Do you consider your SL friends "better" than your RL friends?

QFT. My "best friend" in RL is the world's worst correspondant. It's so frustrating that I find myself caring less and less about her, which is sad, considering that we've been friends since we were 11 years old...

I prefer

It really does depend. I have relatively few friends in RL that I trust. i have 'aquaintences' or whatever you call them.
I don't see it as either/or either (?). Friends in SL are still friends. I wouldn't choose between them. But there is one person in Rl I would drop everything to make sure she is okay. No questions asked. if she has a problem Im there.
But there are people in SL like this too. If they needed help, I would drop everything to go in-world and see them. I specify 'in-world', because my friends in SL tend to be pretty far away in RL...like thousands of miles far away lol. pretty tough to drop everything and run to the other side of the world

Hmm.......I couldn't answer this poll. I don't look as any of my friends as being better than any of my other friends and I don't have choose between any of them, so there is no point in thinking that way. All of my friends are my family and my RL friends I have known since grade school (yes that was a long time ago) and while I'm still getting to know my SL friends, I would still be as much of friend to them as I am my RL friends, in fact, come to think of it, my SL friends are RL friends- I just haven't met them face to face irl........I don't feel anyone is better than anyone else.

Yikes...

No comparison. My RL friends have been a living breathing hands on part of
my life for years and there is no way I would compare to the friends I've made
in SL over the past 13 months. That isn't to say they will not ultimately become
close RL friends....and I would indeed be thrilled at the idea of a RL meet up with
a couple of the friends I've made here.

But....I have since day one.... always kept it in perspective. My real life is my LIFE
and there's is nothing in cyber that could ever take the place of that. Not a single moment
that i have spent with my RL friends and family would I trade for a pixel fantasy. SL appeals to my creative side....it is like a big canvas with endless potential and that's the extent of the enjoyment I 'expect' out of it.

The friends I have made in here are no less real...or human....or important in the grand scheme of things......and I don't ever take for granted how wonderful they are. But i cannot 'live' in SL.....the sensory deprivation would ultimately kill me. I love my real life....my friends...my family... my insane cat..... my lover. Aint nothin ever gonna compare, ever.


that said...i do love you guys lol

I have very close, dear, wonderful friends in both SL and RL. There's no way I would ever 'choose' between them.

I adore my sl friends, a couple of them are helping me through a really rough time right now...but my rl friends are my everything! They are always there even if the laptop is not turned on! We have all seen each other through years of being at our goofiest... worse for wear...when in the pits of despair or when riding high.. I love them!

This does not lessen what I feel for my SL friends...as they do to mean so much to me.

The way I found to get around it is..a couple of my sl friends have become rl friends to!

In RL, I'm best considered a 'ghost' of a person. I can count the people that see me daily on a single hand. And then, they only see me for short fleeting moments each day. If it were any more than that, I would probably have to be prescribed medication that I would refuse to take because I don't trust doctors AT ALL! (>_<

SL has given me the outlet I never had; an avatar to hide behind. That is not available anywhere else I know. Facebook, Myspace, MSN, IRC.... All not options for me. I would have to be too -me- and exist in a perpetual panic state. In SL.... Actually..... As a SL kid I am out of the 'dating pool' and don't have to deal with the pressure of a potential relationship or anyone trying to figure out who "I" am. I would never be able to handle it. (=_=)

My computers have been my main connection to the world for years. So... When given the chance to say who I think are better friends between SL and RL people... SL wins. (^_^)

YAY FOR US!

>.<

I need help!!!

LOL, problem there....you're not in world.

...and at teh moment my SL is messed up Why wont the bloody thing finish logging in?!

asset servers down hon

Friends in SL? Ha!

I avoid talking to people in SL because they send me Instant Messages which just makes me want to murder them. I don't like having to murder people. It's not nice.

In SL, we chat with somebody and then we're stuck with them forever. There's no escape. I hate the demanding Instant Message mode and I hate how clingy SL can make people.

SL is an antisocial networking site. It turns the most sociable of people into hermits.

I know a couple of people in world that actually think like that to! LOL Love it!

hmmmf. damn timing....

i was enjoying trying on my new clothes too. Guess I'll find the thread then lol....

