Friends: IRL vs Internet

[evilbutterfly]

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?