badmen and saiyans ONLY

!saiyans

Introduction

Y'all remember the smash hit One Punch Man (OPM) in the mid to late '10s? The persiflage of the entire shounen genre as an invincible but bored superhero defeats all enemies with just one punch? Filled with other nonsensical characters like the strongest man on earth who's essentially the weakest man alive or the guy whose basically just a male feminist (male feminist) in real life? Anyways, that shit is still going strong but I've to elaborate here, OPM is based on a shitty drawn but sovlful webcomic by ONE, which in turn got adapted into an official (tm) manga with much better art by MURATA. The thingy got picked up as an anime and rose to immense popularity. Naturally, the original tone of the comic has been lost as it essentially became what it was making fun of - but that's a given for japanese "writers" as they're all whiny or talentless hacks or a combination of the aforementioned - except Fukumoto he's bae(sed). Anyway, OPM has always had a terrible release schedule but lately it's gotten so disgusting that even long-time fans are dropping the series.

Context

To reiterate, here's the release schedule of the original comic (ONE):

while lazy he managed something

Here's what Murata has managed to draw after late 2023:

You may notice the Retconned tag after some chapters. And yes, it's exactly like you are thinking. He draws those chapters, releases them, and then later decides he isn't happy with the chapter (or the entire arc) and revisions all of it while making slight adjustments. Anyway, the latest chapter is a redraw of an already redrawn chapter originally released in 2023 featuring a filler side story of a filler arc. So basically the entirety of chapters released in 2024 are retconned - people don't like this ... at all:

Drama

/r/OnePunchMan

This sub can be insufferable

I love OPM, I love all the stupid drama over which wiafu is best (they're cartoons and y'all are weird), I love the characters and story, I love the art. But the thing is we are getting a product for free here, and early. We don't have to wait for the Manga to get released, we don't have to wait for the finalized product to be able to read what's going on. We literally get a look behind the curtain as this is being made. And part of that process is fixing work that they felt needed to be fixed. Who's to blame? Murata? One? Who cares. It's their work. I'll complain about redraws when I have to rebuy my physical mangas because there's an updated version. It's not done until it's been printed and released. It feels like people are acting privileged and entitled because One released his content online, and now they assume they deserve access to finalized and completed content at our convenience. It will be done when they say it's done. Can we just enjoy what we have in the meantime?

https://old.reddit.com/r/OnePunchMan/comments/1i8rbxz/this_sub_can_be_insufferable/m8vtavd/?context=8

I'd argue that trying to pretend that deleting 14 month of progress out of nowhere is completely fine is far more insufferable.

This isn't a look behind the curtains. It's officially released chapters that also gets official translations. No other series even remotely com close to this mess so of course there is nothing wrong about pointing it out.

Another moment of silence for the poor fools read the official version of OPM on VIZ's app. Because VIZ doesn't translate redrawings.

It is fine? That's how the creative process works sometimes

Literally no other manga series does that.

https://old.reddit.com/r/OnePunchMan/comments/1i8rbxz/this_sub_can_be_insufferable/m8vsw9i/?context=8

why make us wait a whole year for a promised move forward in this story and then throw it all away? Its not us being ungrateful but if Murata truly wants quality for this manga he ought to take his time rather than rush and give us half-assed butchered storylines and retcon it constantly

What you don't understand is you're not the audience.

He is getting it right, and the version he wants is what will actually make it into the volume.

He is the audience. Fans like him are the reason why OPM got an official English physicals in the first place. His opinion will be valid if he says it in Japanese or so? That's just silly. He's still a supporting fan, and he could buy the physical manga just like any Japanese fan could. That's a narrow way of looking at it. Every fan contributes to the series' success.

