Hello there. As I write this it is February the 15^th. The secret rulers of the world are all counting up their obscene profits from the sales of lovey-duvey cards, (profits that I, for one, did nothing to contribute to. I sent an e-card. And it was more than enough. At least, that’s what my Significant Other shouted as she left the house in something of a rush. Or was it ‘I’ve had enough’? No matter. I’ll ask her when she comes back. Which should be soon. I mean, she’s been gone about twenty-four hours now.)

So the Trion Worlds Guinness World Record attempt for the most in-game marriages in a 24-hour period is over. Was it a success? Indeed it was. A resounding success, actually. 21,879 marriages were confirmed between 9am PST, Feb. 14 and 9am PST, Feb. 15, earning Rift a place in the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition®. And those who took part have all earned themselves the title “The Avowed”. Congrats to the new couples.

Another Valentine’s Day competition Trion held was, “True Romance in Telara”.

Share your story and we’ll personally plan your in-game day!

Do you and your significant other play RIFT together or even trying to find a reason to get them to try? We’ve got a contest to make your big-day even bigger! MMO’s have played a role in thousands, maybe even millions of relationships – we want to know how online games benefit you and your loved one or the favorite memories you’ve made playing together!

There were a lot of entries for this one, but the final five winners were:

Lovers Leap

Time, space, and cancer couldn’t stop this couple from being together – read how MMO’s keep them together, even when the world drives them apart!

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Love is Blind

We thought this couple deserved to have their wish – if they can’t get married in real life, we’ll sure as heck marry them in Telara!

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Make Love, Not War

Try this one on for size, he ganked her – and instead of giving him a piece of her mind, they fell in love.

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Those who Play together, Stay together.

This fun little poem won them a spot for getting a good laugh out of us all as it explains their story in RIFT.

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Shinies for a Shiny

Artifact hunters, eat your heart out! This guy went all the way to make his love say “I do!”

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Even Caedryn got into the spirit of things. He didn’t get married, no. You can’t tie down a free spirit like Caedryn. He needs to spread his wings and fly. But he did hang around a wedding coordinator until a likely-looking couple approached for a wedding contract.

Technically, it's not stalking. It's waiting.

After that, it was only the matter of an hour or so to convince the excited couple to allow Caedryn to attend their wedding. It was a bit of a game, really, because all three of us knew they’d give in in the end. Well, I did anyway, and it’s what I kept telling them as I followed them around Sanctum while they invited their real friends to the festivities.

They eventually said yes (actually, it was more like YES! God!! Fine. Come then!) and we teleported of to a wedding high in the mountains somewhere. The wedding ceremony was to take place straight away, but the clouds looked so incredibly dramatic that Caedryn grabbed the wedding photographer to get a couple of moody, back-lit shots that he could use for publicity purposes when he becomes really famous.

Thoughtful staring into the distance.

The ceremony itself was pleasant enough, as these things go.  A dwarf (who looked like he’d been partaking in some free booze) did the ceremony, and the poor, er, I mean, lucky couple were joined together in union.

Er… I don't want to kill the mood, but is that a monsoon coming?

They then had to use the forge behind the dwarf to hammer something or other that signified their partnership. I didn’t quite catch that bit as I’d just happened to glance over to my right and spotted the area where the wedding reception was to be held.

Party time!

As soon as the ceremony was finished Caedryn rushed down the stairs to do what, let’s face it, every guy does at a wedding. It’s the only reason men go to weddings. (Other than the dire threats from their partners.)

Drink free booze.

Whoops. Watch out for that bit of flat ground there. It's sneaky.

Caedryn made sure he got enough, and, let’s face it, was the life and soul of the party. He chatted, he drank, he danced, he flirted, he ate, he drank, he got in a fight, he drank, he hid behind some flowers because for some reason he thought it was absolutely hilarious, he drank, he tried to pick a fight with a Sanctum guard, he jumped on the tables. You know, the usual stuff. Fireworks were let off, the wine flowed, and all in all it was a pretty good party.

Caedryn does the moonwalk. Badly.

You can't see meee!

But alas and alack, duty called, and Caedryn made a decision he shouldn’t have made when he'd been partaking of the free alcohol. He decided to finish up a quest that had been giving him a bit of bother lately. See, after the Realm of the Fae quest, Caedryn spoke to a chap called Cardinal Fiach. It seems that Prince Hylas was called to the dark side by a High Priest called Keelaodh. Fiach wants Caedryn to head on over to the Mirror of Ages and use the Vespers Bell to call the naughty priest over, then subdue and question him. I’d already tried it once and got utterly killed for my efforts. But Caedryn was filled with the confidence that is found in the cup, and he decided to stumble on over to the Mirror and take Keelaodh down to Chinatown.

Yeah, you can probably guess how that went. Especially since this is another group quest by the looks of it. Although, in Caedryn’s defense, Keelaodh didn’t come on his own. If he had, Caedryn would have taken him for sure. But the sneaky priest brought reinforcements with him. And they cut a still slightly drunk Caedryn down.

Which might have been for the best. The hangover was kicking in, and it was going to be a biggy.

So. Looks like I’ll be using the “Looking for group” function again in order to subdue Keelaodh. I'll let you know how that goes next week.