Interview with a couple who made Warframe part of their proposal
Every year, Warframe developer Digital Extremes puts on a fan conference for the game called Tennocon. Players worldwide congregate in London, Ontario, Canada, to celebrate the game, learn more about upcoming expansions and updates, and change out together.
When I attended Tennocon 2024, I was amazed by the sheer amount of positivity and camaraderie a community can have. For example, players don’t want to spoil anything for each other, so they hand out hints and offer every resource under the sun to help a fellow player navigate Warframe‘s 11 years of story content. The moment that showcased how positive and wholesome the Warframe community is, though, was when a couple got engaged at a photobooth, and the entire tent filled with developers, fans, press, and content creators erupted with cheers, screams, and celebrated them.
The happy couple, who’s in-game names are “ProfPangloss” and “truckshepard” clearly wanted to make Warframe a big part of this moment, and they wouldn’t have done it at Tennocon if they didn’t want the community involved too. Working with Digital Extremes, I caught up with the couple after their celebratory holiday that followed their engagement to find out what makes Warframe this important to them.
Destructoid: How did you go about planning the proposal at TennoCon 2024?
ProfPangloss: I came in with a loose idea of how it would go – I had gotten us both VIP badges for Tennocon this year so I figured it was a safe bet that we would find a relatively quiet moment to ourselves where I could say a few words and propose. That said, neither of us had been to Tennocon before so I knew I’d have to play it by ear. The VIP-only hour of TennoVIP on Friday turned out to be perfect, and as soon as we walked in I clocked the incredible Eros Wings prop/photo op and immediately realized that’s where it would have to be. After we put in our custom t-shirt orders and we had a few minutes of waiting around, I suggested we take a “photo” in front of the wings and that was that!
Huge thanks to the DE staff member who helped out by recording the moment under the guise of taking a photo of us, other than cluing him in at the last second there was nobody else involved and no planning. As an aside, one attendee did me a HUGE favor by holding onto the engagement ring briefly while I ran outside of the event to give truckshepard his badge because I was worried security would check me again (they did!) and reveal the ring. Kudos to that attendee, he was so game to help and ended up saving the plan.
Destructoid: For added context, Tennocon has VIP tickets that entitle holders to a host of selections, including a VIP-only hour in the VIP area. This was the Ventkids tent where there were freeplay arcade games, a custom t-shirt bar, Relic gacha machines, and the fated photobooth.
Why did you want to get engaged at TennoCon? What is it about that event that’s so special to you?
ProfPangloss: Warframe is really special to both of us so the significance of doing it at an official event was really meaningful. I had planned to get VIP badges because I figured we would have access to some kind of VIP lounge or similarly private space where I could propose which would be public-but-not-too-public. We had post-Tennocon plans to go spend the week relaxing with family out on the Massachusetts cape, so getting engaged at Tennocon then relaxing and celebrating on vacation afterwards just worked out so well.
Destructoid: Obviously, Warframe must mean a lot to both of you, could you tell me a bit about that? For example, did you meet through Warframe, is it a shared passion?
ProfPangloss: We have both been playing Warframe off-and-on for years – me since 2017 (Valkyr Prime was my first Prime Access) and truckshepard since 2018. We first met online in late 2019 in a Discord server completely unrelated to the game but the very first shared interest we discovered was Warframe.
Truckshepard: One of us was actually on a break from the game at the time, but soon after we met ProfPangloss reinstalled the game so we could share our fashion frames and orbiter decorations with each other. Even though we didn’t end up playing much more Warframe together at the time, it was still an opportunity to chat and bond over the game. We started dating online in late 2020 and all the new Deimos announcements were a hot topic between us.
Even when Warframe wasn’t actively played in our household we’ve kept in touch with updates and been rooting for the game. Cross-save rollout was really the final thing we needed to get back in fully because it meant we could pick the game back up on our latest consoles rather than dust off our PS4 and Switch respectively. As of right now, one of us usually plays on the PC in the office while the other plays on Xbox in the living room.
In terms of what about Warframe attracts us both, we are just both so head over heels for the all-encapsulating Weirdness that has been core to Warframe‘s DNA since the beginning. The story, the lore, the world, the buck-wild gameplay surprises, there really just is no game quite like Warframe. More specifically for each of us, ProfPangloss is the really min-max minded buildcrafter who digs into the mechanics, I’m fully invested in the decoration and customization. It’s a huge credit to DE that it has continued to appeal to such a wide breadth of player preferences, and it’s a credit to the Warframe community that there are folks out there to support and encourage every aspect of it.
Also bullet jumping. No other game has gotten fun movement quite as right as Warframe, and yes I have played Spiderman for the PS4. We will keep coming back if only because we may never have more fun moving from point A to B in any other game.
Destructoid: Will your wedding be Warframe-themed?
ProfPangloss: This is a very fun and cute idea, but no we think we’ll be going our way and having a broadly gay and colorful but otherwise themeless wedding sometime in October 2025. We would love to have a nod to Warframe somewhere in there though, truckshepard just now suggested we should wear our pride pins from Tennocon on our lapels. We’ll see!
Destructoid: What is it about the community around the game that you enjoy so much that you wanted to involve it in something so personal?
ProfPangloss: On top of the equal-parts practical and sentimental reasons outlined above, I just trusted that the Warframe community would have open hearts and be welcome and celebratory to our gay little moment, and from the whole of the reception we got throughout the weekend, I was 100% right. Warframe and DE as a whole has fostered such a warm and welcoming community that actively encourages celebration of love in its many forms, so as I’d hoped it turned out to be such a good home for that moment.
I wish ProfPangloss and Truckshepard nothing but the best with their wedding plans and lives together. Watching a room filled by a gaming community celebrate this moment together, and now knowing that some members even helped keep the surprise alive, shows how much of a safe space Warframe is.
With Koumei & the Five Fates and Warframe: 1999 coming before the end of 2024, there’s never been a better time to jump into the game and ride through the plethora of content it has to offer with the help of its community.
