Friends: IRL vs Internet

evilbutterfly · 06-21-2006, 04:41 AM

I'm just wondering. HONESTLY, now, all of you, do you think there should be any real difference in importance between internet friends and real life friends. I mean this in terms of what the person really means to you. Disregard things like distant (and the consequential not being able to see them) and things of that nature. I mean, do you value your internet friends as much as your real life friends?

I ask because, as you're all aware, there is a bit of a stigma against internet friends, but I'm just wondering what you guys think. Not all of you are SUPER NERDY (despite being regulars on the forums of an internet site about a flash-based remake of a stupid dancing game), and most of you have a good number of IRL friends in addition to your internet buddies, so I figure I'll get a broad range of opinions on the matter.

Personally, I think internet friends can be just as good as real life friends. Unless you REALLY NEED to see a person face to face and go eat dinner with them and physically see them in person, there's hardly any difference other than that you prolly don't go out places together. Kinda hard to meet up at the arcade if you're several states (or an ocean) away, yeah, but if you're more of a chill-at-the-house kind of person then it doesn't really matter. I think I value my good internet buddies over some of my RL buddies. I've known some of you longer than most friends of mine, and we will manage to keep in touch over the years despite whether or not either of us move, unlike the usual case for friends in-person who aren't used to long distance stuff.

Also, Adele (if you guys remember her) and I were mainly internet friends when we first started talking. She was in New Zealand and I stayed up late and I discovered she was a cool kid (I didn't like her before cuz she dated my friend and broke up with him and made him sad, so I held a small grudge). After hanging out with her a lot in person I don't think anything really changed between our internet friendship and in-person friendship. I bet there are some of you that I could next door and we'd talk just as often and in the same basic manner, just without a computer involved.

So what do you guys think?

LordKratosAurion · 06-21-2006, 04:45 AM

A friend is a friend is a friend is a friend, no matter if you are 5 minutes away, or 5,000 miles away.

What I don't understand is why some people act all big and strong over the internet, threatening to kill someone they will never meet. =S

SqNtz_xoombotvx · 06-21-2006, 04:52 AM

I find online friends to be more on-task than regular friends. Maybe that's because I live in Montana. It seems like the people i know outside the net waste a lot of time.

vashthestampede0987 · 06-21-2006, 12:14 PM

Noah and I are cool. PS if jake comes in here he will be like, "GRAWR FCK MAH INTRANTETZ FRENDZ GOGOGOOG IRL"

Snowcrafta · 06-21-2006, 12:26 PM

I love tsutter as much as Trevor, my best friend throughout highschool. Internet friends can be just as entertaining and easy to talk with as real ones.

tsutter · 06-21-2006, 12:32 PM

I've known a guy on the internet since I was eleven years old, and we're just as close (if not closer) than any of his or my own real life friends.

Granted, I've also hung out with him twice, but yeah. Friends are friends.

**Squeek** · 06-21-2006, 12:33 PM

As for me, there's a rather large difference between reality and Internet friends.

For one, friends in reality... you know who they are, what they look like, where they live, their phone numbers, their family, their pets, their habits, everything. You visit their houses, they visit yours, etc.

I can honestly say I do not have this kind of relationship with anyone on FFR. There's only one person within an acceptable driving distance to me who I'd ever want to meet, and I've already seen him in-person, so I wouldn't have a problem with it.

There's no way that you can achieve reaistic friendship with text being transmitted across a server between other people without meeting in reality. If you think there's a way, prove me wrong.

~Squeek

tsutter · 06-21-2006, 12:41 PM

"Realistic" is the wrong word to use, Squeek. There will, of course, be a void in a friendship if you're not communicating face to face, but I wouldn't say that makes it any less of a friendship.

Now, internet girlfriends are another matter entirely. :X

Snowcrafta · 06-21-2006, 12:50 PM

ya avoid them like the plauge

GuidoHunter · 06-21-2006, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrESqueek

There's no way that you can achieve reaistic friendship with text being transmitted across a server between other people without meeting in reality. If you think there's a way, prove me wrong.

