One or two of my characters have been victim to the whims of other players. Granted, my characters were already on decent terms with their soon-to-be significant others, but it wasn't very obvious that they had anything going on between them. After a while, situations continually arose in which my characters and the other characters were paired off and lone and had to work together to get out of whatever situation they were in. Eventually, they grew closer and closer, but at least one character-pairing by proxy didn't work out because I simply didn't have any connection with the other player.
It all just came down to other people saying, "you two are so cute together!"
I try not to participate in such forced ships, and have on occasion inserted one of my characters into a situation because I could tell that the other players were trying to pair off two other players against their wishes. So, I'd drop on to foil them. At least once, I was PMed and requested to step in.
It's fine to have a relationship blossom on its own. But, to force a ship can get irritating.