If You Can't Take Them to a Bar

Can they be considered friends?

This question arises with games such as World of Warcraft where one may spend a few hours a day in a group or a guild with other people across the globe. Being an officer in one guild, I have "met" some of the people whom I play with. From the way they talk and what they say, I can get an idea of who they are, what their personality is and what they are like.

But the problem is the veil of the computer screen. I still don't know them in real life, I don't know what they look like, and I have no way to tell if they are lying. There is definitely something missing from an on-line "friendship." Although we play together and talk about stuff, even though we have Teamspeak (a voice chat program), there is a lack of the human effect. There is another person on the otherside, but you only know what he choses to reveal to you. You cannot see who he is.

So I'm gonna have to say, if you can't take them to a bar, then no, they cannot be friends.

"Mongo only pawn in game of life" -Blazing Saddles

J Kuhl Signing Off