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How many times have you consoled people in MMO's?
| Yeah, during the earlier days of WoW I joined up with some rando for some light questing. He didn't seem particularily knowledgable about the game and would often take breaks to stop and look at something, like crystals or large mushrooms or other random stuff, and proclaim how cool they were.
I saw him again the following day, just sitting on the doorstep outside of a building and saying depressive things to no one in particular. Like some kinda emo kid or something.
| Because, well, that's exactly what he was. I didn't really enjoy playing with him earlier, and he kept begging me to let him join my guild despite me telling him no several times.
But we ended up talking nonetheless and he told me he was bullied in school and didn't have any friends. He never managed to make any at all, neither in life or in WoW, and WoW seemed to be the only social interaction he had and his classmates who played on the same server was bullying him here as well.
| He was also worrying about making his parents sad because he himself was sad and didn't have a life. This somehow resonated with me so I decided to cheer him up by taking him on a shopping spree with my hard earned gold I was saving up to buy a legendary mount(or whatever it was that was so expensive back then, I can't really remember. All I know is I never ended up buying whatever it was I was saving for).
So I spent all that gold on new armor and weapons for him.
| Whenever I asked him what color he wanted for his new gear he almost always said black. Black dye was super expensive back then, like 50 times more expensive than regular dye, but I gave it to him anyway and he ended up looking kinda dope all dressed up in red and black like that.
We then looked up his bullying classmates to show off and lie about him being the greatest PvP player on the server. I even had a couple of guild mates show up and participate in the lie lol.
| By the end of it his classmates were begging him to join their guild. I told him he didn't need those people and that he'd be better off starting his own guild, so we scouted around for players around his skill level until we reached the criteria for being able to start the guild.
While we never played again I had some contact with him and his father trough the ingame mail system. His father let me know he was austistic and had trouble fitting in and wouldn't talk much.
| So his parents let him play WoW hoping that he would make some online friends. After I took him on that shopping spree and helped him start his own guild he supposedly told his parents about me during dinnertime, and his father told me it was the first time since they moved that his son talked enthusiastically about something.
I was kind of a self-serving loser back then and I didn't feel like I deserved praise or gratitude for anything in my life, but his fathers thank you-note -
| - had an impact on me, and I still remember it clearly, because it was the first time in my life that I felt like someone looked up to me for who I was instead of who I claimed to be. I was a compulsive liar in my teens but I didn't lie to this kid like I lied to everyone else, and it ended up making him really happy, making his parents happy, and even made me feel happier too.
Thank you for sending me down this memory lane, OP. I haven't thought about this in a while.
| >>4e392a
Oh... That's a very sweet story, thanks for sharing.
I tried getting into MMO when I was younger but I never made any lasting relationship in any of them. At best it was just some hellos and then we were never online at the same time again.
| I had a new years party on Warframe once. we all had to console each other a little bit about being fucking loners hehe.
| wtf poggers story.
rip about that Warframe experience.
| Quite a few times, actually - most of them happened in Warframe a few years ago. Had a stranger once who was so drunk and sad he was willing to just give me all of his plat - a few thousands - so that I would play with him and listen to his ramblings. Decided to just sit with him instead.
Good times.
| Elona
| A lot, unfortunately which made me decide to start playing solo these days in the current mmo I'm playing. Whether it's internal or external drama it all got too much for me to handle so now I don't really have friends to play with. T.T kinda makes me sad when I can't really join the same kind of fun as other people since I'm carrying all those negative experiences.
| >>883356 I wish I could but even just the thought of opening up releases the flood gates of randos who can't respect boundaries. Ngl, I log in to do some crafting just now and boom had another weird experience. I would quit the game if I didn't love it so much lol
| >>883434
randos who can't respect boundaries is relatable. what MMO are you on most people are easily snubbed, i feel. sorry you had a weird experience.
I myself play FFXIV, and there are areas I have to avoid or else I know I'm at risk of getting a saucy dm. people are usually pretty good about backing off, though.
| >>3d3131 OP here, late return to the party. That's a hell of a tale, I hope that person is doing well now. It was incredibly kind of you to be a friend for them when they needed someone.
| >>5630b0 >>a1bdbf Personal space is a concept that can go out the window for some people when they're online. My go-to defense (in XIV at least, because it supports it) is to swap my language setting and respond in super-broken Japanese, in hopes that a language barrier will serve more literally for this purpose. Typically works.
| >>883543
Deeply wise... Also lmao I was getting XIV vibes off you and I'm glad I was right.
Now we can exchange discord hashes and I can teleport to you every time you're online <3 get fucked I wasn't sympathizing at all!