I have to agree with this,lol. It seems some people send me messages at the worst time.So now I just go invisible all the time. So people have to guess if I am there or not,hehe.

It's not that it's abrasive, it's the casual assumption that people living with disabilities have no life worth speaking of, and that living, breathing, face-to-face friendships are so rare for them.

Guess no one gave Stephen Hawking the message his life wasn't worth living...

It doesn't really surprise me that Congress would waste time with this kind of nonsense. Friends are friends to me. Some of my SL friends are closer than some of my RL friends and visa-versa.

The first definition of Friend in the dictionary is: "one attached to another by affection or esteem". That describes many people in my life, not all of whom are people I have actually met in person.

Years ago, I made a very close friend via a penpal program with injured soldiers. Would that type of friend be worth less because I never met him in person? I went to his funeral and my RL friends and family supported that decision. None of them thought it odd in the least bit and I would bet that Congress would not even think that was as odd as if I did something similar for someone that I met online.

So why the stigma with someone we've met online? Why is a distinction even necessary? Maybe it is time we started to view things a bit more openly, looking out at the entire world as a place for possible friends rather than only in our own backyard.

And I really wish Congress would at least attempt to spend their time on something that really matters.

Instant message mode is good for the new residents because it helps to form connections. But as time goes on you end up with too many connections and you eventually go nuts trying to deal with everybody.

I've upset many people because of this. Nearly all my SL "friends" who once "loved" me now resent me for no longer being available. They understandably feel rejected.

Love really does turn to hate.

SL forces you to be mean to people. If you're nice to them then they want to come play with you. So be mean to them and push them away and you'll be fine.

I don't want to push people away so I avoid them. Don't let them in and you wont have to kick them out.

All this stress because of a little Instant Message mode.

This happens in RL, too. I like to turn my phone off certain evenings, but then people leave messages and then they'll send an eMail. They then ask (on other messages) why I didn't call back. Gee, I don't know, maybe cause I didn't feel like it? Maybe I was busy?

SL isn't that different except that we tend to be much more liberal when accepting 'friendship'. I don't usually give my home number to all my acquaintances...

I don't have very many close friends in first life, I have handful here.
It just I don't get opportunity to make many friends in real life so its sort of weird question for me.
One thing though about friendships in real or second life there is good and bad in both and feelings for me are just as real.

well, thats hard to say. when it comes to friends, i'm just as selective Sl wise as i am RL wise. and well since my SL friends(some any way) have spille dover into my rl, i would have to say both. although i can tp away from my sl friends, if they get too emo.

and Batman all the way Desmond.

There's really no choice for what I would put, which is that my real-life friends and my online friends are equal to me.

Some are good friends in both instances, some are more like acquaintenances.

I will say I have more acquaintenances in SL than in RL, just because you meet so many more people in SL.

But friends are friends, period, as far as I'm concerned, especially if I've known someone a long time in SL, or even met them in real life.

Then, too, I have a lot of very good and very important friends irl who live a long way off, and I only see them once in a blue moon, but they are still just as much friends to me, and always will be.

coco

Nope. Not abrasive. Presumptive, arrogant, obnoxious and offensive, but not abrasive. Definitely out of line. Abrasive would have been welcome. This was in poor taste.

At any rate, I just have friends. I don't have RL friends, SL friends, long-distance friends, or what have you. My friends are my friends and I don't distinguish between first and second life. The only difference is that I can't physically hang out with the friends I know on SL. My best friend from High School (100's of years ago) isn't on SL, and lives in NY City, which is around 3000 miles from here. I talk to him on the phone whenever I can. I don't think less of him than I do my other friends any more than I think my brother is less important because he lives in North Carolina, much farther from me than my mom and sister.

I don't think it's so much a "stigma" with someone I've met online. I've been on the Internet a long time and met a lot of RL friends that way. And I certainly love hanging with people all over the world. Nothing "wrong" with that at all, and my life is certainly way richer for it.

But I do think there's a distinction. There are a lot of things you only find out about a person from sharing day to day life with them. Even if they eventually move and live far away, you still have that HISTORY of a lot of shared physical time. You once had it, so you really know them. All that is missing if you only know someone online. That doesn't make anybody a bad person or less of a person, it's just reality.