With the recent success of sites like eHarmony.com and Match.com, it’s no wonder that many gamers are now meeting online as well, through their favorite pastime: gaming. Pandemic’s very own Grant “Griff” Hall and Jana “Trinity” Aten, recently engaged, met exactly that way.

Grant met Jana at Zion LAN 2005, a fundraiser LAN that she helped organize, purely by accident. Team Pandemic, who were planning on competing in the Counter-Strike tournaments, was having registration issues. Jana recalls, “…so he contacted me on IRC to get everything figured out, and that’s when we first started talking. Then at the event, I was running check-in and he approached me and introduced himself, despite the teasing he received from other members of Team Pandemic.”

They hit it off right from the start; Grant says “After coming back from Zion LAN and talking to her every day, I just knew I had to get to know her more. I found myself just waking up every day and getting on my PC to see if she had messaged me. I suppose after a little bit I realized she was special.”

After that first LAN, they spoke online daily, and Jana seemed a bit torn up because she was already seriously dating someone else. However, coming to Zion LAN 2006 the following year (once again with Jana organizing and Team Pandemic attending), both of them arrived knowing that they had feelings for each other, and confessed as much the day the LAN ended. A few weeks later they both attended Intel Summer Championships and have been together since.

Eventually, the subject of marriage came up, and a few weeks later, Grant took her to the park in her hometown where they had discussed marriage previously, pushed her on the swings for awhile, and proposed to her at a secluded bench in the park. Of course, she said yes, and the rest is history!

Because of the long distance between them (and many miles traveled to see each other), sometimes you wonder how they manage to keep the spark in their relationship; but, they both say gaming really helps them bridge the long distance. Jana (from Wisconsin) and Grant (from Arkansas) currently live 760 miles apart, so gaming is something they can do together, despite the distance. Jana watches his matches as much as she can, and of course, they play online games together, especially Counter-Strike. Grant talks about his gaming time with her: “Most of the time we join up to a highly populated dust2 public server and run around with deagles on T side. After a while though, I’ll switch to the other team, because I know Jana loves trying to take me out.”

When they’re actually together though, it’s not always about gaming. Although Grant and Jana like working through single-player games on old consoles when they’re together, they also enjoy many other things, such as reading – “on long car rides, if he’s driving, I’ll often read aloud. Right now, we’re working on Ender’s Game.” When Grant visits Wisconsin, they take walks on the Riverwalk in Milwaukee – when it’s warm – or go to Cock ‘n’ Toast (a comedy sports show in Milwaukee). In the summer, they love swimming together or going for walks.

Grant and Jana are getting married in June and planning their honeymoon in Cancun, as they both love the beach and the hot summer weather. After their wedding, they will be getting a place in Grant’s hometown while he finishes college.

Cheers and here’s to a long, long life together you two!