Thread Dump

/r/Manga

DISC One Punch Man Chapter 195 - 2nd Revision

To be entirely precise, we were at chapter 195 in November 2023. We're in January 2025 and we're now at chapter 195. A whole year thrown away.

https://old.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/1ia11m5/disc_one_punch_man_chapter_195_2nd_revision/m96wrxa/?context=8

Ngl the constant redraws have killed my excitement for this series. Doesn't help that I personally think the story gets worse with each version (just my own opinion)

Simple redraws or changes to the pacing is one thing, but changing the literal plot or direction is too far. It feels like that they don't have a vision for the manga and is just drawing whatever they feel works, which they then don't stick to and subsequently and in my opinion wastes my time and attention.

https://old.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/1ia11m5/disc_one_punch_man_chapter_195_2nd_revision/m96oshu/?context=8

This manga fell off so hard, it really needs to be studied. Being so utterly clueless in what direction you want to take the story that you have to rewrite an arc for a third time. Just copy paste the webcomic at this point.

The funny thing is the defenders of the comic on the main subreddit

Well, it's easy to find defenders when the powertripping mods on there will parma ban anybody even remotely stating something negative about the manga.

https://old.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/1ia11m5/disc_one_punch_man_chapter_195_2nd_revision/m97n48e/?context=8

OPM is genuinely starting to feel like an afterthought with both of its artists at this point.

I know Murata has that animation project he's working on, and ONE seems occupied with Versus and Bug Ego.

Deleting an entire year's worth of chapters, after having already done a complete 180 on the direction of the climax of the most pivotal arc of the series, is actually mental.

What's the point of reading any of this if it can just be retconned whenever ONE or Murata feel like it?

And the people that are on maximum strength copium trying to justify this shit by saying it's some sort of meta-level 4th wall interference by God to prevent his will from being hindered by the plot are just hilarious. Yes, it's totally that and not just blatant mismanagement and confusion by the creators as to where they want to take the narrative.

/r/OPMfolk

Thread Dump

https://old.reddit.com/r/OPMFolk/comments/1i7d8f0/redraw_chapter_195240_raw/m8jpizt/?context=8

All of 2024's chapters are gone from the site lol.

Get ready for another year of ninjas

I'm bored and this isn't as interesting as I've initially assumed. I'll revision this thread in the future.

🇺🇸 The female Black Hawk helicopter pilot from the crash in Washington, Captain Rebecca Lobach, was not named until her social media was cleaned … so it seems.

She was Biden’s aide. pic.twitter.com/gP16Tmr2py

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) February 2, 2025

Found this guy on twatter, here he's celebrating TMC winning

The more these WhatsApp graduates talk about Bengal the bigger the margin Trinamool Congress will get. Chal fot !
Joy Bangla 💪✌️ https://t.co/LsxeHnaeU0

— SDutta (@SDuttaLive) February 20, 2025

Entire TL is deepthroating the party

Standard issue muslim lover whose only nashunalism is aroused for his lang(which he likely can't speak without english bastardizations anyway)

This is his pinned tweet

The party and politics he simps for with all his diseased existence stole his ancestral land to build houses for bangladeshi illegals

!bharatiya

Its very rare for people to actually get consequences of their actions like this IRL.

@Garry_Kong opinion?

It was after hours and didn't interfere with p*tients.

The GOP needs to grow a fricking spine or Trump and Elon might cause a depression.

This is perhaps the most blood boiling thing a President has said in my entire lifetime. America made a fatal error in November. https://t.co/9GFpmpNfaf

— Liberty Fed 🌐🗽🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼🇦🇲🏳️‍🌈 (@fedtanyl) February 19, 2025

Young men in New Zealand are all done with the rainbow parades.pic.twitter.com/q3NG2uhUqV

— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) February 15, 2025

"They" keep posting bait like this in people's feeds... There's a lot of it now and it never happened at this rate before. The Drama gods are good.

1. "so you guys invented slavery?" "you invented ugly"

2. " no one in my family is the color of " "okay cave boy"

3. "darn... did we have any attractive ancestors?" "you'd have fit in back then" "Doubt that. I'm gorgeous, dusty"

Pinay deletes post but it must have been good as she caused a lot of seething lol

4. "..." " "

5. "this is the truth!" "no this is pure bullshit!" "okay drunky" "show my evidence you dumb neighbor"

Pinay girl is back lol

6. chud posts

Guy has fun and posts the "my ancestor" meme... black guy doesn't get it...

