. This is just taking it online.'
Eric, his wife Sharon and Esther have all met up in real life for meals and are all close friends now.
Amanda, a Secondary 3 student in a top girls' school, got attached to a youth she met online. 'I usually meet these strangers in a group because it's safer and I only go if there are other girls around. But I rely a lot on my instinct to judge if I can trust a person or not,' she said.
But she recently broke up with the 17-year-old boy and he quit the game, leaving her 'widowed'. She now plans to 'marry' a friend she has known for about a year in AuditionSEA.
In most virtual marriages, though, partners do not take their online affiliations into the real world.
Cecilia Aw, 15, said she will never meet an online partner. 'We're just playing different characters in the game and I've got no real interest in who he is in real life.'
Though Amanda's parents consent to her meeting her online friends, some parents cannot help but worry.
Housewife Chong Kim Teck, 41, who has two children aged 10 and 12, said: 'I am against it and will stop them. I always show them reports of people getting cheated so they know what the consequences are. It's really dangerous to go out with someone they don't know.'
Youth counsellors such as Dr Carol Balhetchet, director of youth services at the Singapore Children's Society, do not think parents should be alarmed, saying teenagers are doing it out of curiosity.
However, she pointed out that getting hitched online might symbolise a need for companionship. If that were the case, then the problem has to be addressed.
'If they spend their time finding company online, they will miss out on learning social and communication skills in real life. This is something they cannot miss out on at that age,' she said.
Other counsellors said being able to wed and get divorced so easily online with little consequences may give teenagers the mistaken impression that things are just as simple in real life.
The young are not the only ones experimenting with online marriages.
A 52-year-old businessman, who gave his name as only Mr Tan, is married with a 12-year-old daughter in real life, but has also been married twice online.
'My wife doesn't know, but I don't think she'd mind even if she does. This is all just for fun and I'm just doing it to get more exclusive stuff for my character,' he said.
[email protected]
