Have you ever made any real friends through / via gaming?

[Rewdalf]

Yep.
I have a good six people who I have met through gaming before actually meeting face to face.

Just recently, I invited one of them to celebrate my birthday and he flew in to the east coast from Texes.
Not once has this gone badly for me.

Got two guys in Tennessee, one who drove down awhile back and another who was attending a convention at the same time as me.
Visited another guy in North Carolina.
Maryland.
New Jersey.
Already mentioned Texas.

Just two left in the group. The guy up in Canada, and the most recent one in Nevada.

 

[Drummodino]

Does befriending people through a gaming website count? Because I have made a bunch of friends from this very site, and I do occasionally play games with some of them (a group of us were streaming Civ V earlier today). Even if I don't play with them I still love to discuss gaming (among other things) with them.

Offline I don't think I've met any of my friends through gaming, but I've certainly become better friends with them through it. Since it's a common interest it was something we got together to do and through it I became closer acquainted and got to know them better.

 

[Shadowfury333]

If you want to make real life friends through gaming, either find your local LAN groups or take up fighting games and find your locals scene (relatively easy through relevant message boards, assuming you live in or near a city). The fact that fighting games work best in a local setting encourages people to get together in person, and of course there's Evo every year, though that's not cheap unless you live near Vegas.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I talk to some of my friends about games occasionally but no, not really. A few of my friends play games but I don't have a particularly game-orientated social circle. Gaming was something I picked up when I was a kid and I just kept up the hobby, I generally don't discuss gaming or play games with real life friends.

If you count meeting people through a gaming website though, then yes.

I met some lovely people at Escapism.

I also met someone particularly important to me through this site.
>.>

 

[FPLOON]

Uh... I don't know?

In terms of talking with someone you've met through video games that wasn't about anything "video games"-related, then "kinda"... But, then again, it's kinda cheating on my end since, in turn, we met because of both ponies AND video games... So, there's that...

In terms of hanging out with someone you've met through video games that wasn't just because "we have/had to", then no because, again, ponies... (I'm starting to see a pattern here... But, I digress...)

In terms of having a close relationship with someone you've met through video games in general, then that's a definite no... Not only because of ponies, but also because I usually don't talk about myself as often as most people think when they do meet me "face-to-face"...

In other words, I don't have any "friends" that was due to the byproduct of gaming in general... Also, it's never what I have in common with someone (like ponies) that ends up being one of the sole reasons for having a "friend" in the first place... Otherwise, the closest anyone has ever gotten from bonding with me because of JUST "video games"/"gaming" was being an "acquaintance", at best...

 

[Atmos Duality]

Many, many friends actually.

I started college fresh out of high school knowing and gaming with someone I met in the Armored Core forums.

He happened to be in the same exact computer science class as I was. I got exposed to more of the competitive and recording scene through him, which is where I really started paying closer attention to what goes on in gaming at large.

In the following two years, I made no less than a dozen friends through gaming (we even founded a club on campus); many of whom I still regularly socialize with in person (weekly) to this day.

It works like a network too; two of my friends actually initially met playing WoW at this one LAN joint in town.
By hilarious coincidence, they were in the same place in game while sitting next to each other.
Today, one is directly responsible for getting the other one hired at a real job; which lead to more contacts.

On average (most) gamers are some of the most chill sorts of folks I've met.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Yes, in fact my entire group of real life friends had a small guild running in Aion and we ran into another small guild of friends from Georgia and we all hit it off in Skype chat. I even dated one of them briefly before the distance killed the relationship, but our friendship is very much alive. We always try the latest MMOs and we've picked up a few more friends along the way. We'll never be one of the high-ranking raiding guilds but we have a great time when we play together. My sister operated independently from us and she got absorbed into a guild in Final Fantasy XI where she met the man she's currently engaged to and has been living with for four years.

There are also some acquaintances I have made at our local board game store. There's usually people looking to play and we met a few sane people that we now have a regular thing with.