~Squeek

Uh, prove you're right.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

super-smashman · 06-21-2006, 01:07 PM

Also plauge.

TIkimanJr · 06-21-2006, 01:14 PM

Internet friends are not always what they seem irl

**Reach** · 06-21-2006, 01:14 PM

I'd say I treat them both equally. Friends are friends. Just because you're talking to someone online doesn't mean they're...not human or something. o_o

Not to mention it's much easier to find people that I could easily relate with online and be buddies with, and you can also talk to people from all parts of the world. Not something easily achieved offline.

Tasuke · 06-21-2006, 02:12 PM

Friends are friends, but if you talk about some friends to others
then it can get kinda wierd. I'll say stuff about my friend and
the irl friends will say "who said that?" or something. Now I
can't exactly say their username 'cuz that'd just be akward,
so I'll just say "ohh it was a friend from the internet." or "e-buddy"
or something. They think it's wierd that I've met up with people
that I only know from the internet, but they don't think too
much of it.
know from the internet

iBreakDanceNotHearts · 06-21-2006, 02:15 PM

My IRL life friends sucked, they were all about backstabbing and drama, my internet friends are awesome although they are a little offencive at times. Lol. But I value a friend as a friend no matter in what form or place we meet.

vashthestampede0987 · 06-21-2006, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TIkimanJr

Internet friends are not always what they seem irl

Rofl, sup Jimmy. Have fun getting raped by Laney and Bodel.

repeat · 06-21-2006, 02:58 PM

Either way, a friend is a friend, but I tend to consider my irl friends to be more imortant than my friends on the Internet.

I'd admit that online people are often more interesting than those in real life, but at the same time, you can be anyone online. A lot of the times, how a person is online, is a lot different from how they are in real life. You're also missing the whole face to face thing and a whole other level of interaction with the person that you can't have unless you're right next to each other.

Haha. And the whole internet boyfriend/girlfriend thing...
No.

JurseyRider734 · 06-21-2006, 03:08 PM

I only have a few internet friends that I ever considered "close". Lupin, Alain, and Hans. That's because I would talk to them on the phone a lot at some times. Lupin used to be my best friend. We knew eachother better than our families or friends knew us. We don't really talk anymore and he doesn't really go online, so we kind of drifted apart. Someday maybe i'll meet him irl and we can be friends again. I still sometimes talk to Hans and Alain but not as much.

I don't know. I sometimes like my internet friends more than my IRL friends because I feel like I can talk with them better about things than my IRL friends. Most of my online friends are guys (actually like all of them), and most of my irl ones are girls, besides a few gay ones. I mean I have guy friends, I just don't hang out with them a lot and stuff. My online friends are smarter than most of my irl friends, too. I like to complain about my problems to buttfly a lot. He usually tries to help. (unlike lupin or hans would), so I rely on assfly to help me with venting or problems. Both are important to me, but I see my irl friends more so yeah. I keep irl and internet very separate.

TIkimanJr · 06-21-2006, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vashthestampede0987

Rofl, sup Jimmy. Have fun getting raped by Laney and Bodel.

6-0-0 this year

Mindfields · 06-21-2006, 04:46 PM

Me and falconsfan are big internet friends. Ever since we met we've been playing the same online games together. Conquer Online, GunZ, and a few others. Online games are boring to play alone without friends. So I call us gaming buddies.
The other type of friend is some one you just talk to alot over AIM and MSN alot. For me, most of these are girls (not the ones that fall over themselves whenever you show them a picture of yourself and that kind of stuff). I can ask them stuff that I wouldn't ask some one IRL because I'm not scared of losing them as a friend. Anonymity=Confidence.

IRL friends are people you hang out with, talk on the phone with, eat lunch at school with, go places with, etc. Just some one to keep you company when you're not wasting away at your computer.

