Divorce Rates in MapleStory Lower Than in Real Life

GamePolitics, y u report this stuff to me? D:

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It's pretty sad when people have a better chance of staying married in a virtual world than in real life, but that is apparently the case, if you compare the divorce rates in the MMO MapleStory with real-world divorce rates. VentureBeat recently talked to marriage expert Athena Carrillo Lee of Mind Body Spirit Therapy in Los Angeles about MapleStory marriages and why people get involved in them.

"Some players might forge online partnerships because they see it as advantageous, the way someone might marry for money — no offense to those of you with those values. Others, who play in order to socialize, might forge a partnership because they wish to flirt, romance, and marry, as these are certainly social activities."

"If someone is only capable of social interaction at this level, then I’m grateful they have some level of interaction," she added.

But marriage is a mess even in the virtual world. As was reported last year, most virtual marriages end in divorce. Sadly, for those looking for romance in MapleStory in 2010, the odds were against them. In 2010 26,982 in-game marriages were performed, and 20,344 (75 percent) ended in a divorce. The good news is that North American MapleStory divorces dropped to 46 percent in 2011. According to DivorceRate.org, the divorce rate in America for a first marriage is 50 percent and up to 67 percent for a second marriage. By the third marriage (we call this Newt Gingrich territory), it’s 74 percent. Compared to MapleStory divorces, it seems as though the odds are better for the fake marriage.

As for how one can be successful in an online marriage, Carrillo Lee says, that one shouldn't marry to "get something." Instead people should get married to "share something."

"It’s a great way to get to know yourself,” she says.

Source: VentureBeat, Shutterstock

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I don't find it very surprising. You can't really compare real life marriage and Maple marriage. You don't even have to talk to your spouse after you get married in Maple, and there's more incentive to stay married so you can APQ and stuff.

A political joke, MapleStory reference, and a real life tie in. A+ will read again.

Okay, what am I reading?

All that nx o.o

They got about $675,000 from just marriages in 2010.
pineapple this pomegranate, use less $100 bills to wipe your asses and fix your damn servers.

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As for how one can be successful in an online marriage, Carrillo Lee says, that one shouldn't marry to "get something." Instead people should get married to "share something."

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Au contraire; my first marriage was to "share something" (that was an even bigger waste of money than Meso Bags), and she divorced me. My second marriage was to "get something," and I'm still married. Most emotion-based relationships end, especially since most people playing this game are underage. On the other hand, people that marry solely for APQ usually don't divorce because they married for money, and divorcing+marrying again is a waste of money.

There is no reason anymore to get married other than having a special bond with someone in game. The main incentive to get married in MS has been gaining access to APQ and getting apples, but since you can get 1 billion mesos for the same amount (or even less) that it cost to get married, every day there are less and less people willing to participate in it. The greatest solutions would be taking measures to fix the economy or curb the availability of those illegit means, but since this is Nexon we are talking about that will never happen so just add a new uber great item to make it popular again.

My 1st Maple Marriage was to do APQs, and it's stuck this whole time.

Second one was also for APQs, and between two of my own characters... it has also stood the test of time.

My Dark Knight got divorced though, it was married to some guy who said he loved me. (and is gonna be mad if he reads this)

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Originally Posted by iAmFear

I don't find it very surprising. You can't really compare real life marriage and Maple marriage. You don't even have to talk to your spouse after you get married in Maple, and there's more incentive to stay married so you can APQ and stuff.

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this

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Originally Posted by Locked

A political joke, MapleStory reference, and a real life tie in. A+ will read again.

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Lack of discussing no-same sex option in an MMO! Totally missed an outlet there, A-

When half of your player base get married and then quit, of course the divorce rates are low.

Golddigging with female characters since '09 and still have all six husbands (or was it five?).
What what.

i bet 25+% divorce rate in ms is caused by hackers LOL

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Originally Posted by Liteness

i bet 25+% divorce rate in ms is caused by hackers LOL

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I bet 50% of the actual "couples" are people who marry themselves for apq.