AdventureQuest Worlds, a new web-based MMO that was released by Artix Entertainment in mid-October 2008, recently held an incredibly large in-game event that combined the real and virtual worlds: a live wedding with more than 11,000 players in attendance.

Bello and Merc, the bride and groom, have been Artix players for three years, which is why they wanted to share their special day with the community.  “We decided to go with AdventureQuest Worlds because we’ve been playing Artix games for years now and almost feel like we’ve been a part of Artix Entertainment’s maturation as a gaming company," Bello said in a press release.

To prove that anything can happen in a game, Troll Wedding Crashers ultimately invaded the event, but it was all in good fun. Visit AdventureQuest Worlds' Web site if you'd like to check the game out. You can play it in your web browser, and according to Artix they are opening free accounts at the rate of 250,000 per week. The full press release about the wedding can be found after the jump.

LAND O’ LAKES, FL – JANUARY 12, 2009 – Artix Entertainment’s MMORPG AdventureQuest Worlds was the setting for the December 29th wedding of longtime Artix gamers Bello and Merca which was broadcast live starting on www.aqworlds.com with over 11,000 gamers in attendance.  

The bride, who is a retailer, and the groom, who is a pre-school teacher, have been avid Artix gamers for three years.  They live in southwestern Missouri and decided to share their union with fellow gamers worldwide.

“We thought this was a unique opportunity to do something memorable,” said Bello.  “We decided to go with AdventureQuest Worlds because we’ve been playing Artix games for years now and almost feel like we’ve been a part of Artix Entertainment’s maturation as a gaming company.”

The wedding was held in a private room while the 11,000 players joined clones of that room which featured avatars of the wedding party and was updated in real time.  This allowed all players to share in the same experience. The ceremony itself was tongue and cheek and was inevitably raided by Troll Wedding Crashers which camped out on the dance floor of the reception area. Wedding items were released including the Rose Thorn Blade, Wedding Cake Pet (a piece to go), Wedding Candle, The Eternal Flame and the Bouquet.

AdventureQuest Worlds, which launched in mid-October, has captured the interest of 2.3 million players so far, and they are opening their free accounts at the rate of 250,000 per week.

Artix, a small, Florida-based family-owned studio that offers three other RPG titles AdventureQuest, MechQuest, and DragonFable, has enjoyed a high success rate in the past five years with over 60 million accounts created for their games.  Players can visit www.AQ.com, www.mechquest.com, and www.battleon.com  to sign up for an account and play online for free. No downloads required.