06-21-2006, 04:41 AM	#1
evilbutterfly FFR Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Small town, TN Age: 37 Posts: 5,784	Friends: IRL vs Internet I'm just wondering. HONESTLY, now, all of you, do you think there should be any real difference in importance between internet friends and real life friends. I mean this in terms of what the person really means to you. Disregard things like distant (and the consequential not being able to see them) and things of that nature. I mean, do you value your internet friends as much as your real life friends? I ask because, as you're all aware, there is a bit of a stigma against internet friends, but I'm just wondering what you guys think. Not all of you are SUPER NERDY (despite being regulars on the forums of an internet site about a flash-based remake of a stupid dancing game), and most of you have a good number of IRL friends in addition to your internet buddies, so I figure I'll get a broad range of opinions on the matter. Personally, I think internet friends can be just as good as real life friends. Unless you REALLY NEED to see a person face to face and go eat dinner with them and physically see them in person, there's hardly any difference other than that you prolly don't go out places together. Kinda hard to meet up at the arcade if you're several states (or an ocean) away, yeah, but if you're more of a chill-at-the-house kind of person then it doesn't really matter. I think I value my good internet buddies over some of my RL buddies. I've known some of you longer than most friends of mine, and we will manage to keep in touch over the years despite whether or not either of us move, unlike the usual case for friends in-person who aren't used to long distance stuff. Also, Adele (if you guys remember her) and I were mainly internet friends when we first started talking. She was in New Zealand and I stayed up late and I discovered she was a cool kid (I didn't like her before cuz she dated my friend and broke up with him and made him sad, so I held a small grudge). After hanging out with her a lot in person I don't think anything really changed between our internet friendship and in-person friendship. I bet there are some of you that I could next door and we'd talk just as often and in the same basic manner, just without a computer involved. So what do you guys think? __________________ So I've gone completely slack-ass and haven't done any work on creating games. =( In less-depressing news, I got a job for an online business (which sells non-electronic games, of all things!) which has taught me a lot about marketing online and all that jazz. So now I'm on Twitter @NoahWright. And I write the blog for their website. Plus I do cool programming in-house that you'll never see. =O

06-21-2006, 04:45 AM	#2
LordKratosAurion FFR Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Fire Field Age: 33 Posts: 306	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet A friend is a friend is a friend is a friend, no matter if you are 5 minutes away, or 5,000 miles away. What I don't understand is why some people act all big and strong over the internet, threatening to kill someone they will never meet. =S __________________ VGMP 2 some Xmod, Note Next step: learning how to suck less

06-21-2006, 04:52 AM	#3
SqNtz_xoombotvx FFR Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Bozeman, MT Age: 37 Posts: 220	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet I find online friends to be more on-task than regular friends. Maybe that's because I live in Montana. It seems like the people i know outside the net waste a lot of time. __________________

06-21-2006, 12:26 PM	#5
Snowcrafta V's beta-male entourage Join Date: May 2005 Location: Boise, ID Age: 36 Posts: 2,873	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet I love tsutter as much as Trevor, my best friend throughout highschool. Internet friends can be just as entertaining and easy to talk with as real ones. __________________

06-21-2006, 12:32 PM	#6
tsutter FFR Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 2,370	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet I've known a guy on the internet since I was eleven years old, and we're just as close (if not closer) than any of his or my own real life friends. Granted, I've also hung out with him twice, but yeah. Friends are friends. __________________ [02:02:16] <Hayden> i carry the plastic i make it spastic when i put it in ya moms ass boy her ** is elastic when im finished in knee that slut in the jaw snap her back in to pieces i lay down the law cuz i gots no respect fo that * elixers seeing as he got double dick **ed on dust 2 by an ingram at long A in pit

06-21-2006, 12:33 PM	#7
Squeek let it snow~ Join Date: Jan 2004 Age: 37 Posts: 14,444	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet As for me, there's a rather large difference between reality and Internet friends. For one, friends in reality... you know who they are, what they look like, where they live, their phone numbers, their family, their pets, their habits, everything. You visit their houses, they visit yours, etc. I can honestly say I do not have this kind of relationship with anyone on FFR. There's only one person within an acceptable driving distance to me who I'd ever want to meet, and I've already seen him in-person, so I wouldn't have a problem with it. There's no way that you can achieve reaistic friendship with text being transmitted across a server between other people without meeting in reality. If you think there's a way, prove me wrong. ~Squeek