 

[Wraithsight]

Yep. I met my Wife through an MMO. I should mention she lived in America and I live in Australia.

 

[DoctorObviously]

Im not sure what you mean by real friends. You stated that they arent the people you just friend to play with which is alright I guess but then you didnt really define what it was beyond that.

For me, Ive made met many people that I consider good friends through gaming. Ive met and hung out with many friends Ive met through the various MMO's Ive played and we still have strong bonds today. The officers of my old everquest guild still talk and get together on occassion even though none of us play the game anymore. I even run a monthly Pathfinder game over Skype that all eight of us play in.

I quit neverwinter a few months ago due to its crap expansion but in our guild there are quite a few people in our state. Were planning a get together next weekend at my place (a few of our European guild members are even flying in as part of a vacation). Im planning a big BBQ but there was also some interest in playing out some Werewolf: The forsaken so Ill have my books and storyteller hat ready just in case.

Then theres my friend Shawn who I originally met at a Marvel vs capcom tournament in a small arcade. He and I served together in Iraq, I was the best man at his wedding, and Im the godfather of his daughter. We get together to talk and work on projects often. I dont think theres a person Im closer to who I met through gaming.

From where I stand I consider them all my close friends. Friends I would have never met and had the privilege to know if it werent for gaming

I know I should've defined every single detail before I started the thread; when I write these things down I usually assume most people know what I'm talking about but most really don't. "Real friends" may be a little too strong a word but if I would have to define it I would say that they are people you play video games with, yes, but they are also people you can sit down with and have a long chat or discuss anything with them. If they happen to live close by, then people you can hang out with. If they don't live close by then that's obviously not possible .

Out of the many posts I've read on this thread there seem to be an abundance of people who have made real, lasting connections through gaming and the people who haven't are in the minority. It would seem I'm also in that minority. Looking at your post, do you think it's a case of just being lucky (in finding friends) or do you consider having friends to be the most normal thing in the world? I ask because I've played video games for so long and -I don't know why- but I can't seem to find friends like you describe them.

And congratulations of being the godfather of his daughter!

 

[Casual Shinji]

Nope.

But that's due to no one's fault but my own. Even if on the rare occasion when I do come in contact with someone who seems pretty cool, it just doesn't really enter my mind to ever contact them again afterward. I lack that ability to take the initaitive.

It's the same reason why I don't have friends in real life, or why I never contact any of the online friends I made here.

 

[Eleuthera]

Yes and no. None of the people I currently consider "real" friends I've met through gaming. But in the early 2000s, I was very close friends with a girl from Minnesota I met through an online game. At that time she was my only female friend, and ahead of a lot of the guys I hung out with.

We lost contact when she went to college though, I tried contacting her via FB a few years ago, but that didn't really go anywhere

 

[Ratty]

I first started gaming as a hobby so I would have something to do and talk about with a gamer I met around 2007. We're engaged now so I guess you could say I made some real friends through gaming lol. She's still way better at games than me for the record. In games like Serious Sam (the first one we played together) and Doom it's not even close.

 

[NoX 9]

Nope. Not that I wouldn't like to, I'm just terrible at it. Even when I really hit it off with someone I am far too shy to ever try to make any kind of lasting contact, regardless of setting. All of my friends have been my friends since I was a kid, and to be honest I can't remember if I met them via videogames or not. I have played games for as long as I can remember so I suppose it's possible, maybe even likely.

Also, nearly all of my friends -only two exceptions- are male; is that strange?

 

[DarkRawen]

Does befriending people through a gaming website count? Because I have made a bunch of friends from this very site, and I do occasionally play games with some of them (a group of us were streaming Civ V earlier today). Even if I don't play with them I still love to discuss gaming (among other things) with them.

Offline I don't think I've met any of my friends through gaming, but I've certainly become better friends with them through it. Since it's a common interest it was something we got together to do and through it I became closer acquainted and got to know them better.

