What better gift is there for that special someone than spending some quality time together in a virtual world? Maybe you just started dating and want to get to know each other better. Maybe you’ve been a couple for a decade. No matter the length of a relationship, MMO games offer opportunities that simple cooperative games can only fawn over in jealousy. After all, the only thing better than hanging out together is doing it in front of other people. This Valentine’s Day, don’t just show off how great of a couple you and your partner are. Do it in one of these MMOs that lets you flaunt it to thousands of other players.
Elder Scrolls Online
Rings of Mara aren’t explicitly for romantic couples, but it sure is appealing for them. This cash shop item only needs to be purchased by one partner, presumably whoever’s turn it is to pay for the next date. Afterward, head to a Shrine of Mara in one of the major city hubs. Then pray to Mara and boom! Your two characters now earn +10% EXP when playing together. If you really want to go the extra mile, a tuxedo and a wedding dress are also available in the cash shop. And since Valentine’s Day is all about showing off to everyone else in the world, you better buy them.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 5/10
Sound good? Read our Elder Scrolls Online review here.
Revelation Online
This system is pretty cool. It actually lets you court your significant other by simply playing together. Activities such as questing, clearing dungeons, grinding on mobs (and/or each other), or mentoring will generate love points. Love points can be spent on costumes, buffs, and emotes. After reaching a certain love point threshold, you and your partner will qualify for a wedding (which can be between same or opposite gender characters). Marriage will bring even more benefits including your partner’s name in your title, buffs, and new “married person” abilities. Hilariously, it costs 10,000 gold divorce mutually and 300,000 gold to “force” a divorce. Commitment is no joke in Revelation Online so the flaunt level is pretty damn high here. Valentine’s Day itself brings costumes and emotes each year.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 10/10
Sound good? Read our Revelation Online review here.
Lucent Heart
Lucent Heart has a standard list of MMORPG features until you get to the “Cupid System” bullet point. Then you realize this game is the perfect cheap date compromise. Once Cupid matches two players as Soul Mates, they gain some unique gameplay opportunities. Grouping with a Soul Mate adds extra EXP for both partners. That’s pretty standard. But then they get special Soul Mate Dungeons, the responsibility of growing a “flower” together, and access to lovers emotes that provide temporary buffs. That’s right – Lucent Heart actually rewards you for obnoxious PDA. It’s amazing! Of course, official marriages are also included. The tricky part to all of this is you can’t manually select someone as your Soul Mate. You must use this matchmaking system which randomly partners you with someone. There are guides out there for “rigging cupid” though so don’t be too worried.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 10/10
Eden Eternal
Beginning a relationship with someone in Eden Eternal is as simple as right clicking their name and inviting them on a date. Assuming your partner accepts (you are actually dating each other, right?) you will each earn a 10% EXP buff and a specialized ‘Couple’ tab on your social screen. This will keep track of Luv Coins (to buy skills), a couple’s only message board, and Lover skills. If the couple wants to take the next step, they can get married. There are some steep requirements before marriage though. The couple must have been dating for longer than 30 days, have both reached level 50, and must pay a hefty bit of coin for the wedding. In return, they’ll be granted a firework show for all to see and a ring that grants +2% to all attributes.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 8/10
Final Fantasy XIV
If you’re feeling particularly optimistic about your lovely Valentine then you can go with Final Fantasy XIV’s eternal bond. It might just marriage by another name, but it sure does sound a lot more…permanent. There’s some good and bad to say about Final Fantasy’s progressive system that allows characters to marry regardless of gender, race, region, or allegiance. The wedding attire in FFXIV is pretty sweet (see above). The ceremony can be pretty extravagant too if the couple ponies up a collective $40 USD.
You will undoubtedly impress onlookers with the spectacle, but the long term result is disappointing by comparison. The couple is awarded a 2-seat chocobo, the ability to teleport to one another, and an embrace emote in addition to their wedding clothes. Rubbing your love into people’s faces like a scene from Twilight for a full day is commendable, but ultimately it’s just one day. Like Revelation Online, Final Fantasy gifts emotes and costumes for its V-Day content.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 7/10
Sound good? Read our Final Fantasy XIV review here.
