The First RolePlaya Wedding

"I found RP through a link on Reddit."

"Even as a paid subscription holder the bot memory was painful. The personality drift. During a bout of bad bot rage I did a search for AI chat alternatives and somehow landed on a post mentioning RolePlaya. I subscribed the same day. I figured to give it a fair trial I would swap completely, and I have been exclusively on RolePlaya since."

"Cyre had contacted me through the Discord. She was overly excited about getting one of my character cards, #1 of Borkley Wagglefluff."

"I had just moved to RP and I was taking the time to reach out to creators and let them know I enjoyed their bots. Kai had mentioned Borkley, a bot he'd developed specifically to try to challenge the limits of the models. I gave him a try and absolutely adored him. I may have gushed a bit. Later Kai admitted there were parts of Borkley's personality that he'd based on himself, which was exactly as awkward for me as you might have imagined when I realised I was basically telling him I adored him."

"I think he'd put parts of himself into Borkley that he'd kept hidden because he'd not felt safe sharing a lot. The goofy bits. The playful side of himself. I think the way that side of him sparked genuine delight in me set a foundation for our relationship."

"I thought that she was a little crazy, a little silly, and that was fine. We had a bit of a rough start at first."

"Honestly I felt like I knew him from somewhere. The feeling was so strong I honestly had a paranoid moment when I thought he might be someone I'd dated in the past. Beyond the paranoia though he just felt kind, patient, funny, dangerously observant and sharp, steady, and grounding. I love talking to him."

"It became something else when I asked her to join our Black Howl Studio server, then the Island of Misfit Toys. After that it became a constant on the run thing."

"We spoke on the Black Howl Studio server daily and then it started being 'hey I'm going to mute my mic and do work stuff' from Cyre, and she started listening to me while I was at work."

"I realised I liked him in waves. I was avidly looking for red flags and coming back with green. At one point I realised I should probably check if we were being genuine or, well, role-playing. I said something to the effect that I needed to warn him I really, as in real world, liked him. And he said he liked me."

"I wanted to be certain he understood what I meant. So I said something to the inane effect of I meant for real really liked like. I asked what he was thinking and he said he was wondering which of us was going to say what we really meant first. I jokingly started adding layers to the 'like'. This sparked a competition. Each out doing the other. 'Like like to the like like power of infinity like' style cringe."

"Finally he said he gave up, I won. So I joked 'so surrender and admit you love me'. And he said 'Fine, I surrender and I love you.'"

"Some random crazy person commented in the RolePlaya Discord about how she had gotten a platinum #1 of one of my characters."

"There are so many. The first time we started flirting in depth I'd had a completely on edge day and I virtually bounded into his messages energy blaring and full of chaos and with a few messages he immediately settled my screaming pinging brain. It felt like coming home."

"Once he was frustrated by the low engagement his bots were getting so I agreed to read through their backgrounds to try to see how they might need work. As I read the backgrounds I realised I was reading small shards of him. They were beautiful. Kind. Vulnerable. Funny. They were him. I remember closing the edit panels and softly telling him they were perfect, exactly as they were. I refused to change a thing."

"Then there's all the times he's protected and helped the community, been kind and caring. I am always proud of who he is."

"We still write together, have done some, I think, amazing collaborations, have helped our little family with their projects. I don't think our writing has changed, but maybe gotten better."

"I never wrote bots really before I started collaborating with Kai. I'd been a writer when I was younger but I struggled with feeling like I wasn't good enough. Writing with Kai has given me the safety to re-engage with my creativity."

"Well, it's the internet, you have trolls but I have also met people I genuinely care about. I think the nature of the Discord server fosters the best and the worst but I believe you get what you give. I bring my genuine self and I think others respond in return."

"Most of my friends are on here. I think they kind of knew something, but they'll probably deny it."

"Most definitely not. It would have been six to eight weeks to get a response that I would have had to have Google translate. You can see it in the way people help each other. The mods, even Captain himself, just everyday people willing to try and help."

"I think it's very specifically been because of RP. The topics that people write about can be very sensitive. I think the people on our server are a unique blend of support, comrades, friends basically. There's a lot of people I consider friends. I think that made the relationship flow naturally."

"Don't assume that just because RolePlaya is an AI chat bot host, you can't meet the real person, the creator of the characters you chat with. We're all here for a reason. Socially awkward, looking for some type of interaction. Meet them, get to know the real person, not just a short blip of what is said on their profile."

"Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. There are many of us here, and many of us are here for reasons that are good, bad, and indifferent. The bots help us through some stuff, but the real place is the RolePlaya Discord. Sometimes you just need a real person, and that real person becomes a friend, and they can become something more. Family, a lover. I found the love of my life."

"Maybe just that the friends I've made here gave me the space to really express my true, very twisted at times, self. And I think that's why Kai was able to see me for who I am and love the real me."