“With this modem, I thee wed”: Popping the question online

Now that we’ve reached a point in technology where two mildly-techie people don’t even have to be in the same room to get to know one other, a lot of people are getting together that normally wouldn’t. Thanks to the social pastime that is gaming, these people are brought out of the shadows and into the arms of someone that has the same interests. Making a love connection over a LAN connection is not exactly new, but some online gamers have found exciting new ways to pop the question—without making eye contact.

What do you do when you are a financial software programmer and you want to pop the question in style? Well, you take her favorite Nintendo DS game, Bejeweled, and reprogram it from the ground up so that it presents a ring to her, on screen, when she reaches a preset score. That’s exactly what Bernie Peng of Jersey City did. This is no small feat, especially considering the fact that they DON’T make Bejeweled for the DS! It took him a month to put it all together and his girlfriend, Tammy Li, was delighted to say Yes. Even PopCap, the company that produces Bejeweled, was smitten by Peng. They have generously given them over 200 copies of the game to hand out at the wedding, as well as paid for a jewel-themed décor for the reception. The effort was definitely worth it if it got them corporate sponsorship for the wedding.

So, what about those guys that want an even more passive aggressive way to get engaged? “I’m not a computer programmer,” you say. Fear not, as a gamer known only by the tag “PINATAcast” figured out an easy way to pull it off using nothing but two T.V. sets and a spirited round of Viva Piñata. With his girlfriend in the room playing the same game on a different T.V., he was able to harvest a diamond in his virtual garden, which he delivered to his girlfriend via LIVE, along with a message stating the all-important question. After he got up and walked across the room to explain to her that it wasn’t a joke, she graciously said “Yes!”

The nuptials don’t stop with the world of puzzle games and virtual pets. People have been known to meet on specially designed Halo worlds with proposals spelled out on the ground in sniper rifles. And, of course, there are old fashioned guys who meet and woo their girls the old fashioned way: through video chats on Xbox LIVE. What better way to get to know someone than to frag them. After all, how can you get to know someone until you have saved the world from an alien threat with them? The wedding vows would be so beautiful: “Even through the lag on my T1 connection at work, I could tell she had the most beautiful eyes…on her avatar.” Perhaps these people have truly found a partner for all seasons. Or at least until the WiFi cuts out again.