7. "my ancestors" "you a USA citizen?" " no, I'm an anomalocaris" "worry about your own disgusting country"

Boomer posts gif of black guy stealing stuff and running away

8. posts chud gif "chudposts harder*

9. "the pale cave monkies hate African people! Africans are the original people. Podcast coming soon!"

10. Some random posts lol

America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 6, 2025

Prepare for liberation bongs. You'll get to be the 54th state behind Canada, Greenland, and Panama!

Everyone please warmly welcome the soon to be new members of the American empire.

Euros reactions

https://old.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1huu9cn/elon_musk_puts_up_a_poll_asking_if_the_us_should/

https://old.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/1huv8d6/elon_musk_hints_at_us_invading_the_uk_to_liberate/

There are probably more but this is still relatively fresh.

@whyareyou I didn't actually think you were fricking that r-slurred but I thought it was fricking funny reading out "why are fricking you r-slurred"

!vibecheck !r-slurs !edgelords

If you want to make your own, you can use this

I knew deep down, when he would never give me a response when I have tried engaging him in discussions about women's rights and everything else Trump and his cult have done, that he felt this way. How can he think this, after everything I've talked to him about with abortion bans (we have young girls), Trump's stance on climate change, Project 2025, etc.

I wish I were financially independent. I made the idiotic mistake of taking a break on my career. I work part-time and can work more next year.

I really want out. I just don't know how

From the comments:

I made a similar post yesterday and just spent an hour in my therapist's office crying because it's finally hitting me that my husband, my partner, would rather support Nazis than put his pride aside for one fricking second and admit he was wrong. And now I have to draw a line in the sand, because NAZIS, and he has forced me into this position where I either have to divorce him, or knowingly stay married to a Nazi sympathizer. And quite frankly I hate him for it

"I don't know, Trump really doesn't seem that bad"

"My therapist that I spend your money on agrees with me! You're literally at Nazi!"

I'm sorry for you and your girls. They will know their father stood by while their rights were decimated and he will have to live with that. Not that any of these men are capable of self reflection.

Most sane BreakingMom poster.

This election proved just how much men hate women. I'm not surprised at all, but I'm still a bit disappointed

i'm so sorry. men are so stubborn and entitled. they'd rather be a fascist than be proved wrong. i hope that in time he comes to his own conclusion that trump is absolutely evil and equally i hope that you find financial freedom soon. ❤️

"ur a fascist if you don't agree with me"

Solidarity. I can't leave right now either. I've really had my eyes opened by his viewpoint the last few days. I can't even talk to him about politics without it becoming a screaming match. He constant asks for sources and "where did you see that at? You're only seeing one side and well at my work women this and women that...

Trump is a Nazi!

: Source!? Do you have a SOURCE for that?!?

You're all about women's rights but what actually have they taken away from you that changes your day to day life" oh he also is a freakin racist. He 100% proved that on MLK day by saying "oh it's (person who assassinated MLK day)" and I was like WHAT? He goes, "what you never heard it called that before? Everyone I know calls it that" I was dumbfounded. I was like why because you're a racist who is surrounded by other racists??? What the heckkkkk.

We have a daughter. I just can't do this for the next 4 years and who only knows how long after. I start therapy soon. I feel like the world is going to heck and I don't know what to do about it. I'm so scared for my child.

Most Based Comments

Basedness: 🔥🔥🔥🔘🔘

Immediate family? No. The only other sibling is his sister and she's 20-ish. She does baby sit in fairness to her. Widening net to cousins etc none stepped forward. They definitely are there on my wife's side at least. Not sure about his side. (1595)

What about the parents? (96)

Basedness: 🔥🔥🔥🔘🔘

I did that with another story the other day and I got the same thing 💀 Dead internet is looking really real rn (1294)

Are we the orphans of the dead internet? Who will care for us? (561)

Basedness: 🔥🔥🔘🔘🔘

NAH. It's a devastatingly sad situation but your wife is doing what's best for her and you're doing what's best for the children. I can't get my head round your wife saying no either BUT she's not an AH for it. Some people really don't want kids and that's their right. Unfortunately, you may have to choose between them. (323)

