There's nothing stopping anyone from doing courting before marriage. But making dating necessary will eliminate roleplay others may want to have. Such as arranged marriages and more.

I feel like it would kind of be weird, especially for couples that don't have the same taste in games and wouldn't both be playing CoE (like my boyfriend and I for example). It's going to be super awkward in itself if I marry a male player, dating would just add on to it. It's a cool concept and could easily be RP'd but I don't think it should be an in-game requirement :-P

The idea about name plates so far was that it's sort of like a memory and that you would get a name plate right after a short introduction. That name plate would stay for about 30-60 minutes (last time I heard about it 45 minutes) and then disappear again if you don't interact with the character that much.

So if you suggest it to be more difficult to do, waiting for a name plate to be pretty much permanent the way you would always know your close familiy members would be a condition to consider.

However, marriage so far - while wooing an NPC character has been mentioned before - hasn't been discussed for player x player marriages. I wonder how everyone is feeling about this.

Not really in the same vein but in the last QA they spoke briefly about changing religion of a town. They said NPCs would need a reason to change their belief leading into the Maslows hierarchy of needs. Yet a player can just "switch" no reason or mechanic needed.

So to me it seems like players can do what they want in regards to that sort of thing which would include marriage and child contracts with other players. NPCs have to be wooed in order to have a reason to do something players don't.

Posted By Malais at 07:22 AM - Fri Jun 23 2017

Not really in the same vein but in the last QA they spoke briefly about changing religion of a town. They said NPCs would need a reason to change their belief leading into the Maslows hierarchy of needs. Yet a player can just "switch" no reason or mechanic needed.

So to me it seems like players can do what they want in regards to that sort of thing which would include marriage and child contracts with other players. NPCs have to be wooed in order to have a reason to do something players don't.

A player not practicing a religion is one thing. Practicing another is another thing entirely, a Kypic following Janoan practices would be shunned by other Kypic.

An entire town converting to another religion is similarly a much bigger event. What if the Duchy, County etc. worships a conflicting religion?

But we can indeed do what we want, just not always without consequences. I think it would be cool if when you marry a complete stranger, ie a player, if NPCs sort of mentioned that if you talk to them.

Posted By Vilucide at 10:15 AM - Fri Jun 23 2017

Posted By Malais at 07:22 AM - Fri Jun 23 2017

Not really in the same vein but in the last QA they spoke briefly about changing religion of a town. They said NPCs would need a reason to change their belief leading into the Maslows hierarchy of needs. Yet a player can just "switch" no reason or mechanic needed.

So to me it seems like players can do what they want in regards to that sort of thing which would include marriage and child contracts with other players. NPCs have to be wooed in order to have a reason to do something players don't.

A player not practicing a religion is one thing. Practicing another is another thing entirely, a Kypic following Janoan practices would be shunned by other Kypic.

An entire town converting to another religion is similarly a much bigger event. What if the Duchy, County etc. worships a conflicting religion?

But we can indeed do what we want, just not always without consequences. I think it would be cool if when you marry a complete stranger, ie a player, if NPCs sort of mentioned that if you talk to them.

I was simply pointing out while the NPC has a mechanic they follow in order to change religions the player doesn't. I do not see how/why they would build a mechanic for dating between players before they can marry if there isn't one for religion.

How would an NPC know you were marrying a stranger? I know my neighbors on my block. Not well but o know them by sight and such. How would they know if I suddenly married a woman who I had been friends with for years but didn't bring around the neighborhood until after we were married?

My point is without using meta data the NPC would comment and consider anyone they didn't specifically know themselves as being a stranger. This creates problems with political marriages, marriages where a merchant marries someone from another town, or someone who was a deviant. I don't think adding in an artificial mechanic for wooing between players adds anything to the game and in fact punishes those, like mentioned above, chose to RP arranged marriages or to marry for political reasons.

But that is just my opinion.

Posted By Sylvae at 08:44 AM - Fri Jun 23 2017

There's nothing stopping anyone from doing courting before marriage. But making dating necessary will eliminate roleplay others may want to have. Such as arranged marriages and more.

Oh yeah I didn't even think of arranged marriages. Thanks!

Posted By Hellmoon at 09:07 AM - Fri Jun 23 2017

I feel like it would kind of be weird, especially for couples that don't have the same taste in games and wouldn't both be playing CoE (like my boyfriend and I for example). It's going to be super awkward in itself if I marry a male player, dating would just add on to it. It's a cool concept and could easily be RP'd but I don't think it should be an in-game requirement :-P

Ah good point. Yeah if I wasn't playing with my SO I would probably feel awkward having to date before marrying for the bene's. But at the same time, you don't have to be married to have a child/heir contract. So would it really affect someone who doesn't ever get married to have this kind of a mechanic?

Posted By Vilucide at 10:15 AM - Fri Jun 23 2017

But we can indeed do what we want, just not always without consequences. I think it would be cool if when you marry a complete stranger, ie a player, if NPCs sort of mentioned that if you talk to them.

Ooo that's a really cool idea. Unless in the case of an arranged marriage perhaps? But only if the marriage contract was public? Could that work maybe?

Posted By Malais at 10:42 AM - Fri Jun 23 2017

How would an NPC know you were marrying a stranger? I know my neighbors on my block. Not well but o know them by sight and such. How would they know if I suddenly married a woman who I had been friends with for years but didn't bring around the neighborhood until after we were married?

True but you don't live in a feudalistic society where knowing your neighbors means increasing security and other benefits for your home and community life :P Most rural cities that I have lived in have a strong sense of knowing your neighbors and the proverbial "sewing circle" gossip LOL! But I do see your point, maybe they wouldn't know but the ones that do could talk about it?

Posted By Malais at 10:42 AM - Fri Jun 23 2017

My point is without using meta data the NPC would comment and consider anyone they didn't specifically know themselves as being a stranger. This creates problems with political marriages, marriages where a merchant marries someone from another town, or someone who was a deviant. I don't think adding in an artificial mechanic for wooing between players adds anything to the game and in fact punishes those, like mentioned above, chose to RP arranged marriages or to marry for political reasons.

Ah HA! Another thing I didn't consider was marrying for political reasons. But that would still be public knowledge right? If Duke A marries Count B to begin merging his duchy with the neighboring one, then everyone in that county would know right?

I'd rather you don't HAVE to k ow them well. Political marriages and all...

The Devs have stated that marriage is not a automatic click and your done. There must be a courtship for sometime then a marriage if you are find yourself in the good graces of the other. If not, I guess you must move along to another and give that one a try, but marriage, like so much in CoE, is something that you must strive for, not given to you on a silver platter. My suggestion is you quickly befriend and florist and the jeweler because if you are like me, you will probably be seeing them a lot.

Posted By PixiePunchPie at 5:18 PM - Fri Jun 23 2017

Ah good point. Yeah if I wasn't playing with my SO I would probably feel awkward having to date before marrying for the bene's. But at the same time, you don't have to be married to have a child/heir contract. So would it really affect someone who doesn't ever get married to have this kind of a mechanic?

As you point out there are benefits to marriage. While you rightly point out this doesn't include children the other benefits are still significant if you are joining the family of a group of players you often interact with. Marriage is the only way for an existing character to join a family so it a very important mechanic and a lot of people will want to use it.

Posted By Sullen at 7:04 PM - Fri Jun 23 2017

The Devs have stated that marriage is not a automatic click and your done. There must be a courtship for sometime then a marriage if you are find yourself in the good graces of the other.

This only applies to NPCs which is not relevant to this thread.