I did indeed fall in love with the sound of her voice, and if it had been a malicious ruse or "catfishing" I would've been crushed. But, having been an Internet user since 1989, I like to think I'm fairly savvy. I mean, some of the "hot girls" I had interacted with turned out to be fat, smelly dudes, but they never really surprised me!

Eventually, I bowed out when I realized that the game had become quite solitary for me, grinding out solo puzzles every day without really socializing anymore.

But at that time, 20 years ago, I was holed-up in my little apartment and not socializing much, due to the broken leg injury, the extreme heat, and poverty. So, in many ways, this MMOG helped to socialize me and kept me sane, at that critical juncture in life.

Since then, I've managed to adapt better, socially, to real life, and I can get out and interact with real people on most days of the week, so that's a big win.

And my ex-fiancée did find the man of her dreams, after all, and it seems that she got what she wanted out of the experience as well. No regrets!

Puzzle Pirates was a very big part of my growing up. One of the first online games I had the pleasure of playing. I still download and check in every few years :)

Yar har har!