I'd have to chose my wife. I wouldnt consider her an AH either but I'm just very surprised and still disappointed.Edit: I don't see how I'm being downmarseyd. She's my wife. Weve been together since we were kids. I wouldnt be happy with it but the kids are not the only ones grieving. I made vows to my wife.  (-82)

Angriest Comments

Angriness: 😡😡😡😡😡

This is the correct response. You have not been an butthole. it's a tragic situation that said, she is not wrong either.This will most likely end your marriage and it's a tough spot you have to choose. She made it clear upfront her view of her life. You agreed to that view. Your view changed hers didn't. So you either go back to the lines you both drew together or get ready to start drawing lines without her. She's not wrong or a bad person for this. If you choose her you have to do it under the pretense you can never resent her for this. Can you do that? If you chose the kids and your marriage ends, would you ever resent the kids? There is not an option here that is not going to leave you with massive "what if" questions. Only you can decide what's most important. You are not the butthole unless you resent your decision and others suffer for it. She's not the butthole cause she is just keeping her word about what her life view is. There's nothing wrong with that.Edit due to the 100+ r... (795)

While he's definitely not the butthole, she definitely is wrong. These children are her family, of course she has an obligation to take them in when this tragedy occurs. Modern society is all about "muh rights" but we've forgotten all about our duties and responsibilities.You have a duty to your family. Even if you aren't religious and view them as disposable, you should want to take them in simply for harm reduction. The harm and negative outcomes for older children going into foster care/state placement are demonstrable and horrible. They'll be (likely) split up. They'll be (likely) abused. They'll be far more likely to fall into addictions, crime, they'll have lower lifetime earnings, less stable homes of their own (if they even have families), etc. Every single metric is worse.It'd be one thing if they did not have the means to care for the children (although it'd have to be an extremely bad financial circumstance to make keeping them worse than abandoning them to whatever the st... (1)

Angriness: 😡😡😡😡😡

Just because she doesn't want to do want you and op wants her to, doesn't make her a bad person. A bad person, is trying to force your beliefs onto others then, slandering them when they refuses. (1)

Um letting your dead sister's children fall into neglect and abuse in the foster system because you're too selfish to step up does make you a bad person. That's what being a bad person is. It's literally being so selfish that you make orphans homeless. This behavior and thought process should be shamed and ridiculed. It's the reason society sucks now, everyone only gives a shit about their own convenience and not about being a decent person. You will never convince me that being so far up your own butt that you refuse to care for those that have no one except you is a good thing. (-1)

Angriness: 😡😡😡😡😡

ohhh i ws about to type sorry she would leave you if something happened to you as she lacks empathy and saw he said has standing her and Shes a good women. Mans got np clue hes married to someone with a personality disorder. Oh well i guess unless they end up im the system they are better of or maybe still would be cos that shits pathological and one day has going o look back and hate himself. took a twist tbh i was waiting to read he didn't want them. Its a shame people refuse to believe there are woman monsters too. Don't even feel bad for him those aren't red flags they are giant speakers screaming narcissistic personality disorder. if you red this mate, she might change her mind cos she will know she's crossed a big line but if she does yu need to educate yourself on Narcistic child abuse cos that that will happen and you'll need to educate yourself on you to not become complicit either by ignoring it or joining in, you have no idea what you live with in all Honesty nukes you c... (1)

Biggest Lolcow: /u/Level-Heart-5270

Score: 🐮🐮🐮🔘🔘

Number of comments: 23

Average angriness: 🔘🔘🔘🔘🔘

Maximum angriness: 😡😡😡😡😡

Minimum angriness: 🔘🔘🔘🔘🔘

NEW: Subscribe to /h/miners to see untapped drama veins, ripe for mining!

autodrama: automating away the jobs of dramneurodivergents. Ping HeyMoon if there are any problems or you have a suggestion

Feeling a little melancholic today, I yearn to return to pappa Loomis, might start the "Bridgeman marathon" this weekend.

