Friendships..

[Black Angel]

Which do you think is better? Why?

[+ saphirekitty]

It all depends to me, a when u say 'real' friendship. U mean a friendship in 'real'life. Not 'real' as in 'true' friendship. Sometimes your friends in real life, or even the ones online can be back stabbers and liars. You gotta watch who your friends are and try to see what they do and how they act towards u and other people. But if they're both equally nice and trust worthy, then i'd probably say RL friends, cause there's a better chance of them helping you when your in trouble at home or school than your OL friends.

[Black Angel]

I'd say that both have their benefits and pitfalls..

Pros: Online, people get to know you for your personality.. and most cases they don't judge, or pre-judge you.. You don't have to worry about someone befriending you because you have something that they want.. et cetera... et cetera... so in some ways, an online friendship has the same potential, as an offline friendship. At the very least, if they turned out to be a jerk, it is a lot easier to cut them out of your life, and your recovery rate might be just as fast.

Cons: You aren't face to face with them and so, you cannot get a read of their personality. You are left with having to assume that what they are telling you is the truth. People can be jerks, and lie to you about who they really are, and end up betraying you.. (but then again, so can the people you meet in the street.) Availability is somewhat of an issue here.. because let's say that you are having a rough day, and you really need to talk to someone.. your ability to do so would depend on whether or not they are logged on.. or if you want to go out and have a drink you can't as they are online..

Offline Pros: With an offline friendship, you can pretty much talk to them, and have some sort of contact with them.. They are always a phone call away. You can also do things together, which strengthens the bond between you. Because they are face to face with you, you can get a good read of their personality, and see if your personalities match up.. you'd also be able to tell whether or not they are being real with you. If you had a rough day, then you can always call them up, or go out, have a few drinks, or spend some time with them..

Cons: People can be jerks, and lie to you about who they really are, and end up betraying you.. and if they end up doing so, then it would hurt a lot more than it would if it were an online friendship.. and as such, your recovery rate may take some time. You'd also have to worry about whether or not they are befriending you because they like you, or because they want something from you. Because they are in person, and well, human, you may be subject to their judgement.. and in an effort to avoid that, you'd be willing to hide certain things from them..

Bottomline, they both have their benefits and pitfalls, but for the most part, they can supplement each other.. after all you can never have too many friends right?

That said, I chose other.

[ffdarkside]

I'm going with both

freind in real live r good t ohav like play baseball or football
but they can steal money for you

freind online u hav someone to talk to
but they can hack your account

so it hard to said so im with both

my best freind is in real life

[BlackRyuX]

I can't decide...
They both have their ups and downs

[+ Soul_Gatherer3000]

True, they both have their ups and downs but I've never had an online friend who loaned me money, and for that I go with RL friends, 'cause I's broke.

[Link]

Hm...Real, I'm more into real friends. I mean I have a best friend that comes over to my house whenever we think about having a day of us playing video games. We've been best friends for quite sometime, and even though we don't talk as much as we use to I feel a strong connection with him.

[+ SethWhiteFox]

Nine times out of ten Real is better.

Its much too easy to make and break relationships online, offline you have to work at it.

[Funk Master P]

Real all the way. Umm maybe because..you can do more than just talk!

Nothing's wrong with talking but theres no reasons to limit yourself to just talking when there are plenty of other things to do, too.

[Black Angel]

The same can be said for online friendships, FMP.. it's just a bit riskier.

[VirusZero]

Like stated there are advantages to both... So for me I prefer a healthy balance. Chat online, post on forums, play RPs or make flash/sprites, basically stuff that my real life friends wouldn't be as interested in...
While my real life friends to do stuff that online friends can't do (well atleast not as easily...)

Though it would be pretty cool to meet someday and hang out.

[+ Mystic]

Reals the only one you can trust. And they can help you with stuff easily, they'll be there for your birthdays, when you're in tears ect... If you need something you can count on them to do it.

Online ones aren't real... you don't know the person and you don't know if you can trust them. Some of them are easier to get on with and if they do something you don't like you can block them, where as in real life you'd have to move awayt o do that. But I'd never value any online firend over my real friends. But i guess every relationship is different.

There's some of my friends in my old town that i'd trust my life with even though i haven't seen them properly for about 5 years. I made the friendship group and I'm still part of it. There's about 10 of us all mates and just muck about when we meet and go to the woods and play hide and seek ext.

Could you ever do that with mates online? No... Would you want to? Probably not...

[Black Angel]

I think that if 2 online friends live in the same area, then anything is possible.. I believe that online friendships have about as much potential, as offline friendships.

There are people who are not able to go outside, for either personal reasons, or medical reasons, and cannot form offline friendships due to other people not understanding what they are going thru, or just being complete assholes to them.

There are a lot of older people who felt, and dealt with depression due to lonliness, but did not feel as lonely online, and felt better knowing that they had someone to talk to, or could talk to family at any time even though they were far away.

On the off chance that you do actually meet your online friend offline, I think that it has the same, if not more potential for a closer friendship, than if you had met that person offline.

[+ Mystic]

Some people act completely different on online games than real life. So someone you meet on the game that is nice might be horrid to you offline. I'm not trying to say that online friends are bad, I'm just saying that real friends are better, for the normal population anyway. I have quite alot of online friendships, and i'm sure many of you lot do, but if you actually had to pick between your real friends and your online friends, you'd have to be an asshole to go with your online friends.

[Black Angel]

Not all online friendships are the result of games.. there is a lot more to the net than games. None are any better than the other in that they both have their good and bad points. I agree with you that people act differently online than they do offline, but by the same token, people act differently when they are in your face than they do behind your back.

Online friends can destroy your computer by sending you a malicious file.

Offline friends can fuck your girl/boyfriend.

Online friends know you by your personality, that is if you weren't an asshole in the first place.

Offline friends are accessible.

Online friends have a better chance at liking you for you because the only thing they can see is your personality. Social class and monetary wealth have no bearing.

With offline friends, there is always a chance that they may like you for what you have and what you can do for them.

Both have their benefits and pitfalls, and so, that is why I say that neither is better than the other. Like VZ, I think that it'd actually be good to supplement between the two.