I was listening to a podcast, the awesome Epic Dolls podcast, and they were talking about how well we know our WoW friends. One of the hosts made the comment that she knows all of these people, but she pointed out all the things she doesn’t know about the people she knows in game. Maybe this is just me, but this outlook is a bit odd to my mind. I do t understand why you would seek out differences instead of looking for the strands that connect and the main one I know is that we all love WoW!
I admit that, like the host, I do not know my guild masters last name, and in fact most of my guildies I do not know much about beyond their in game personality, but for me, for my guild, we are like a family. I know the family problems that one guildie is having, I know the stresses at the job of another guildie, and I recently helped advise a guildie on a deeply personal issue. Do I know their last name, employer, and have checked three references? No because they are my friends not my business associates.
This brings me to the theme of this post, that of the theory that dome of us try too hard to find differences, spend too much time creating false distances, and ignore the connections that bring us together, draw us close, and earn us the title of friend.
Perhaps the digital age has come to fast for some, or maybe people are hesitant after all the press given to those who abuse those connections to do terrible things, but I for one choose to embrace the connections. I do not see why we must force a distance between ourselves and those we know in game and the mere idea of it baffles me to a degree.
“I don’t know x, y, and z about you” or “we aren’t real friends because we don’t hang out” are methods, to me, of pushing people away from you. “I know x, y, and z about you” and “how are you doing” and “I am here if you need to talk” are ways of connecting with people. I guess my question for you is whether you want to build relationships and connections, or distances and obstacles?
