There were many vendors at Fan Faire .  Among them was a new dating service for gamers!  Guest Editorialist Drew Taylor brings us the story.

According to Chris and Bill Forton of Gamer Harmony, a new online dating service available specifically to the role playing/online gaming community, there is...to the sum of 10 million online gamers! The creators of this new revolution in online dating was inspired after an article was posted on a popular website regarding a couple divorcing due to the habits of the World of Warcraft playing husband. This spark of revelation inspired Bill, the founder of the dating site, to construct a website for those of us in the gaming industry to find a partner who can share their love of MMOGs. This is a quality that many gamers relish, and some look for as a criteria in partners to have, offers the chance to find that special someone who is both attractive and sensitive to their passion for games. The dating world is still mostly skeptical of finding true romance online, but in recent months has replaced the bar with the virtual, and this is yet another marriage of the two industries.

Currently the service offers a free membership with limited access. Two additional levels of membership silver, five dollars per month, and gold, seven dollars per month, are currently offered. Due to the appearance of the two promoting their services at this year's SOE Fan Faire, which consists of a large percentage of their intended demographic, with many eligible bachelors and vixens, this should prove fruitful. As a special promotion to those that attended, along with other swag, the creators offered a free gold level membership for life. This membership will provide a vast array of service features, including messaging, winks, profile searches, photo/video posting, and more. The site furthers it's affordability with a discount for extended memberships with a discount package of six months worth of gold level membership for $30.50, a bargain compared with blanket sites like the more popular eHarmony.com.

The author took the two up on their offer for a charter membership and set up an account, which took about five minutes to get the basic information and registration done. The user interface is simple and appealing; however there are bugs as with any new site. The author found the account had been flagged as expired due to my charter membership. This was explained as having to do with the charter members being free for life and bypassing the normal protocols. It should be noted that this offer was not just for the author or those attending SOE's Fan Faire. The offer is also being extended to the first 10,000 members who join, so readers may have the same issue. But fear not, the customer support is a direct connection to the owners and they are happy to help you in a timely manner. The author received a clean bill of health on the account, no more bugs, after less than six hours and an email apologizing for the inconvenience.

The profile setup is similar to others but with the major exception that it asks for what the two main games you play are and how much time you spend on them. It is also kind to those that raid and don't by asking if you are a casual gamer or enjoy raiding. This for the author was a bonus since he does not raid. Readers will also be glad to hear that the search engine based on your profile can search based on the game preferences of others. This further narrows the field so that potential couple can share their games.

The gold level membership also extends to its members the ability to opt into a featured profiles section which displays a brief synopsis of the profile on the homepage; further generating leads. The profiles also have a rating system, usable by others who view them, that can give the account holder an idea as to how well their profile is being received by the community. There is also a hot watch list that can be set up to keep track of updates to the profile that users have viewed and may have in mind as potential partners.

Currently the site is small, only about a hundred users as of August 19, 2008 but the turn out from the Fan Faire is evident. Due to the event the site community had grown by 25% and with DragonCon and GenCon also during the month, the population is expected to grow by leaps and bounds. The ratio for male to female members is pretty even, despite the norm in gaming. This proves a boon for potential male users who may be skeptical that there aren't enough women to go around, causing extra competition in an already difficult dating battlefield. And the community members range from the physically attractive to the less than; however there is a good mix of gamers that if given the chance and talked to regularly love may just find a way to peek its head up.

Overall the site has potential. The gaming/dating community looks forward to see what it has in store, be it a success or a failure, only time will tell.

With a genuine caring for the online community of gamers, the founders are gamers themselves, and a charisma that is infectious, this site will prove to be a steal worthy of the loot that every gamer dreams of...a permanent group member and partner. To find out more, check out the website at GamerHarmony.com.