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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Do your WoW and real-life friendships overlap?
by Olivia Grace 
Jan 27th 2012 at 8:00AM
I got into playing WoW through friends I knew from the local pub. They talked me into it one Christmas when I was on gardening leave and bored to tears. As I've played, I've made many good friends, strengthened my bonds with my real-life friends, and even met someone special. My WoW friends have helped me through some difficult times. It's a great form of escapism, and there's almost always somebody online to chat with about reforging, or cats, or complaining about PuGs, or nothing in particular.
How about you? Do you have real-life friends you met through WoW? Do your real-life friends play too? How does your social circle spill over between the world and Azeroth?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
audehd Jan 27th 2012 1:11PM
None of my real life friends play wow, and none of them ever would. (To be fair the is one of my girlfriends that played Warcraft 3, but we used to live in the country so when there was big snowstorms and we got stuck at home, video games was one of the only fun things to do :P She did not get hooked on them, however, I did...)
I am grateful for it thought because it has brought me many good moments and memories, and when I was really depressed and wanted nothing more then to over with everything, wow was what got me back on track and made me have social interaction, without it I probably would of spent my days in a little ball in my bed.
I met many many great friends on wow, some became real life friends, some stayed online, but are equally as important to me. So for me real life and wow relationships is like a blur, it's the same.
And last summer I met the man of my dreams, still in wow, and we are now engaged :) I could not be happier.
Ralethisolur Jan 28th 2012 10:36PM
Its pretty much the only reason I play WoW much anymore. Its a hindrance and a blessing, I feel obligated to stay near IRL friends in my guild and don't get to fulfill my raiding potential; how ever it gives me a Medium to talk to people throughout the week especially when they live across the world due to military profession.
It seems fine to have people IRL also in WoW, even on your server, it can give that reprieve from "Trade chat" that can come from a larger guild where you don't know anyone IRL.
Alorina Jan 27th 2012 1:33PM
I was introduced to WoW through a RL acquaintance although we never played much in-game together (she prefers PvP servers and I shudder at the thought). In the 5 or 6 years that I've been playing all 3 of my brothers have picked up the game and two of my nephews as well. We have all played at varying levels of intensity and for the most part have been in the same guild. I spent a year raiding hard core while they continued their more casual style but we're all back together now. I also met my husband in-game. Our priorities have drifted apart since we first met while raiding. He focuses more on PvP now and I am firmly in the casual game. We still often play at the same time although we don't play much 'together' anymore other than the odd heroic. I have one other friend that I made in-game and we have since become good friends IRL as well. Most of my other in-game friends are just that and none of my RL close friends play.
james Jan 27th 2012 3:12PM
Literally my entire (relatively small) guild is 100% friends and friends of friends, and started with me, my wife, and our roommate.
So what this means is when we schedule a raid, it's 10 people spread over our computer room and living room with switches and ethernet cables running everywhere. Headsets? Pshaw, we yell across the room. I absolutely love it.
The only downside is 40-mans are kind of out of the question. We don't have THAT many friends. :D
Rozom Jan 27th 2012 4:57PM
There was some question in the guild members minds whether or not a certain player was actually a girl. I told them all that I could vouch for the fact that she actually was considering she was one of my best friends. When finally the last push of "but how can YOU be sure" came about, I simply responded "Because I held her child in my hands less than three hours after it had been born."
There were no further questions asked.
Robert Jan 27th 2012 5:16PM
There is no overlap between my WoW friends and my IRL friends. My WoW friends, I still have this mental barrier of "I met this guy on the internet." Not to mention, they live all over the US and no one lives near here.
And my real life friends don't play WoW, and for the most part completely disapprove. And I'm perfectly alright with that.
Steffan Jan 27th 2012 5:22PM
Technically, the WoW-Friend and IRL-Friend circles overlap, but only because I don't have friends in either of them. =T
Grayswindir Jan 27th 2012 5:23PM
Absolutely, I have 2 great friends from Canada, that I met waaay back in Vanilla and I still play with them to this day - even through a free realm transfer.
tamillerkt Jan 27th 2012 5:47PM
April 2007. I was a brand new WoW player, which was also my first MMO. I needed to get some group quests done in Stromgarde Keep in Arathi Highlands. I tried asking in the General channel, but got *crickets* back. So I went and sat on the bridge leading to Stromgarde, and asked people as they were running by if I could join their group. One couple invited me in. We went and did the quests, and were running around together afterwards, when out of the blue, one of them said, "Where are you? We're in Colorado."
