Proposal via Perl

It was a very competitive field, but Colin McMillen comes away with the proud honour of concocting the geekiest marriage proposal. He posted a Perl script to the Obfuscation section of Perl Monks that, when executed, printed "kristen, will you marry me?". The code was arranged to form the shape of a heart with the statement "be $mine for @ever" underneath. Thetarget of this Perl proposal, Kristen Stubbs, replied "$propose++; Yes :)". Obviously this approach is not recommended if your girlfriend thinks that Perl in any way involves clams.

Proposal via Rom-hacking - Chrono Trigger

This proposal may be one of the more technically demanding proposals in this list and with good reason. An avid gamer hacked a copy of Chrono Trigger in order to propose to his girlfriend, modifying characters and text in-game to reflect a place they had both visited and enjoyed in the past. Thankfully she didn't just scroll past the dialogue! My girlfriend loves Professor Layton so maybe I should work on my British voiceover abilities.

Proposal via MMORPG

MMMORPGs. The extra M is for marriage! In just one example, a schmo named Jeff was playing City of Heroes with his girlfriend when she had her character kneel down and propose. He said or perhaps typed "yes" and as an added bonus their plans were to include real-life as well as in-game nuptials. This gets most of it's geek cred from the fact it occured within an MMORPG, but I'm sure there's a WoW proposal out there ready to join Jeff here at #3..

Proposal via Custom Website

Setting up your own domain and website just to pop the question is a noble and difficult feat (cough... cough...). Some schmos bastardized version of e-Harmony helped him clinch the lady of his dreams. The picture below alone, where geekist is not only shown, but flaunted, ensures a top placement in this list.

Proposal via Homebrew Game Project - Bejeweled

A Jersey City man spent a month reprogramming Bejeweled so that when his girlfriend reached a high score, it would reward her with, “Marry me!” and a picture of a ring. They are planning a Bejeweled-themed wedding, and PopCap, the game's creator, has donated copies of the game for their guests. The DS seems to be more proposal friendly than other portable game systems and it definitely doesn't hurt when the game's creators support your violation of their EULA!

Proposal via Video Game - Halo

Some Halo 3 fanboy used the game’s Forge map editor to write out “Will You Marry Me?” in the ground for his girlfriend to see. It beats scratching it out in the dirt with a stick, but not by much. Still, because he replaced that stick with a video game console he earns his way onto this list. At least the Xbox 360 comes with its own ring, although red is not my color.

Proposal via Lolcat

The annoyingly cute and equally pointless Lolcats found on such sites as icanhascheezburger.com can be effectively used to propose in using Lolcats, those cute, unintelligible, animal mash-ups. The recipient's acceptance similarly arrived via Lolcat thereby completing the circle of geek.

If you have spent more then five minutes adding text with purposely terrible spelling and punctuation to quirky animal pictures then you sir (or ma'am) are a geek and will understand why the Lolcat proposal is on this list.

Proposal via Desktop Widget

Bjorn, then a Computer Science student, threw together a desktop widget for his Mac. He told his girlfriend Jenny his computer password, a contentious issue between them due to the high correlation between unmarried geeks and pron, so she could see something he'd been working on. What she first saw was a smiling picture of the couple, but at Bjorn's request she pressed F12 and up popped a picture of a wedding ring and the proposal. She remarked on her blog, "He then got on his knees and confessed his true love for me. After some convincing, I said yes." While this may have been geekier if it was done in Linux (or BSD) a Mac ain't too far off.

Proposal via Twitter

Using the social broadcasting site Twitter is becoming somewhat of a trend these days, which actually counts against it on account of the 'cool' factor. Okay, not really, but it is one of the most popular online methods for popping the question.

The first geek to take the plunge is now recorded in the annals of history as the first man to propose marriage with Twitter. Naturally the response was a "tweet" as well (I hate saying tweet...).

Another schmo used Twitter to propose to his girlfriend of 15 years. I guess he was just waitng for the right technology to come along before he popped the question. Fifteen years ago he could have posted it on Usenet or dialed in to a BBS, which would have rocketed his proposal to number one.

Finally, a couple of "tweethearts" (thankfully, I did not coin this term) decided to also get hitched over Twitter. I assigned bonus points for use of the term "w00t".

Proposal via Slashdot

While not the only marriage proposal done via a piece of website content, this proposal earns its geek cred from the site to which it was posted. Rob Malda or CmdrTaco, using the technology news site he helped create, Slashdot, proposed to his girlfriend Kathleen Fent in a story posted to the site titled "Kathleen Fent Read This Story". She replied in an email with the subject "Yes", and the message "Dork. You made me cry. :)". When asked why he proposed using a Slashdot article Rob explained: "I just wanted to do something appropriate for kathleen & I and this seemed like the right thing for us. Yeah, I'd do it the same way given the same set of circumstances, although given that we have a 16 month old baby now, I kinda doubt she reads Slashdot frequently enough for me to get an answer before gnawing off my fingernails."

