What do you think about people making really good friends online. Personally, I have a group of friends on Xbox Live that I have talked to/played with going on three years now. I think it's safe to say we are good "friends" but what do you think? Am I crazy or is this sort of thing to be expected in the modern age?
Your thoughts on having online friends
- Thread starter Zeldafan355
- Start date
Perfectly fine. I have a few on here that I lose touch with every once in a while which is a real shame. I'm mostly very forgetful about these people online. Sorry guys.
I also met my current girlfriend through Facebook...if that counts as an online friend. =P
I also met my current girlfriend through Facebook...if that counts as an online friend. =P
I think it's good, it's like having a pen pal without all the tedious writing and mailing (typing and clicking if you're not old-fashioned).
Now my answer to this question is a little eh. Now don't get me wrong I think its fine to have friends online, just don't let that be your only friends. I am currently undergoing a very bad period in life where I can't really interact with people in a physical school. So I have to talk with most of my friends online. I get real bad anxiety when I am out, yet online its fine. Now the point of that last few statements is to tell you that online friends alone lack a experience that real physical IRL friends have. In no way am I saying that these are your only friends though, and who knows maybe one day you will meet up with them in real life like my brother in law did. So in short, No, it isn't bad to have online friends. Just don't let it consume your life mate.
I have several long-standing online friends since the days of Ultima Online pre-Trammel. So far, we haven't met each other.
Perfectly normal, IF you don't start receiving pleas of naked pictures while wearing a tutu and a magic wand.
Then, it's just normal.
Perfectly normal, IF you don't start receiving pleas of naked pictures while wearing a tutu and a magic wand.
Then, it's just normal.
I joined a forum a while back (for the long-dead Metroid Prime 2D) that only has about ten active users left, so we're all bros. We still play things online and help each other with fangames and all that, and we're all active Facebook friends. It's actually quite an experience.
I value them. I place more value in friends I can mess with IRL but I've come to enjoy the company of my peers here. I have a healthy mix methinks ^.^
This, with most of the people I played WoW with for 2 years.Marter said:
I was really close to about half of my guild that I raided all of wotlk with, but as we got disillusioned with WoW, dealt with drama, quit for other games, we just sort of lost touch.
I still try to keep in contact with everyone I can via battle.net when I am on SC2, but so many old friends have quit Blizzard games completely (at least until D3 comes out).
One of my closest friends is a guy I met on WoW via an IRL friend, that I play xbox with all the time. He's like another me, but American.
I think online friends allow you to be more yourself (or less yourself if you are so inclined) and are great to have, but it gets dangerous when you want to meet said friends IRL. They may not be as funny as they were online, may not be as young as they told you were, or be a dude when they said they were a chick... Obviously these horror stories are grossly exaggerated, but that doesn't make them completely false.
I spend most of my time online away from normal humans, so I have a lot of online friends.
Even most of my IRL friends have turned into online friends that I only talk to online, because of work/moved away/etc.
Speaking of which, we need to have another chat sometime soon.Marter said:
[sub][sub]*notices you getting first post on an OT thread and nostalgia hits me like a storm*[/sub][/sub]
Hmmm...
Well I have a fair share of both online and offline friends, thing is an online friend will never be able to take priority over an offline one.
Let's face it I'm probably never going to meet the online ones, which means that I will never get to really know them aswell as the offline ones.
I guess it's what they called "Penpals" in the olden days.
Well I have a fair share of both online and offline friends, thing is an online friend will never be able to take priority over an offline one.
Let's face it I'm probably never going to meet the online ones, which means that I will never get to really know them aswell as the offline ones.
I guess it's what they called "Penpals" in the olden days.
I have many more close online friends than I do friends in the neighborhood.
Then again, thsoe two are now online friends due to college
Then again, thsoe two are now online friends due to college
Not at all, if you let them in on personal details of your life. Course there is always the division with real life friends, who can also be there for a lot more varied experiences, and can help you more when you're depressed or need something heavy lifted. Course sometimes you can bridge that gap if they live close enough.Zeldafan355 said:
I have nothing against the idea.
However, I doubt I'd be willing to form such a friendship myself. I place a lot of value in face-to-face contact. You can tell a lot by body language and how a person carries themselves physically. Same for tone of voice and inflection and so on. I find it hard to imagine a genuine friendship without that level of contact.
However, I doubt I'd be willing to form such a friendship myself. I place a lot of value in face-to-face contact. You can tell a lot by body language and how a person carries themselves physically. Same for tone of voice and inflection and so on. I find it hard to imagine a genuine friendship without that level of contact.
Bit of both. I like having online friends, but you can do more with actual ones. I also think it's easier to have a conversation face-to-face. Via text, it's fine, because you've got thinking and delayed reactions to keep everything going, but I dunno, when it's just a voice a conversation doesn't work as well as it could. It might be because online you're naturally distracted by other things you're doing, whilst in person you're focusing on the other guy.
In essence, a balance is fine. It's probably better to hang out more with the physical friends though.
In essence, a balance is fine. It's probably better to hang out more with the physical friends though.
Most of my online friends are my real-life physical friends, while the others are people that I found interesting to talk to and share ideas with.