Since becoming a writer for this award-winning blog I have often been asked by readers and other people, just curious about the website, if I ever meet up with the same people I game with. It’s probably not that uncommon of a question and I am sure somebody, at some point, has asked the same of you. This got me to thinking about the whole situation of meeting up with your online buds outside of the game.
Whenever I am asked this question my answer is always “no”. Real life meetings with online pals just aren’t my forte, y’know? Aside from the paranoia I feel at the fact that maybe, just maybe, my guildmate is actually a serial stalking, spoon murderer there is also the simple fact that the person I know online is probably very different than the person I meet up with. I act differently when playing a game than I do in real life and I am sure that holds some truth to all gamers. Even then, if I do meet-up with them what are we supposed to talk about? I can’t talk about the game or else the meeting will have just been wasted. So, without the game to talk about we awkwardly try to find other interests in the person whose main interest is a game we both find interest in. It all gets very complicated.
Bottomline is that I just don’t think that mixing my real life and game life is the wisest of decisions. Am I alone on this one?
I think you hit the main reason there. I am a lot different online than off as well. I have met people I game with offline though, but it was after chatting and talking away from the game as well.
January 7th, 2008 at 11:12 pmQuote
I haven’t met too many people I game with but not because of a fear of hanging out irl. Most of the people I game with are located far, far away from me and it’s just not worth the trip. Then again, one of my friends flew from Toronto, Ontario Canada to a small town in Czechoslovakia to meet up with long time MUD gamer friends.
I think he got wasted and hit on a bunch of their girlfriends. Surprisingly, things didn’t turn out like a scene from Hostel…
I’m not opposed to meeting fellow guildies irl, but I imagine a lot of the mystique will be lost afterwards. That top-ranked, fully decked, PvP platoon leader who is so confident in game may suddenly lose the cool factor if you find out he’s a 14-year old, pizza-faced virgin…
January 8th, 2008 at 9:54 amQuote
I think it generally depends on what the culture is and what the purpose of the meeting is. I don’t have any desire to meet the people I play MMOs with in real life. However, I have also competed nationally in gaming tournaments for titles like Street Fighter, Halo, Counterstrike and Super Smash Bros. While some of these titles have online modes, nothing comes close to the experience of playing via LAN. Some of my closest friends (and one business partner) have come from meeting up with other gamers in competitive settings.
So no, I’m not meeting my guildmates for dinner and movie. That would be incredibly awkward. However, if you want to throw down with Master Chief or Mario at an event, I’ll be happy to meet up and beat you down. After we’ve shared a “real life” experience together, then maybe we can go get lunch between battles.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:32 amQuote