What was your weird crafting login experience? It's most awkward for me when I'm checking retainers before work and then someone I friended when I was v new warps to me and tries to hang out.
| >>883556 Oh, I remedy those moments by not friending people in the first place. I have a friendlist with just 6 people on it in XIV (A big upgrade from the 3 I had before HW), all but one whom I know outside the game. Even my FC barely knows who I am, so the most I get from strangers on a normal day is "I like your glam", and end it at that.
| The company I was in before had a lot of drama at the end, and I ended up having to be the venting pillow for a few of them. I prefer to keep a low profile to avoid that risk.
| >>883520 I'll stop lying when I have better interactions with ppl in game
>>883537 It's a secret lol Don't want people looking for me. I realized that discord and this game for me doesn't mix.
>>883556 I ran a dungeon to get some materials and in game money for stuff I was crafting. I get a friend invite from one of ppl in the party. Afterwards, they start hounding me to talk in voice chat...even after I said no
| Now, I'm just way too scared to even be around crowds in game because I keep thinking that they are lonely people looking for things I can't give them. Do have to shout it from the rooftop? I'm EMOTIONALLY UNAVAILABLE please, don't ask me to be your therapist and don't try to be mine. I hate being harsh but past experiences have made me bitter to interactions with other PCs
| >>453b01
Kinda based tbh. Being there for random strangers and potentially getting some amazing moments and stories like >>4e392a is sick and really sweet, but that shit can be exhausting. I don't play MMOs, but I know from Discord and online spaces in general that talking to shut-ins can be intense af sometimes, and I got my own shit to deal with.
So honestly big respect for setting boundaries and taking care of yourself.
| >>883563
Oh, I have the same friend stats! But I've had 5 external buddies and 1 purely-in-game friend since HW. I like your glam too, by the way.
>>883577
Oh, that sounds uncomfortable as h*ck. Gl w ur crafting!
Would ppl drop some avatar info and how frequently they get approached for therapy (not ERP)? I play a basic pasty-faced human male in ffxiv for ~5-6 hours a week and at least once a month someone will /tell me and start opening up abt their life.
| >>883586 In WoW, I had two characters. A male Tauren druid, and a female nelf druid. The nelf definitely had a higher ratio of unexpected conversation topics.
In XIV, I played a male catboy, then upgraded to the buff and furry model. Always with a plain brown Survival Shirt, baggy black pants, and some reading glasses. Ratio there is pretty consistent regardless, plain cat people must seem kind.
| >>883584 Yeah, it's something that I'm learning to get better at tbh I'm not the best with setting boundaries and I'm working on it but I'm glad that I'm in a better space where I understand that I don't have to sit there and be uncomfortable in conversations all the time.
| >>883586 lol no avatar info but I used to play a female character and it was intense then. I wouldn't say it happens everyday but I would say out of 10 people that look at me and say to themselves "let's be friends" 8 of them would later drag me into their emotional baggage. Sometimes right away with some heavy red flags that I should have paid attention to.
| >>883597
Hey, thanks. I appreciate the details. Did your nelf frequently have to play therapist, or were those other conversation topics in a different vein? I feel like I and my friends who play masc-presenting characters in XIV get a lot more unload attempts than our femme pals.
>>883598
I'm glad you're in a better space too! You go, g/u/rl.
>>883600
Oof ouch it turns out female emotional labor is still a thing. Rip.
| One time i helped a 13 year old kid.
I don't remember perfectly but it was about how his big brother would force him to fight on the roof of their place for "training purposes".
Also it was fucked up how his bro worked for a porn puppet company and laid all the porn puppets around the place.
| wtf omg
| oh lol talking about bros
not really mmo related but a friend of mine at work had a problem like this one.
David, my friend, had a brother he never knew existed coming at work, insulting him over his jeans, and claiming he deserved to be the big boss of the company
| 0
| This is a lovely thread, I was 14 playing ff11 and made a good friend on there. Found out later they were pretending to be a chick or was roleplaying it (I dunno).
They clearly enjoyed it and we had some nice conversations. At the time I was a lil bullied neet and those small moments of genuine engagement and reciprocation made it so that I didn't completely shut off ppl later in life.
Shout out to Sasha, you a bad bitch even though you were probably a 40 yr old white dude<3
| >guy mistook me for a girl and would always talk about how I was the only girl who didn't laugh at his interests or insult him
Sorry Dave, I wasn't a girl like that either...
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| One of my early memories in online gaming (I was no older than 12), was listening to and reassuring a guildmate going through a divorce and move. I was too young to understand enough to be a proper help, but I had a good enough vocabulary and listening skills to just be there and help them vent and move forward. I've had similar experiences over the years since.
Have you g/u/rls ever found your shoulder to be the one to cry on for near strangers online? And how old were you?