Computer role playing game

Byline: Ed Gubbins

Angel Vick has a funny story about the day she first met her husband, James. "I accidentally hit him and killed him that day," she said. "That kind of made things a little shaky at first."

It was an understandable error, she explained. The two of them were traveling and ran into a group of hulking, bellicose monsters called Orcs. A battle ensued, and Angel swung her sword a little too broadly, sinking it into her future husband's back and killing him instantly. Luckily, a healer was able to resurrect him, but the whole scene sure made for some awkward moments.

Vick, a 36-year-old former hotel manager from Florida, met James in the virtual world of Britannia through an online role-playing game called Ultima Online. She began playing it five years ago during the game's beta test, and although she moved a few times over the years, she insisted on a broadband connection to feed her habit.

Ultima Online can be played over a dial-up connection, but no one advises it. In Britannia, a slow connection can be fatal. "Being at 56 kb/s is like having my feet in cement," said Vick.

Technically speaking, it was their characters that met first: Her Angelstorm, a ranger with a fire-breathing horse, and his Lionheart, a bard with magical powers, met in one of Britannia's many taverns and traveled the countryside together, sightseeing and slaying demons (which is a great icebreaker on a date, it turns out). All the while, they were slowly falling under each other's spell.

"It got to the point where we weren't role-playing all the time," said Vick. "I got to know him better than anybody else. We were like best friends."

After about a year, they began to talk over the phone. It turned out James, a pastor, also lived in Florida. In October 1998, they agreed to meet in Tallahassee face to face. Literally. "I was no sooner out of the car than this man planted a huge kiss right on my lips," Vick wrote in an online account of the story. "I lost my breath and was completely overwhelmed by the feelings I was having."

Four months later, they got married. The fact that their relationship began in a fantasy world is still a source of pride for them both. "I cannot think of a better way to meet anyone," said Vick. "All the things you can't be in real life, your character can project. My character has all the qualities I lack at times. She's very strong-willed, very much in control. She has more of a free spirit."

Evidently, Vick isn't the only one who enjoys the vicarious aspects of the game. At last count, Ultima Online served 150,000 accounts on 27 servers worldwide. At least once a year, Vick hosts real-world get-togethers for players in her area, some of whom also met their spouses online. And today she runs a Web site for gaming enthusiasts called Player2Player.net, which allows her to play Ultima Online close to 40 hours a week.

Less than a year after Vick and her husband tied the knot, Angelstorm and Lionheart also got married in a lavish ceremony. More than 300 characters attended. There was even a cake. A year later, they gave birth to a son named Heartstorm, and have since been preoccupied with the typical challenges of child rearing. For example: "A vampire clan put a lot of prophecies on the baby when he was born," said Vick. "They say he's going to be a great power and a great darkness."

Still, it's hard for Angel to believe that a former hotel manager and her husband could create something so powerful together. "In the beginning, we were both really weak characters."