06-21-2006, 12:41 PM	#8
tsutter FFR Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 2,370	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet "Realistic" is the wrong word to use, Squeek. There will, of course, be a void in a friendship if you're not communicating face to face, but I wouldn't say that makes it any less of a friendship. Now, internet girlfriends are another matter entirely. :X __________________ [02:02:16] <Hayden> i carry the plastic i make it spastic when i put it in ya moms ass boy her ** is elastic when im finished in knee that slut in the jaw snap her back in to pieces i lay down the law cuz i gots no respect fo that * elixers seeing as he got double dick **ed on dust 2 by an ingram at long A in pit

06-21-2006, 12:50 PM	#9
Snowcrafta V's beta-male entourage Join Date: May 2005 Location: Boise, ID Age: 36 Posts: 2,873	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet ya avoid them like the plauge __________________

06-21-2006, 01:07 PM	#11
super-smashman FFR Player Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: No, I tacol. Age: 34 Posts: 2,638	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet Also plauge. __________________

06-21-2006, 01:14 PM	#12
TIkimanJr FFR Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Railway No. VI Posts: 55	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet Internet friends are not always what they seem irl __________________

06-21-2006, 01:14 PM	#13
Reach FFR Simfile Author Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Canada Age: 37 Posts: 7,471	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet I'd say I treat them both equally. Friends are friends. Just because you're talking to someone online doesn't mean they're...not human or something. o_o Not to mention it's much easier to find people that I could easily relate with online and be buddies with, and you can also talk to people from all parts of the world. Not something easily achieved offline. __________________

06-21-2006, 02:12 PM	#14
Tasuke FFR Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: where ever you aren't Age: 33 Posts: 1,671	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet Friends are friends, but if you talk about some friends to others then it can get kinda wierd. I'll say stuff about my friend and the irl friends will say "who said that?" or something. Now I can't exactly say their username 'cuz that'd just be akward, so I'll just say "ohh it was a friend from the internet." or "e-buddy" or something. They think it's wierd that I've met up with people that I only know from the internet, but they don't think too much of it. know from the internet __________________

06-21-2006, 02:15 PM	#15
iBreakDanceNotHearts FFR Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: On top of a mango in a purse. Age: 31 Posts: 207	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet My IRL life friends sucked, they were all about backstabbing and drama, my internet friends are awesome although they are a little offencive at times. Lol. But I value a friend as a friend no matter in what form or place we meet.

06-21-2006, 02:58 PM	#17
repeat FFR Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Age: 33 Posts: 34	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet Either way, a friend is a friend, but I tend to consider my irl friends to be more imortant than my friends on the Internet. I'd admit that online people are often more interesting than those in real life, but at the same time, you can be anyone online. A lot of the times, how a person is online, is a lot different from how they are in real life. You're also missing the whole face to face thing and a whole other level of interaction with the person that you can't have unless you're right next to each other. Haha. And the whole internet boyfriend/girlfriend thing... No. __________________ LIVEJOURNAL Last edited by repeat; 06-21-2006 at 03:02 PM..

06-21-2006, 04:46 PM	#20
Mindfields Banned Join Date: Dec 2004 Age: 32 Posts: 1,566	Re: Friends: IRL vs Internet Me and falconsfan are big internet friends. Ever since we met we've been playing the same online games together. Conquer Online, GunZ, and a few others. Online games are boring to play alone without friends. So I call us gaming buddies. The other type of friend is some one you just talk to alot over AIM and MSN alot. For me, most of these are girls (not the ones that fall over themselves whenever you show them a picture of yourself and that kind of stuff). I can ask them stuff that I wouldn't ask some one IRL because I'm not scared of losing them as a friend. Anonymity=Confidence. IRL friends are people you hang out with, talk on the phone with, eat lunch at school with, go places with, etc. Just some one to keep you company when you're not wasting away at your computer.

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