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When Jacob Smith logged on to online gaming platform Roblox at 04:00, he had no idea he was about to meet the love of his life.
In the small hours, the gaming fan, from Swadlincote in Derbyshire, joined a “random” Australian server on the platform and was approached by fellow player Kiara Williams.
Jacob, who started playing Roblox to be “a bit more social”, got more than he bargained for as the pair hit it off straight away.
Despite the 11-hour time difference and disrupted sleep schedules, the pair bonded over their love of gaming and the couple finally met when Jacob took his first ever flight to see her in Tasmania in 2025.
Kiara, 22, then swapped the dramatic wilderness and wildlife of the Apple Isle to join Jacob in Derbyshire after his parents bought her a plane ticket to live with them for six months in August.
But Jacob, 20, had big plans. He organised a special proposal in secret at a gaming convention in London in October. Down on one knee with baited breath, she said yes, to rapturous applause from attendees.
The pair are now planning a wedding in Kiara’s home Down Under and are fundraising £6,000 for visa applications and legal fees so they can live together in the UK or Australia permanently.
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Roblox attracts millions of players worldwide and allows users to interact, chat and collaborate in virtual worlds created by its community.
The game mode Jacob joined is called Mic Up – a virtual social hub where users control avatars and chat to others using voice communication.
Kiara, who first approached Jacob after admiring his avatar, said she “really liked” his accent.
Jacob, in return added he “felt connected to her” straight away.
The pair began communicating nonstop for hours and days on end, with video calls and sessions gaming together.
Jacob told the BBC: “She saw my avatar in the game and thought it was very unique – she came up to me and we started talking and we just kept talking for hours that night.
“The next day, we exchanged pictures of each other to see what we actually looked like, because we were both curious.
“I was very scared to send one, because she loved my avatar, I was hopeful she would like me in real life as well.
“When I saw her I was like, ‘oh wow, she’s beautiful’.
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Kiara said: “I liked him so much even though we just met and couldn’t see each other.
“We ended up talking about personal things and we just weren’t afraid to talk about anything, we just knew that we were so comfortable with each other.”
The pair continued to communicate non-stop for months until they expressed their feelings for each other on a video call.
Kiara said her parents were a little sceptical when she told them about Jacob, her boyfriend 11,000 miles away in the UK.
“My parents at first didn’t like him because they mentioned stuff about him being online and that he could be fake,” she said.
“But when they noticed just how much we would talk, I’d ruin my sleep and he’d ruin his, they realised it was real. They’d ask me ‘how’s your boyfriend?’ before we were proper official.
“But later when Jacob came to visit me, they really liked him.”
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For that trip, Jacob flew over with his parents, his first ever plane journey.
“As soon as I laid eyes on Australia coming in to land I was like, ‘wow this is amazing’,” he said.
“When we landed it was just it’s like a different kind of vibe, it’s just so nice.”
A quick layover in Melbourne and it was another flight to Tasmania. A car journey to where Kiara was staying followed.
“My heart was pounding in my chest, I was so nervous when I first got there,” he said.
“Kiara was as well because before I even got out the car to walk up to the door I saw her peek out the door and close it because she was too scared.”
Kiara remembers those moments well.
“I thought I wouldn’t be nervous, why would I be? We’ve been talking for ages on FaceTime and stuff but when he text me to say he was pulling up at the house, I said to my friend ‘I can’t do this, please help’,” she said.
“But it was fine, it was so good to actually see him in person.”
The pair spent their time together with but Jacob had to go home after just four days – their time together cut short by the conflict in the Middle East.
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“I was very sad when we had to go home so early, I was crying a lot,” he said.
But Kiara would end up making it to the UK – Jacob’s parents bought her a plane ticket and she arrived in August.
“I was very happy, I just couldn’t wait to see her. It felt like the time was going so slow,” he said.
Before the big proposal in October, Kiara, who had not left Australia before coming to Derbyshire, said she did not have the UK down as a place she would have visited.
But she said the country had surprised her, including the heatwave summer weather.
From the laidback day-to-day in Tasmania, Kiara touched down at Heathrow Airport and travelled up to South Derbyshire.
“I was just standing there in shock that I was in the UK – I initially thought it might be a bit boring but the places I’ve been so far are super nice and it wasn’t grey and cold at all,” she said.
“It just felt so weird going into a someone’s bedroom that I’ve seen on a video call but in real life I was like, ‘wow I’m actually here’.”
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Fast-forward to October, the couple attended TennoVIP, an official community event in London hosted by Digital Extremes, the developer of the action game Warframe.
Kiara thought it was a day out, but Jacob had a different motive. He contacted the organisers in advance to arrange a marriage proposal.
During a raffle, Jacob’s number was called and the pair were invited on to the stage, where he got down on one knee and proposed in front of fellow members of the gaming community.
“I thought this could be perfect, I sent the organisers an email and they thought it was really sweet,” he said.
“They organised a fake giveaway and they called me to the stage to collect a fake prize – they set it all up for me, I was so nervous but luckily, she said yes.”
Kiara said she had “some idea” something was amiss as they had been browsing rings in the past but added she was “shocked”.
“We got on the stage I remember thinking ‘something might happen’ and then he went on one knee and proposed – it was crazy, so many were cheering.”
Their romance comes as Roblox continues to face scrutiny over online safety.
An independent developer told the BBC back in March the platform’s age verification measures do not go far enough and argued children should be closely supervised while using it.
Roblox has said safety is a top priority and points to measures including mandatory age checks and restrictions on communication between children and adults.
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Meanwhile Kiara and Jacob are busy planning their February 2027 wedding, due to be held in Tasmania with their closest family members and friends.
The ceremony will take place at a “beautiful lodge, with a lake and mountains” providing a stunning natural backdrop.
Kiara said the wedding was meant to embrace the area’s natural beauty, vibrant colours, and scenic landscape.
The couple have launched a crowdfunding campaign to help fund the visa applications needed to live together permanently.
This includes a subclass 309/100 Australian Partner Visa for Jacob and a UK Family Visa for Kiara, giving them the flexibility to build their future together in either Australia or the UK.
They estimate the total cost of the applications, including legal fees, will be at least £6,000.
But in the long-term, Jacob told the BBC it will eventually be game over for his life in the UK as the couple make Australia their permanent home.
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