Drew these yesterday

I hate to defend Hanania, but this is a misunderstanding of the tool. This part just shows a mapping between a person and the NGO they are part of.

If you use the EIN to look at how much he gets from taxes it's just $15.

($15 that he shouldn't get, but it's not significant) https://t.co/IyH0ldedDZ pic.twitter.com/4BTyEjuDZZ

— Will I Am - e/acc (@SouthernWintrs) February 6, 2025

Deaf anime avatar creates easy to search website of NGO data. Specifically focused on USAID at the beginning but slowly expanding to more site

🚨 NEW TOOL: PRINCIPAL OFFICER SEARCH & USAID TRACKING 🚨
🔎 FOLLOW THE LEADERS. TRACE THE MONEY. 💰
I’ve built a powerful tool to help you track nonprofit leadership and follow USAID grant flows with ease.

Here’s what you can do:
✅ Search by Principal Officer – Find nonprofits… pic.twitter.com/kr1sHCnRwR

— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) February 5, 2025

https://datarepublican.com/award_search/

Rightoids use this to find millions of tax dollars going to libtards making more than them

For a real eye-opener on the scope of this USAID welfare program.

1. Run a keyword search via Data Republican.

Example, "Diversity."

2. Find a grant.

Example, "American Councils For International Education"

3. Get Form 990 for the grant recipient.

4. Check salaries. pic.twitter.com/5yMkvOTS7P

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 5, 2025

They speculate that DOGE is now going to destroy the libtards

A lot of "Marko's" are about to go Full Luigi. Count on it. Read all 4 panels in replies. pic.twitter.com/AqVXQT11LN

— Matt Bracken (@Matt_Bracken48) February 5, 2025

But wait. What about looking inward into rightoids receiving money?!

Well someone searched Hanania and found he had an NGO. And also there's someone name "Shlomo Hanania"

Richard Hanania as well pic.twitter.com/lizDASryi2

— DonJoseLopezPortillo (@donjoselopezpyp) February 6, 2025

But it turns out he's only received $15 So three months of Peepee Hanania's substack somehow made it into some Fed's budget

A year into their relationship, Jess and Nate got engaged next to the sea. "It was a golden, sandy beach – empty and secluded," says Jess, 26. "It was just us two there, so it was really intimate."

Except that the couple were actually hundreds of miles apart – and they were role-playing their engagement in the video game World of Warcraft.

Nate, 27, was living just outside London – and Jess was in Wales. After meeting briefly at an esports event in Germany in March 2023, the pair developed a long-distance relationship, playing the game together "from the moment we woke up to the moment we went to bed", says Nate.

The couple still play the game daily, even though they've been living together in Manchester since March 2024. And they know other couples who have found their partners through video games: "It's a different way of meeting someone," says Jess. "You both have such a strong mutual love for something already, it's easier to fall in love."

Nate agrees. "I was able to build a lot more of a connection with people I meet in gaming than I ever was able to in a dating app."

A selfie of Nate and Jess on the left, and on the right, a screenshot from World of Warcraft showing Nate proposing with the words, "Will you marry me?"

Nate and Jess (pictured, alongside their virtual engagement), found love online - but not on a dating app

Nate and Jess are not alone. According to some experts, people of their generation are moving away from dating apps and finding love on platforms that were not specifically designed for romance.

And hanging out somewhere online that's instead focused on a shared interest or hobby could allow people to find a partner in a lower-stakes, less pressurised setting than marketing themselves to a gallery of strangers. For some digital-native Gen Zs, it seems, simply doing the things they enjoy can be an alternative to the tyranny of the swipe.

Internet dating at 30 - a turning point?

Since it first appeared with the launch of match.com 30 years ago, online dating has fundamentally altered our relationships. Around 10% of heterosexual people and 24% of LGBT people have met their long-term partner online, according to Pew Research Center.

But evidence suggests that young people are switching off dating apps, with the UK's top 10 seeing a fall of nearly 16%, according to a report published by Ofcom in November 2024. Tinder lost 594,000 users, while Hinge dropped by 131,000, Bumble by 368,000 and Grindr by 11,000, the report said (a Grindr spokesperson said they were "not familiar with this study's source data" and that their UK users "continue to rise year over year").

