Several massively multiplayer online games publishers report that dozens of their players have tied the knot after meeting inside their games. Sometimes after first staging an in-game wedding. Sony Online Entertainment says at least 20 couples have wed after meeting in EverQuest and EverQuest 2.

Online wedding taking place in the Eternal Lands MMORPG

Funcom NV, the Norwegian publisher of Anarchy Online, knows of more than 20 couples who married after meeting in the game, launched in June 2001. Because so many players like to stage in-game weddings, the company has assigned about a dozen volunteer players to help arrange the weddings.

Nick Yee, who studies online games at Stanford University, found in a survey that 80% of females and 60% of males have engaged in a little light flirtation, with 50% and 22% respectively developing stronger feelings for another player across the entire spectrum of ages. Finally, 29% of women players and 8% of men said they had gone on to date someone they met in a game. Games are filled with scenarios that shed light on players’ personalities. A risky raid on a dungeon, for example, can reveal a lot. Players “are constantly having to make decisions like, ‘Do I run out and save myself or help the others survive?’ ” Situations that reveal so much about someone’s character are less common in the real world, he thinks.

Via Edge WSJ. Apparently there’s also a MMORPG for dating.