Proposal via Google Street View

As we come ever closer to accepting Google as our gracious and beneficent overlords, let us remember all the things they have done for us. One such item is Google Maps, which was recently used by a Google employee to propose marriage geographically. The guy in question used a Google Street View, which you can probbaly see below. I still think he should have painted it on his ass along with a GoldenPalace.com logo.

Proposal via Video Game - LittleBigPlanent

The creative sandbox puzzle game for Playstation 3, LittleBigPlanet was one mans preferred line of attack. The game lets players build their own levels and share them through the PlayStation Network and so he created one called "Love and Marriage" with a not so hidden message. Now, did he have enough money for a ring after buying a PS3?

"How I asked my GF to marry me in Little Big Planet. My (now) Fiancee was playing the level. She was so shocked she kept playing and knew i was filming. Afterwords we hugged, she cried, and I gave her an engagement ring."

Proposal via Internet Comic

Apparently a picture can be worth exactly four words, "will you marry me?"

Mike Krahulik, one of the creators of a popular and geek-friendly internet comic Penny Arcade proposed to his girlfriend Kara O'Donnal via a special edition of the comic. The proposal definitely comes across as heartfelt and he even says "please".

Eric Burns posted a webcomic on Websnark which featured individual panels illustrated by different artists and in which he proposes to his collaborator, Wednesday White.

And rounding out our group of cartoon related mayhem is one proposal with a slight twist. In this case the creators of the webcomic Joy of Tech offered to create a special storyline for a loyal reader who was thinking about popping the question. Not only that, but the storyline takes the approach reminscent of the Perl Proposal, but instead uses Python. Deliciously geeky!

The first installment was a cliffhanger containing the proposal and the likenesses of the couple. The reader, Tony "angryjungman" called his girlfriend Steph over to his computer, showed her the comic, and secured her assent. The happy conclusion was posted in the next edition of the comic.

Proposal via Search Results of AskJeeves

Barry Schwartz, a writer for Seach Engine Roundtable blog, had Ask Jeeves do the dirty work. Schwartz concocted a plan in which his girlfriend, Yisha Tversky, would search for her name using AskJeeves. The results returned by the search engine included a "Smart Answer" at the top of the page with a picture of the couple next to the message "Yisha, Will You Marry Me?" When she turned around he was waiting with a ring and flowers. He has also created a website, YishaAndBarry.com to share the story; I just hope we don't see www.JustMeBarry.com. I doubt I could get Google to alter its search results page in the name of love and using AdWords seems somewhat unromantic.

Proposal via Reddit

Using the news aggregation service Reddit a young woman proposed to her geeky but lovable scamp of a boyfriend with a reddit posting. It seems he accepted by clicking the up arrow.

Is it me or does that Reddit creature look familiar?

Proposal via Crossword

This guy had the idea to use the Boston Globe crossword to propose to his girlfriend. With the assistance of the paper's crack puzzle-creating team the plan was a resounding success. The world can rest easy knowing that a pair of crossword geeks have joined forces.

Proposal via iPhone

Claude, an Engadget reader, made his own version of a popular iPhone ad except his version ended with the words "and this is a proposal." While I admire the creativity, I think I'll hold on to my 5-year old Samsung flip phone.

Proposal via iPod

In 2004, a Norwegian man proposed via an engraving on the back of a 20GB iPod. He initially attempted the engraving himself with a large Viking ax, but eventually just took it to Things Engraved. The next year, someone did it with a nano, but at these sizes make sure your girlfriend or boyfriend has on their glasses.

Proposal via Video Arcade High Scores

Although the following proposal has not occurred to my knowledge it certainly deserves an honourable mention for shear ingenuity. If there are any geeks out there looking for ideas then you can head down to your local arcade (if it still exists) and start wasting quarters until you own that high score list. Too bad my Street Fighter 2 skills are not up to snuff. Sonic boom!

MMORPG Weddings

Marriage in games like Everquest is not uncommon. Whether they parallel real life relationships is anybody's guess, but the wedding receptions don't look half bad. Just kidding, they kind of freak me out!

But beware the detrimental effect that MMORPGs can have on an existing marriage!

The Star Trek Themed Wedding

Apparently Klingons hook up all the time here on Earth. K'Allen and Torsha's Klingon Wedding is probably not the first or last. Let's hope they skip the Klingon divorce. If you're feeling like your own Klingon wedding, these vows should get you started. I did not find evidence of a Star Trek themed proposal, but if I had to choose a Star Trek wedding ceremony it would of course be a butt-naked Betazoid one.

The Halo Themed Wedding

The power of Halo/love strikes again! Two Halo fans took the Halo matchmaking process a little too seriously and now they're getting hitched. They have settled on a Halo themed wedding in which the Master Chief will officiate. For the record, the Master Chief has commitment issues and used to date a hologram named Cortana until she gave him herpes. Apparently "always wear protection" does not mean MJOLNIR armor.