/officerchat

Throughout the course of playing any online game, you’re bound to meet and create friends, acquaintances, and people who you truly enjoy socializing with as if they only lived next door.  As we all know, situations are destined to come about while you trek on through that journey of virtual entertainment.  What becomes of these e-relationships in which we have built?  Do we simply turn off the monitor and walk away from months, or even years spent laughing, teasing, and working with each other?  If things were to take a bad turn, is it acceptable to forget the other person as if they never existed?  These are strange times we live in, with even stranger circumstances revolving around the e-company we keep.  Some light that bridge to old friends afire, and some do everything in their power to retain a connection.  Do you light that match or blow it out?

Your virtual smile is beautiful.  ; ) 

We meet players online, as they filter in and out of our guilds, alliances, pugs, and friends lists.  The nature of online gaming has us depend upon one another and spend hours upon hours socializing, relying on, and learning about the people who surround us.  We often become attached to these players.  We learn to care about their day, their lives, and their moods.  We’d like to see them happy, enjoying themselves, and reciprocating the same.

After all, a guild is a community based upon the members it contains.  The group as a whole develops the atmosphere upheld for each and every one of you.  As a GM, you help direct the progress to further benefit the community.  Naturally the players will locate their cliches and separate off into squads.  Is this bad?  Of course not.  This simply means that friendships & relationships are being created amongst the members.  Bonds are being built and the guild is strengthening.

What if something were to happen to these bonds though?  Perhaps a member becomes disgruntled, or a misunderstanding takes place.  Could you lose more than a member?  Could you lose a friend as well?

My lonely avatar cries to the moon.  :’ (

When you lose players, it not only disrupts the logistics of your guild’s scheduling and planning, but also your member’s state of mind.  As a team, you’re partying, instancing, raiding, PvPing, building, etc, for months or years on end.  You have grown to understand who these people are and the quirks they hold.  When the situation presents itself that forces a member out, your entire guild may very well feel the hurt of the lost person.  It is not uncommon for e-buddies to miss each other and gravitate to another guild to reclaim their companionship.  Always be sure to keep a careful eye on your members after the removal of a valued individual.  Many may hold feelings of resentment, guilt, or anger that must be worked through instead of kept bottled in.  These are people that we play a game with, not robots out there in cyberspace.

I believe we have all experienced such involvement with developing inter-game relationships, and then having the ties pulled apart.  Whether it be a friend moving on from said game, leaving the guild, or perhaps just drifting apart, it’s a rough time when a close internet pal you’ve never met moves on with his/her life.  The connections have been made, but the personal interaction is always a monitor apart.  Would the situation be any different if this person lived down the street?  If you’d have gone to school together?  What defines the importance of a friendship- be it virtual or not?

I contemplate with gas can in hand.  >: (

Regardless of what brings you to the footsteps of goodbye, you better get used to it.  It will happen numerous times as long as you remain involved with online gaming.  Let’s take an example, and evaluate possible courses of action.  Say you recruit a sociably quirky girl into your guild, and develop and intricate friendship with her.  She’s a skilled player, a smart individual, and challenges your mind.  You spend months upon months chatting it up and getting to know her.  One day, for some reason or another, she’s left with the decision of no longer playing the game.  Here, you are faced with two very distinct options:

On one hand, you can cut all the ties between the two of you.  Turn off the computer, stand up, and simply go do something else.  Remind yourself that it is just a game and not to think twice about those pixilated characters running across your screen.  They are just random people elsewhere who are only there to play a game, as you are.  People move on with their lives and that’s just how it is.  She was an interesting and unique part of your gaming experience, but that’s where it ends.

On the other hand, you can attempt to maintain contact with her.  It has been known for players to meet upon a raid and fall in love, only to follow up with marriage.  Say you express concern with her departure, and opt to maintain communication through other means.  Emails turn into phone calls.  Phone calls turn into a visit.  Next thing you know you’re moving in together and beginning a life, due to a simple mmo.

Yes, I understand that’s an extreme.  Perhaps it’s something as easy as keeping a hold of someone to talk to.  Maybe it’s the guy who would lounge with you in the Ventrilo server all night, bullshitting about how horrible the Chicago Cubs are.  The possibilities are endless.  Relationships are built when people are placed in these inter-dependent environments.  Just because you’re staring at a monitor all night, does not mean you aren’t staring and talking with other living people.

Examine the bonds you’ve created with these individuals you spend your nights with.  Is it worth losing a friend merely because they’re located at some remote location over the interwebs?  Is it worth cutting ties with these players you respect, who respect you, and burning the bridges you’ve build together?

; )  Will always remember you.