According to a 2023 Axios study of US college students and other Gen Zers, 79% said they were forgoing regular dating app usage. And in its 2024 Online Nation report, Ofcom said: "Some analysts speculate that for younger people, particularly Gen Z, the novelty of dating apps is wearing off." In a January 2024 letter to shareholders, Match Group Inc - which owns Tinder and Hinge - acknowledged younger people were seeking "a lower pressure, more authentic way to find connections".

"The idea of using a shared interest to meet someone isn't new, but it's been reinvented in this particular moment in time – it signals a desire of Gen Z," says Carolina Bandinelli, an associate professor at Warwick University whose research focuses on the digital technologies of romance.

Getty Images Joggers running in a parkGetty Images

Many younger people are exploring alternatives to dating apps, from gaming to running clubs and other social activities

According to Danait Tesfay, 26, a marketing assistant from London, younger people are looking for alternatives to dating apps, "whether that be gaming or running clubs or extra-curricular clubs, where people are able to meet other like-minded people and eventually foster a romantic connection".

At the same time that membership of some dating apps appears to be in decline, platforms based around common interests are attracting more users. For instance, the fitness app Strava now has 135m users – and its monthly active users grew by 20% last year, according to the company. Other so-called "affinity-based" sites have seen similar growth: Letterboxd, where film fans can share reviews, says its community grew by 50% last year.

Rise of the hobby apps

And just as in the pre-internet age, when couples might have met at a sports club or the cinema, now singletons are able to find each other in their online equivalents.

"People have always bonded over shared interests, but it's been given a digital spin with these online communities," says Luke Brunning, co-director of the Centre for Love, S*x, and Relationships (CLSR) at the University of Leeds.

"It's increasingly difficult to distinguish between behaviour that's on a dating app and dating behaviour on another platform."

Hobby apps are taking on some features of social media, too: in 2023, Strava introduced a messaging feature letting users chat directly. One twenty-something from London explains that her friends use it as a way to flirt with people they fancy, initially by liking a running route they've posted on the platform. Strava says its data shows that one in five of its active Gen Z members has been on a date with someone they met through fitness clubs.

"[Online] fitness communities are becoming big places to find partners," says Nichi Hodgson, the author of The Curious History of Dating. She says a friend of hers met his partner that way, and they're now living together.

The same appears to apply to Letterboxd, too. With users including Chappell Roan and Charli XCX, it's a popular platform for younger people - two-thirds of members in a survey of 5,000 were under 34.

The company says it's aware of several couples meeting through the app, including one who bonded over a shared love of David Fincher's opinion-dividing 2020 drama Mank. "It could be that seeing other people's film tastes reveals an interesting aspect of themselves," says Letterboxd co-founder Matthew Buchanan.

Why the shift?

So what might be driving this? While dating apps initially appeared to offer "the illusion of choice", and a transparent, efficient way to meet partners, the reality for many has often proven to be different. The Pew Research Center found that 46% of dating-app users said their experiences were overall very or somewhat negative.

The recent decline in user numbers might also be a response to the way some apps are structured – in particular, the swipe feature for selecting potential partners, launched by Tinder in 2013 and widely copied.

Its creator, Jonathan Badeen, was partly inspired by studying the 1940s experiments of psychologist BF Skinner, who conditioned hungry pigeons to believe that food delivered randomly into a tray was prompted by their movements.

Getty Images A psychological experiment with pigeons conducted by BF SkinnerGetty Images

Tinder's swipe mechanism was partly inspired by Harvard Professor BF Skinner's psychological experiments with pigeons in order to understand the brain's reward system

Eventually, the swipe mechanism faced a backlash. "Ten years ago, people were enthusiastic and would talk quite openly about what apps they were on," says Ms Hodgson. "Now the Tinder model is dead with many young people – they don't want to swipe any more."