La Tale
Similar to Eden Eternal, La Tale lets you court another player. It’s nice to have some options before tying the knot in an MMO. Valentine’s Day is for gaming couples new and old alike so jumping into marriage might not be the best course of action. Luckily, in La Tale couples receive stat increases for playing together, a healing skill, and an EXP buff. Married players get a sweet ring that builds affection points through slaughtering innocent monsters while partied together. These will give the happy couples buffs that they can show off to other party members. Excellent.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 8/10
Dragon Blood
Once you hit a certain level you gain the ability to propose. A wedding date must be set after the proposal is accepted. It cannot be canceled unless express permission is given from the Dragon Temple Priest. Assuming nobody gets cold feet, the wedding will commence on the chosen date with wedding gifts for guests and rings for the newlyweds. These rings are not just for show as they will boost tons of stats. They also open up new skills as the rings absorbs the couples’ love from playing together. Unfortunately, the level requirement isn’t super easy so both partners will need to show their dragon dedication before their romantic dedication. The main plus of Dragon Blood is that its a browser game so you can both get some Valentining in during work hours.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 5/10
Sound good? Read our Dragon Blood review here.
Age of Wushu
Age of Wushu is one of those few MMOs with an intimacy system. After adding someone to your friends list (in this case, your Valentine’s Day sweetie), players will earn Intimacy Points for playing together. Intimacy Points basically give you and your friend/partner mega stalker abilities on each another.
If you want to take things to the next level and get married in Age of Wushu, you’ll need to commit real world financial resources to the game’s developers. Both players must pay for VIP status before taking their vows. Additionally, one of four level weddings must be paid for with in game money. And Age of Wushu is about as traditional at it comes here, with the male needing to front the entire bill. On the bright side, the weddings are pretty fancy. At the highest tier, a 28-man palanquin will carry the bride to the altar and ten heralds will loudly proclaim the ceremony. After the delightfully unnecessary wedding display, guests can cheer on the couple. If they cheer loud enough, they all get gifts! Finally, marriage comes with tax-exempt trading, married couple titles, a unique skill, and unique items.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 9/10
Fiesta Online
With Fiesta Online, you go big or you go home. This MMO is great for a Valentine’s Day couple that is serious business. Wedding is the only romantic option, but it is a blast. First, an announcement is made to the entire server that you two are the best couple of the day. Then you get to invite guests to a special wedding chapel to participate in the ceremony. Wedding attire is highly recommended but not required. Afterward, the priest will grant you a stat bonus for partying together, a permanent wedding pet, and the ability to summon your partner. Of course, if you’re like me and my wife, you will troll summon each other for the rest of time. Ain’t love grand?
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 7/10
Sound good? Read our Fiesta Online review here.
Ragnarok Online
OK, truth time: a lot of these MMOs don’t have anything to offer but marriage. Like Fiesta and Eden Eternal, players will need to level and pony up some cash before reaping any romantic rewards. Like a lot of older MMOs, Ragnarok Online unfortunately only allows opposite gender marriages. If this affects you, plan your characters accordingly! The wedding ceremony will grant the couple a few unique skills and amusingly disable attacking for a while. Ultimately, getting far enough in Ragnarok Online to get married really shows more commitment to the game than to one’s partner.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 5/10
MapleStory
MapleStory’s marriage system is pretty simple. Buy a ticket and get married. The ticket costs about $5 cash, which is actually pretty cheap for couples compared to some other MMOs. The wedding isn’t all that amazing outside of the Vegas style chapel sign. The only saving grace is that your wedding photos will be published on the MapleStory website for all to see.
Of course there’s also a near-mandatory $5 price tag for a ‘Commitment of Love’ ticket. This ticket is necessary to get any actual benefit out of being married. Every 100 days of marriage will grant the (hopefully) happy couple special quests and an upgraded wedding ring. This can go on for up to 1,000 days so there’s potentially four Valentine’s Day worth of content in MapleStory. It may not be the highest quality or the flashiest, but quantity counts for something! Unfortunately, Valentine’s events in MapleStory feel more like Candy Crush than anything lovey dovey with its solo-centric consumable rewards.
V-Day MMO Flaunt Score: 6/10
If I missed any other MMOs with some romantic element or frequent Valentine’s Day events for couples, let me know. I found it pretty odd that Valentine’s Day quests are fairly solo driven both in terms of content and rewards. Having events is certainly a plus, but most of these aren’t going to drive couples to play the game together. The games that scored the best offered unique advantages for playing with a partner, extravagant emotes or weddings, and/or a numeric relationship score.
Playing games online as a couple is something that should really happen more often. These MMO games should help couples spend some quality time together this Valentine’s Day. While they’re at, show as much digital PDA as possible to sicken everyone else. Isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about?
You forgot to mention that FFXIV weddings also give the couple a chocobo built for two. 🙂
Thanks! I updated the article with that tidbit.