This, though, despire having met and spoken to a number of people, I'd only consider a few of them actual friends.

Apart from that, I don't know. I used to bond with people over games, but that's more "school" friendships, in that you hang out with them until people move away or you grow apart.

 

[Jesus McChrist]

Myself and several of my friends all played WoW back in Lich King/Cata days, we got pretty friendly with several of our guildmates. One flew from Missouri to come stay with us in Ohio for awhile, and we eventually drove out to attend his wedding since the bride, his mother, and a couple of his friends were also guildmates. It worked out really well, the WoW players were actually able to 10-man the wedding. Since decline of WoW, most of us have stopped playing, but still keep in touch on Facebook and such.

I also have a friend that I met playing Diablo 2 about twelve years ago that I've never lost contact with. Haven't seen him personally, but that's on my list of roadtrips when I can get away from work and a car that can make it.

 

[DanielBrown]

Yeah, I met one guy through WoW who I chatted with for around seven years. He was also Swedish, but lived far away from me.
All of sudden he moved to my town and started pestering me for meeting up. I wasn't fond of the idea since I've been quite let down by online friends when meeting them irl before(they've turned out to be quite weird), but we were very simular. Both metalheads, same sense of humor and both loved parties and such.
Our friendship fucked up eventually though. We got a bit tired of each other, however it was fun while it lasted.

Also met a ton friends from a gaming site like the Escapist but Swedish and focused on Final Fantasy. Registered when I was 12 and those of us who were active then are still friends 13 years later. It's mostly only online, but I've met some girlfriends and real friends there. When I was younger we used to meet up once a week/month or so. They also have yearly meet-ups, however I've only gone once.

 

[Elijin]

Once you leave a school / college environment, depending on your job it can be pretty common. Just because after school, you're not being paired with people of your own age and interest sets anymore. I mean you can luck out and end up with co-workers who share your hobbies, and you can even befriend co-workers who you wouldnt normally consider to have mutual grounds to base it on...

But yeah, if you're semi-social in the games you play, its not uncommon to find your friends group is coming from your gaming, rather than your immediate surrounding.

I actually have a friend who I gamed with a bunch about 7 years ago. We realised we lived nearby, and started having the odd meet up for a drink or events in our city, and we've been friends ever since.

 

[Trinket to Ride]

I've never had someone go from stranger to friend via games, but my two best friends right now started out as an acquaintance and a friend's boyfriend. We'd talk about games at parties, then we started playing together, and then started talking more as a result.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Nope.

The closest one was someone I became friends with in Guild Wars. He was the guild master and I was one of the few people he first recuited and I did helped out with the guild building alot mainly donating alot of cash into it.

Once I learned he was into anime, we chat alot in the game, we did share our message details to chat over there instead. We also could of met up in person one time when I told him about the MCM Expo London (he lived near there) which I was attending when I staying over at my bro place. Sadly we missed the oppertunity to meet since we were not close enough (didn't exchange phone numbers).

He eventually stop playing the game which I guess I did felt somewhat betrayed/ hurtful about it to the point I took him off my Friendlist on Facebook.

I think he is on Guild Wars 2 assuming he is using his old GW1 character names but even then the chances of meeting him again GW 2 is very slim due to the several servers you can be on.

I wouldn't consider him to be real friend I met online otherwise, I would of tried harder to keep in touch with him and contine to chat with him in Guild Wars 2.

 

[nevarran]

Yes. Several guys I consider among my best friends. I've met them like 11 years ago, in the local network of my home town. We played together for a year or two. Then pretty much everyone left the town. Now I'm like 2000km away from them, so we just talk/chat every now and then. But I'm sure I count on each of these guys, if I'm in need. And so can they.
And the thing is, without gaming, I wouldn't have met them. We were just moving in a different circles, so to speak, at the time. We had different interests. Gladly we all liked video games and specifically BF1942

I'm also not a multiplayer gamer, OP. I very much prefer a solitary immersive single player experience. I guess it just happened back then.