According to Mr Brunning, the gameifying interface of many dating apps is a turn-off. "Intimacy is made simple for you, it's made fun in the short term, but the more you play, the more you feel kind of icky."

The pandemic may have had an impact, too, says Prof Brian Heaphy at the University of Manchester, who has studied dating-app use in and after the lockdowns: "During Covid, dating apps themselves became more like social media – because people couldn't meet up, they were looking for different things."

Although that didn't last after the pandemic, it "gave people a sense that it could be different from just swiping and getting no responses – all the negatives of dating-app culture," says Prof Heaphy.

And in that context, the fact that video games or online communities like Strava or Letterboxd aren't designed for dating can be appealing. By attracting users for a broader range of reasons, there's less pressure on each interaction.

"Those apps aren't offering a commercialised form of romance, so they can seem more authentic," says Prof Heaphy.

The World of Warcraft characters of PurplePixel and Wochi

The humans behind Wochi and PurplePixel (pictured) met while playing World of Warcraft, though they say finding a partner wasn't their original intention

It's a type of connection free from the burden of expectation. A different couple who met on World of Warcraft – and go by the names Wochi and PurplePixel – weren't looking for love. "I definitely didn't go into an online game trying to find a partner," says Wochi.

But although initially in opposing teams, or guilds, their characters started a conversation. "We spent all night talking until the early hours of the morning, and by the end of the night, I'd actually left my guild and joined his guild," says PurplePixel. Within three years, Wochi had quit his job and moved to the UK from Italy to be with her.

According to Ms Hodgson, "While some dating apps can bring out the worst behaviours, these other online spaces can do the opposite, because people are sharing something they enjoy."

Because of these structural elements, she doesn't think the recent decline in numbers is temporary. "It's going to keep happening until dating apps figure out how to put the human aspect back."

New kinds of dating app

The dating apps aren't giving up without a fight, however. Hinge is still "setting up a date every two seconds", according to a spokesperson; Tinder says a relationship starts every three seconds on its platform and that almost 60% of its users are aged 18-30. In fact, the apps appear to be embracing the shift to shared-interest platforms, launching niche alternatives including ones based around fitness, veganism, dog-ownership or even facial hair.

They're also evolving to encourage different kinds of interaction. On Breeze, users who agree to be set up on a date aren't allowed to message each other before they meet; and Jigsaw hides people's faces, only removing pieces to reveal the full photo after a certain amount of interaction.

It means that it's premature to proclaim the death of the dating app, believes Prof Heaphy. "There's now such a diversity of dating apps that the numbers for the biggest ones aren't the key indicator," he says. "It might actually be a similar number to before, in terms of overall membership."

And there's a downside to people going to more general-interest apps looking for love – people might not want to be hit on when they just want to talk about books. Dating apps, at least, are clear about what their purpose is.

What might the future look like?

In an increasingly online world, the solution to improving relationships might not simply be to go offline. Instead, apps that can offer an experience which more closely mirrors the best of IRL interactions, while tapping into the possibilities of digital ones, might also show a way forward.

With the imminent integration of AI into dating apps, we are "right on the cusp of something new", says Mr Brunning. "It's interesting to see if we'll end up with specific apps just for dating, or will we end up with something a bit more fluid?"

He points to platforms in China that are more multi-purpose. "People use them for chat, for community, and conduct business on them – they can also be dating platforms, but they're often not exclusively for that."

In the meantime, the interactions possible in less mediated communities like World of Warcraft could offer more of a chance to connect than conversations initiated by a swipe.

Jess and Nate's in-game engagement on the beach might not have been real, but the couple are hoping to change that soon. "It's a matter of when, really. There are a few things we need to tick off the checklist, and then she'll be getting her ring," says Nate. And there'll still be a gaming element.

"You can role-play getting married," says Jess. "So it could be funny to get all our friends together at some point in the World of Warcraft cathedral, and we could have a marriage ceremony."

Max announce the release of the 'Luigi Mangione: The CEO Killer' documentary on February 17th. pic.twitter.com/nwIEA87QUp

— Pop Tingz (@ThePopTingz) February 13, 2025