Dating on multiplayer: why bother?

[The-Operator219]

I personally cannot figure this one out, why do people date on multiplayer?
Call me heartless, but I find it sick and vomit-inductive.
I wonder what deep inner sadness causes these people to seek love among strangers.
Reply if you know the answer.

(Disclaimer: This is not a rant, I'm curious as to why people do this.)

[rubenwardy]

8 year olds.

[philipbenr]

I am 16 now, and I am not one of those guys who has 5 girlfriends in one year. In fact, I have never dated, and am going to wait until after the initial wave of teenage "hormone-craze" :P

To answer your question, I honestly think that it is because they see older people doing it, and they want to be like them, whether they know it or not. I see it all the time on and off servers. (and they obviously don't even know what dating is; another reason.)

[The-Operator219]

An excellent answer, however I've seen people your age do it.

[Maker Minetest]

Yes, these poeple are ruining the fun of ''minetest.'' its not ''datetest''.

[The-Operator219]

And for what? Fake feelings of love.

[afflatus]

Where to start? As rubenwardy pointed out these are mostly early teens or even younger. On the internet you can be anyone you want, you can tell a stranger a pack of fiction and nobody really cares. You can create drama and get lots of attention. You can date more experienced players and learn the ropes, up your apparent social status and possibly even get them to play the game for you. Or maybe you're just lonely and you want someone to come share your imaginary world. I don't encourage it and have banned players for high drama speed dating, that said, it's also human nature. If everyone understands that everything we do on the server is role-play and is sensible about not revealing real life details, it can add to the dramatic interest, but the reality is that some players actually can't tell the difference between their imagination, game reality and real-life. As an admin, it seems to work to treat it as if it were role-play until such point as it affects the game. The safe option is simply to enforce the focus on survival and building.

[Dopium]

I think you will find they are little girls and teenage boys, my daughter always plays these games with her toy dolls. It's just what little girls like to do, they like to pretend they're mum. For this reason i never let my daughter play multiplayer, whether it is Minetest or any other game as i know there could be predators.

Problem is at that age they are very venerable and don't have the mature mind to know when something isn't right. My son is older and also wasn't allowed to play online until about 6 months ago, however i have given him a big run down on the do's and dont's.

Many parents these days are irresponsible and need to pull their finger out when it comes to online protection, i know many that don't monitor their children when online. My son clearly understands i monitor his computer and check every move he makes. My daughter is not allowed to use the study PC unless her mother or myself is there to watch what she is doing.

May seem very strict although i am fair and they understand why these rules need to be followed. For now my daughter can only play singleplayer and a private family server when we have Minetest nights.

If you are a parent, always check what your child plays no matter how harmless it may look. Especially online

[Nathan.S]

+1 Dopium, very well put.

[Dragonop]

I think it is mainly because it's rare to encounter somebody at any game that you can actually mantain a decent conversation with; maybe "girlfriend" is the perfect excuse to encunter with them again. I don't really know, I never did it, so I'm mostly trying to do interpretation of what I usually see in multiplayer games chat

[The-Operator219]

Yes sexual predators are an issue, I will give you a pat on the back there.(For reference try going on just test) But it isn't tweens, it's teens.(13-15)
I talk to fine people in the chat, but I'm not dating.
I've heard conversations about breakups, womanizing, and multiple girlfriends/exes.
It never ends.
Anyone remember when multiplayer was two-four friends and mario kart?
Maybe I'm just nostalgic of my childhood.
Anyways, thank you for the feedback.