Turns out they lived 10 miles away from me.
I have since joined a local WoW players group that I found on meetup.com. As most people who come to the group are on different realms, we do other things like BBQs and bowling nights. But it's great hanging out with other people locally who know the lingo. I also met my boyfriend through that group, and it's wonderful not having partner-aggro issues. We both understand.
bethontheharbor Jan 27th 2012 6:20PM
I was introduced to wow by a couple of acquaintances about 4 months after launch. A couple of months later being without work I began playing on a bootleg private server. I made many friends on the two servers I played on but none that were lasting.
My former guild master once i started playing retail and i are still long distance friends. I met the sister in my extended family on another medium but wrote her becuase she listed wow as one of her hobbies.
But I also met the love of my life(I'm 44 and can claim that) in a WoW guild on Proudmoore, and in a few months shes moving here to start our lives together,
Micte Jan 27th 2012 7:28PM
Some of my best friends dragged me into playing WoW, kicking and screaming because I'd never heard anything really positive about it. They said I'd love it, I wasn't so sure.
They were right.
I still play with the one of them - when he's not playing his Hordies, since we play Horde on different realms, the rest don't play much anymore.
A while later I reconnected with an old friend from my days of roleplaying in forums - back before the forums I played in both started dying and the moderators got quite a bit more strict - and WoW came up, and it turned out we both play, although at the time on different realms. He tried out mine, I would have tried out his but it was MG at the time and I never could seem to try a time when it wasn't full, and then eventually, when I had rolled a baby rogue to see if WrA was any good (And it was! And it is! And I just can't stop playing that rogue!), we decided to roll characters there together. And now all my Horde characters can run into most of his in-game and we talk pretty much constantly when we're both on. Without WoW I might have faded away from a friend of 6+ years due to infrequent contact, instead I get to talk to him all the time, and he's one of the best friends I've ever had.
Kage Jan 27th 2012 10:50PM
Yeah they do a lot anymore. Mostly due to RealID getting me closer to friends that I didn't even know played. I also just found out that a guildie not only lives in my hometown but her daughter is going to the school i graduated from and has the same teacher that both me and my dad had growing up. Small World(of warcraft)
Sergel Jan 27th 2012 11:14PM
I talk to my Wow friends more than some of the ones i usually see in person. I don't like using the term 'real-life' since the ppl I'm talking with are still real. But i have an interesting story (interesting to me anyway)
Back in high school I was partnered up with one of the school's mos popular guys. Guy was attractive and great and sports and smart, but we had nothing in common so it was really boring and kinda awkward when we had to work together. While working on a project at my house, he saw my WoW case and I was super embarrassed until he said he played also. I was floored, bu alas we ended up becoming great friends because of it all.
Peebers Jan 28th 2012 1:13AM
yup yup good times in game and out with twitch(arygos) and missoctober(eitrigg).
can't wait to get home in two weeks from tel aviv. F this place.
Jen Jan 28th 2012 4:27AM
I visited 3 or 4 countries because of friends I met in WoW (I live in Europe). I've kept in touch with some, lost touch with some... but I hope I'll never lose touch with one of them, who's become one of my best friends! (The only downside? She lives 2000km away so we can't have IRL girls' nights... but I'm visiting her this year for the 3rd time and meeting her newborn!)
But the most unexpected thing was finding out that my childhood friend played WoW. She never was a gamer and she moved to another country 10 years ago, we kept in touch through letters and, as technology evolved, through the internet, but we didn't talk so often. Then I found out her boyfriend played WoW and got her hooked too, so we had a blast leveling chars! Even if we're on her German-speaking realm and I can't understand a word :P I'm going to see her in 2 weeks and we'll probably derp our way through some heroics \o/
kenlee Feb 1st 2012 1:14PM
I've met several friends through WoW that I've now known for 2-4 years (sadly, it seems harder to make friends in WoW for me recently). In that time, I've actually hung out with them IRL, I text/talk to them daily, and am probably closer to them then several of my "RL" friends.