Since my first post the situation with technology got a lot worse. My trusty, yet pre-historic machine must have overheard my complaints about being unable to get onto Flash games, and decided to show me who is boss by breaking all together.
Thankfully I am an Iphone bore! I have to tell you guys and gals, that I seriously would have had massive withdrawls if I hadn't had my Iphone. Now, I know there are other makes/brands out there - but this happens to be the one I have - Iphone 3gs - and I am a massive fan.
I was even able to update the website with all the Valentines heads up stuff for you folks with it - yes it was a blummin nightmare - and if Aimee hadn't come along later in the day I would probably still be doing it now, but it worked!
ANYWAY, enough of all that tosh - the most important thing that I found was that I was able to keep in touch with my friends.
During this process of playing FTV, starting the fansite and then the website I have met some great people; I now consider a few of them to be close personal friends. In some cases I trust these people more than I trust people I have known in "Real Life" for a long time.This got me to thinking about how the internet and particularly gaming has changed the way we form relationships.
I started chatting on the internet when I was about 21 - I was a young mother, my father had just died, I didnt have a car and I lived in the middle of nowhere. The internet was my social life. Of course there were one or two odd balls that freaked me out on occasion but my experience was overwhelmingly postive. I still keep in touch with a few people I met all the way back then. In fact I speak to one of them every day.
15 years ago you were classed as hopeless geek if you chatted online. Part of me wonders if there is still a stigma attached to it?- do people still assume you have no friends in real life? Does it matter if you haven't met the person you spend hours talking to?
I had a conversation with an close online buddy about this very subject the other day. We both said that we keep people at arms length due to our own insecurities - but since then I have re-considered. I actually feel that I am reaching out to as many people as I can - I am not adverse to meeting people that I feel comfy with - but it's hard when those people live on the other side of the world!
I'd love to hear about your experiences - Good or Bad.
I worked with the public most of my life and am a very outgoing person, I have no problems dealing with people and making friends. The people I have met while gaming and chatting just add another kind of friend to my life, I would love to meet most of these people in person because it seems we have so much in common, a lot have had the same type of job and we compare how things are done differently in different country's. I do agree with you though it would be hard because a lot live on the other side of the world, but I would not give up these friendships any more than I would give up one I've had since childhood.
ReplyDelete