Are we all friends on here?

[GreenRock]

What are our relationships to eachother?
Friends?
Aquaintances?

We argue, we discuss,
we debate, we fuss.
Thats us.

If your decision is not in the poll, please state it.

[Rkiver]

I am friends with some on here. Some I have visited, some came to my wedding.

[Xocrates]

I would say I'm friendly with some, but since I've never really met most I have a hard time to call them full friends.

[GreenRock]

Aw, you guys are lucky, living close to eachother 'n stuff.
Maybe I should get some of my real friends on here...

however, I'm afraid theyre renowned trollers on the internet.
We're all a bunch of geeks (me 'n my blokes)
Im the nicer one
You people are so lucky I got to this game first.

[coolsi]

I think it's very important to note that, like any big group of people, there's going to be cliques. Of course they may overlap somewhat, but that's beside the point.

As far back as the merge between the Uplink and Darwinia forums (which was way before my time but I did read old topics about it) people have been talking about the difference between userbases and how they probably don't get along too much. To those not part of it, the Defcon community currently has the image of having the highest population density of elitists, morons and spelling-impaired 12-year-olds that any of IV's games have ever seen. On a smaller level, there's a small group of quite active people in the Lounge, but there's also a group of people who are very active on the appropriate IRC server, and the userbases have few overlaps.

The whole point of this is that, if you're going to ask questions about what 'we' are, you're going to get a wide variety of answers, since some people may never have heard of you or consider you an asshole, while to others you may be a very good friend.

I personally have met an array of people in real life on two occasions, the Multiwinia Launch Party and the community meetup during Easter (plus Phelanpt when he was in the Netherlands for a short while), and most of the people I met there I consider pretty good friends. (In fact, all of the people during the Easter meetup.) If it weren't for the trouble of having to cross borders to meet up with most of them (since they're all UK-based and I live in the Netherlands) I would probably meet up with them more. Other than that, there's a group of people whom I get along with pretty good over the internet but I've never actually met - this concerns mostly Americans for whom going to the UK for a meetup is way more of a hassle than it is for other Europeans. Some people aren't comfortable with using the word 'friend' for people you've never met (my father always wanted to correct me when I referred to anyone on here as 'friends') but when you've been talking with each other for a couple of years you know quite a bit about each other, may have seen pictures of one another, etc. to the degree that even before meeting people I prefer calling them friends over something cold as 'internet acquaintances'.

In any case, the fact that I have spent several hundreds of euros for a couple of meetups of about 3.5 days total should say something.

Bottom note: You can definitely become friends with people on the internet, and of all places, this might be one of the best. However it does take significantly more effort than in real life and it takes a lot more time than you may think before anyone considers you a friend.

Jelco

A simple 'yes' or 'no' would have been enough...

[ynbniar]

yes or no

[MaximusBrood]

'yes' or 'no'

[xander]

'yes' xor 'no'

xander

[xyzyxx]

> TRUE

[prophile]

potted plant

[bert_the_turtle]

I'd probably invite anyone from these forums in or go drink a beer or two if they appeared at my door and said who they were.

[Feud]

I'll sometimes refer to a few people on here as friends, though to me it doesn't really mean the same as when I think of friends who I have actually come in physical contact with.

But, like bert, I'll hang out with most people if they came to town.

[Why?]

Believe it or not, someone from here tried to hang out with me! One day, out of the blue, he PM'd me his phone number and said that he just happened to be in my city. I felt bad, cause I had to ignore him. I'm not looking for physical friends on the internet; unless they possess a vagina, and want to make fuck. He's a nice guy, but I don't know much about him. A meeting would have been very awkward, and absolutely pointless. Now, there are a few people on here that I've gotten to know pretty well. We're like pen pals and I consider them real friends. I would definitely drink a beer with them; but that's the extent of it.

Generally, I prefer to think of everyone on here as a persona. I've gotten to know a few of them better; but I don't take anyone else on here seriously. It's just entertainment, for me.

[GreenRock]

Your all too general.
Use me as a reference.
Am I considered a friend?

(I dont drink, so stop using that phrase )

[Feud]

(I dont drink, so stop using that phrase )

I don't think that drinking is really the point of those that mentioned it, for many who drink "getting a drink" or "having a beer" is used in the same vein as I used "hanging out" (which I used since I don't drink).

It's a friendly social gesture, though alcohol may be involved that's not the main point, it's more of a phrase or the given means by which to show friendliness to a stranger. (Some exceptions do apply, you drunkards out there know who you are )