BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP?

I don't know members of RMN so well yet, but past the 4-5 years or what it has been, that I've been around RM forums, I've made few pretty good friends, that basically live at other side of the world.

And if I would ever visit those places, I could probably spend several days with them with no problems, or if they would ever visit me, I'd offer my hospitality gladly.

Online it's kind of easy to get to know peoples' opinions and views on different matters, but you won't still learn their habits or ways expressing themselves in real life, which can be very different to online behaviour. For example, some really friendly and social person online could be someone really withdrawn and hard to approach in real life. But it does help that you've already "get to know" the person online. It breaks the ice a bit.

Hmm I dunno, but I've met a lot of people I've played MMORPGs with, in big meetings irl and got along with them well. They're only casual friends to me though, but if I'd bother to see some effort, I could easily make really good friends of them. So, I don't really see any problems having friends online only, because when I've met those people irl, we've been friends then, too.

author=Craze link=topic=2128.msg35415#msg35415 date=1222915250
Well, you have to realize that in its early stages, RMN was basically #rm2k's second offical website, whether that was holb's intention or not.

For the record, pretty much everything RMN related has been WIP's doings, for better or for worse. When I ran things, we were called RPGmaker.net and we didn't actually exist.

Back to the topic...

My first real-life encounter with an online person was when I first moved to New Jersey from Iowa. I actually lived in ankylo's hometown for almost a year. During that time we met on several occassions, including eating chinese, wandering around Wal-Mart and acquiring various real life goods, including a Christmas ham (for free) and a Intel processor (for cash). I've known him for about 10 years, so it was good to meet him. Good times.

The next person I met was WIP, who stayed with me in New Jersey for about a week. It was a pretty awkward time; I had only admitted to my wife that I was nerdy enough to have online friends the week before when asking for permission for him to stay. It just so happens my brother (mine) and my sister-in-law (my wife's sister) were visiting also. WIP and I destroyed my brother emotionally and intellectually on the way home, mocking him for pronouncing Suikoden IV "Suikoden Eye Vee". He later threatened to kill WIP. My sister-in-law refused to go inside for about an hour when WIP arrived, fearing he was a "knife-killer". WIP would also later visit me when I lived in New Orleans, in which time the mormon landed in time to seee a gay pride parade in downtown N'awlins.

Gadreel (who hasn't come around lately) stayed at my house during his recent move from Seattle to Boston. We talked randomly for a few hours and made some really bad puns.

When WIP stayed with me in New Jersey, we drove to Boston to attend the first #rm2kfest, where we met some "icons" such as Lysander86, RPG-Advocate and Brickroad.

I consider ankylo and WIP very good friends, by any definition of the word. In fact, since I have moved around so much that they may actually be my best friends. Gadreel would also be up there if he was around more.

I don't know the majority of RMN members very well, and thus they are lumped into my acquaintance pile.

ankylo, WIP and I become sworn brothers in a ceremony in a peach garden. Together, we will protect China from infidels.

I am not as close to people on the RM community (it doesn't mean I don't love you guys!) as a website I use to frequent for over five years (12 years old - 18 years old). This may sound strange, but that is where I was exposed to a lot of weird things that I never knew before, and without it, I doubt I would be the same. I don't think there is anything "nerdy" or "wrong" about it as most people I know ... in IRL ... would think.

In terms of acting differently on the internet compared to real life ... I can't even begin to say how true that could be. In fact, I completely lied about my identity for about five years and acted completely different from the way I do normally.

I guess there are a lot of reasons for it, I tend to write formally, so even when I am chatting or posting, that habit continues on, so it makes me seem pretty stern. This is more of a confession on my part, but online I act much, much more aggressive than I would offline, in fact, if something made me "pissed off" I would just hand my head low and mutter to myself because I would feel guilty about yelling someone else. Sometimes, on the internet, it is way too easy to get away with things. So if someone pisses me off, it doesn't take that much effort to type something derogatory. You don't have to deal with the after effects of saying such (unless the person you offended was an admin/staff! :)). Idk, maybe offline I am too nice sometimes and I feel bad pretty easily.

Anyways, back to the topic, I've grown so close to some of those people I've met on that one site I use to go to. In fact, on that site during its heydays, people grew really close to each other. So close, some moved in and married each other (no, this is not OKCupid, it was a gaming site). As for me, some of my best friends - the few people I can feel that I can tell anything to - are from that site. Ironically, it came from the fact that the internet was so anonymous, I felt that I could express and say anything and get away with it. I suppose sometimes online friendships are a bit of a double-edge sword, you might grow close to them because you probably spilled yer guts on to them, or you don't care because they are just "some other faceless person." I don't know; I am probably not making any sense.

Bottom line is, MOST of my close friends are from the internet. I am still not really that close to people on RMN because I am a pretty slow person to warm up with people, but I'd probably say my best friend in the community is probably Azn! Happy birthday, bro!

WIP is one of my best friends (for real we even text message each other's phones) even though we've never met! I also plan on making sweet love to Craze someday. I met a girl on the internet once and we saw each other for four years. So I don't think it is weird to make good friends over the internet!

I hate each and every one of you.







(kidding! Well, except brandon, as he is my archnemesis. I'll get you next time Him! NEXT TIME! *shakes fist*)

I consider some people on RMN, GW, and other forums friends - though it would be kinda weird to meet them in real life.

There was only one person I really contacted outside of the forum world - DoubleD_Kool. Anyone remember him? Yeah, he left the internets a couple of years ago, but he and I got along pretty well. We sent emails and whatnot back and forth.

EDIT:

Oh, and how I act on forums is COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY like how I act in real life. I'm as smarmy and sarcastic in real life as I am here!

I have Clest on my MSN list. Weird.

I haven't spoken to him or tried speaking to him in...oh...a year or more. I don't know.

Hmm... Well... I have made a couple of friends around the internet I guess.
I made some friends on a MMO I used to play, who I talked to over the phone a couple times.

I've made a few "friends" around the various RPGMaker community. I used to talk to Malad a lot, although not anymore, since he is rarely active anymore. I've also talked to Psyburn over the phone. My best internet friend is probably YDS. If I left the community, those would probably be the best I remembered, with a few others.

I act fairly similar in real life compared to the internet. I am an illogical, strange person sometimes, and you may be able to tell this from my posts. I do tend to lie about myself on the internet, when answering personal questions, although I don't do that much anymore.

author=YummyDrumsticks link=topic=2128.msg35458#msg35458 date=1222932071
but I'd probably say my best friend in the community is probably Azn! Happy birthday, bro!

Thanks. =)

Well, considering I have a habit of randomly disappearing from the forums for days on end and I only use IM's and IRC on full-moon nights, I guess it can't be helped that I don't really know any of you!

The only person I make any effort to keep in touch with is Nessiah (and she can tell you what a good job I'm doing of that :-X)

Oh, actually, I did meet a very good friend online through RPG Making, although we almost never talked about it, and now we have lost touch.

His user name was Rhysatti; he wasn't very active/prominent in the community, but he was the closest friend I met through RM, although I didn't think of him as an online friend, just a friend which is why I didn't mention him at first.