Online Gamers Make Friends
I was tempted to start this off by saying something like, “duh.” But, we must realize that not everyone knows that you can make lifelong friends by playing online games. I’ve met quite a few people in real life that I first met online, especially in or by way of massively multiplayer games. “Three quarters of online role-playing gamers make good friends with the people they meet in their virtual worlds, with almost half meeting in real-life situations and one in ten going on to develop physical relationships, according to a new study.” The study was carried out by Nottingham Trent University, and you can find their press release here. “As well as making good friends online, 81% of gamers play with real-life friends and family, suggesting MMORPGs are by no means an asocial activity, nor are the players socially introverted.”
While I’ve meet some great people online, I have yet to meet any of them in real life yet. I still IM many of those I made friends with in EverQuest, even though I don’t call a single MMO home atm.
There is another one whom we chat back and forth about MMO’s all the time and many of the things we discuss will be coming forth to the Critic.
Some of these numbers are higher than I suspected, but others seem to be right in place.
Actually I find that I like most of my online friends better than my real life friends. We should all just move to the same town. My hubby plays games and so does my oldest daughter. I have also played with family members who live in another state. It is a great way to hang out without actually hanging out.
One of the reasons I still play EQ2 is that it is how one of my best friends and I still stay in touch. There is a couple from California that my wife and I met on our honeymoon cruise that play, as well. The game is the main way we all stay in contact and “hang out” as it was put by Adele. We even try to get together one weekend out of the year and jokingly call it our own private Con. I’ve met countless numbers of people through online gaming going back to the MUDs I used to play. Most of them still have their names in my instant messaging clients.
When the 35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, former members of my guild from as far away as Japan came back to our forums to post their concerns for our safety. One of my members who lives outside of Fort Lauderdale called my cell phone to make sure I was ok.
Ironically enough, I was nowhere near Minneapolis when the bridge fell. When I heard about the tragedy, I was in Las Vegas, at SOE’s FanFaire, sitting at a table surrounded by a good half dozen of my guild members.