Are internet friends real friends?
- Thread starter PDizzle418
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I'd say no. I mean there are some people who I've known for five years or so but only as an internet name, an avatar, maybe a picture. If I had the opportunity to go grab a beer with them I would and at that point then yeah, I'd apply the friend tag. Due to impracticalities regarding location I don't see that happening so until then the label "Internet Friend" will suffice. Even though it does sound incredibly dorky.
I think so, if you talk to people long enough and get to know them well enough, I think they can be considered friends.
Of example, one of my best friends who helped me through a lot of tough times was someone I met over an IM and have only met about 4 times since.
Of example, one of my best friends who helped me through a lot of tough times was someone I met over an IM and have only met about 4 times since.
Well there's one guy I talk to often enough, but for me it really isn't the same as a real life friend. Not that I think it can't happen, just for me personally, it would just be hard to get beyond "pleasant acquaintance"
the problem I see with having online "friends" is that it is so easy to just get up and walk away. I know for example that I've gone through sprees of posting on the escapist and then times where I never so much as glance at the forums.
Is it a good thing to become better friends with people online than those in real life?
I feel like it is a tough thing especially since someone who is a good internet friend of yours could just disappear, due to something in their lives that is taking up a lot more time or simply disinterest in a game/forum.
Is it a good thing to become better friends with people online than those in real life?
I feel like it is a tough thing especially since someone who is a good internet friend of yours could just disappear, due to something in their lives that is taking up a lot more time or simply disinterest in a game/forum.
They can be. Two of my best friends I know down the internet but I talk to them a lot so I count them as actual friends.
That is the most ridiculous definition of a friend I've ever read.AccursedTheory said:
What do you mean "affect in the realm of the physical"?
Does touching someone somehow change the relationship?
Does being able to throw a physical object at him somehow make our conversations more meaningful?
If I tell a "real life" mate to go see a film, he's physically doing it so I'm affecting him in the physical realm. Is it so hard to do the same with an online friend? If he does, did I affect him physically? What if I make him cry? It's a physical (well, physiological) response. What if I make him laugh? What if I make him happy or sad or make him stay up late to talk or make him log on at a certain hour to play/chat?
This is something I've always wondered about? Why is a relationship based on words travelling through cables any different than when the words travel on a wave of air?
DISCLAIMER: I only started reading the first page and hit the quote button when I saw this reply. I haven't read any of the rest of the conversation yet and I don't know if I will.
Maybe I'm just set up differently. The way I look at it, if I can shut someone up and never listen to them again by hitting a 'block this user' button, than honestly, they can;t affect me. Again, no offense to users here, but your basically words on a page. I'll never see you, I'll never go out and meet your girlfriend (And by extension, I'll never trade sexual innuendo with your girlfriend, making you uncomfortable and hilariously pissed off), and we'll never actually DO anything.achilleas.k said:
What I meant by physical world was, we'll never DO anything together, not necessarily do anything physical. Events affect friend ships, not topic discussion (Though that's certainly part of friendship).
Than again, all this is coming from a guy who seriously pissed off most of his work mates because I don't consider being forced to be around someone 8 hours a day friendship. A female in my unit almost hit me when I told her we were acquaintances, not friends.
deffinly i have known some of my online friends longer than some of my real life friends.If you connect with them and you enjoy there company then there you friends just because you cant touch them doesnt mean there not real.
Also i dont touch many of my real life friends so maybe there not real either lol.
Also i dont touch many of my real life friends so maybe there not real either lol.
Judging from the rest of your post, I say we definitely are.AccursedTheory said:
Similar parallels exist in "real life". Hanging up phones, leaving in the middle of a conversation, etc. We're just accustomed to finding it easier to hit the block button instead of doing it face to face.
The ease with which you can ignore a person in real life is inversely proportionate to how close you are. It's easy to ignore a person you met one night in a bar and just gave him or her your phone number. Just don't pick up and there's no other way to reach you. Eventually they'll give up and it's done. Similarly, if you only know a person through the escapist, you can just block him and he'll have no other way to reach you, other than searching for your username on other sites (kinda like going to the same bar or looking around town for you every night in real life).
But we're talking about friends here, not just random people that add replies to your threads. You can't ignore a friend in real life without consequences, or at least giving a reason for "blocking" him. Similarly, if you have a friend on the internet, you probably have him on your instant messenger contact lists (MSN, Skype), on one or two forum friends lists, Steam, XBL/PSN, that moronic Facebook thing etc. He will even have your e-mail address. The same way you can block someone through all these mediums, you can ignore him in real life through phones and by not talking to him when you see him in a bar one night. I'm pretty sure that said friend will be just as hurt by you ignoring him face to face as he will if you block him from everything.
None taken, personally. I believe anyone who takes offence to this part is a moron. Of course we're just words on a page. The topic is about internet friends, not everyone who's looking at the same page as you.
Continuing from my last part, you could do all those things with an internet friend. You wont see him face to face, but you'll see pictures, a video, webcams n such. It's not the same, but then again we can't really say that blind people can't have friends because they can't see them. But seeing or not seeing is beside the point, at least the point I'm trying to make here. You could meet an internet friend's girlfriend. I have, on many occasions while playing WoW, met a guildmate's girlfriend/wife/sibling/whatever and it was almost no different than similar situations I experienced in real life ( /flirt <guildmate's gf> /shoo ). I would go as far as to say that the online version felt more comfortable and intimate, considering similar levels of acquaintance.
I'm going to go back to my days of WoWing to answer this part. Would you consider playing games together doing something? With my real life friends, we do stuff together all the time. Watch films, go to bars, go out for dinner, play games, slack around. Now the physical limitations of an internet relationship keep you from doing most of those, but that doesn't make it any less of a friendship. We still spend hours playing the same game, sharing opinions on the films we watched, slacking during work "together" (i.e., chatting while we're both at work slacking). When I was away at Uni, ALL my friends would become "internet friends" for months at a time and the conversations on-line and in games felt no different than the face to face ones.
Admittedly, this comes down to how each person views the subject and what he's used to. I strongly believe that your opinion might change if you meet someone and really connect and share an experience such as a long term online game together (not just MMOs, but playing with the same people all the time in any game, even if it's one of those browser games that are a dime a dozen). On the other hand, this may have happened already and you just don't feel it's the same. As you said at the beginning of your post, you're probably just set up differently.
Just to be clear, this post isn't a personal attack or anything. I just enjoy it when once in a while there's a proper conversation on these forums (that doesn't fall it the category of "What's your favourite X?") and who better to have a conversation with than someone you completely disagree with?
A couple years back I was a frequent (basically daily) visitor of a chat box/forum. I made some really good friends there, had really good times talking bout everything/fighting/dominating the chatbox with insults for 2 hours while everyone else sat on the side-lines because they said they were having too much fun just reading our conversation..
There I experienced friends moving on, and a death of a friend (may her soul rest in peace)... and yeahs. I eventually moved on too... I was sad for a while be cause I missed the people that made me laugh, but.. it never felt like a realreal friendship.. I needed to see them face to face to actually cement our friendship... I dunno...
There I experienced friends moving on, and a death of a friend (may her soul rest in peace)... and yeahs. I eventually moved on too... I was sad for a while be cause I missed the people that made me laugh, but.. it never felt like a realreal friendship.. I needed to see them face to face to actually cement our friendship... I dunno...