Meeting people from the internet in real life

Has always been fascinating to me. We are in a time where we are connected to and have access to more people than ever. I grew up with playing MMOs (Club penguin, Gaia online, Meez, IMVU), etc). You meet people online with your cute little avatars in virtual worlds and if you like them enough, end up adding them to your IM list outside the games (Metaverse is simply just trying to make this concept more immersive). From there the world is your oyster. As a kid I obviously couldn’t easily meet up with them in real life but those who I’m still in touch with I have and still plan to meet them some day.

I’ve went onto experiment on other forums and modern online social apps. The adrenaline when meeting them for the first time off-screen… putting a real life person to their persona over text... very insightful into people if you haven’t tried yet. The only thing I’ve been catfished about is this one guy’s height by a few inches. Otherwise I’m pretty good at weeding out people digitally. Before that I had online childhood catfish friends come out to me as their real selves years later and it only made us closer to this day. The real them are way more amazing than who they were pretending. One of them even turned out to be pursuing a singing career (and even wrote songs about me at some point 😳)!

Growing up as a heavy introvert, a lot of my social life revolved around internet friends. After I got married (I also thought I’d meet my spouse over the internet but nah), I started focusing more on interacting with people within my real life. Options definitely feel more limited than from online as it’s easier to write off incompatible people through how they express themselves via text. A lot of people feel more comfortable being themselves behind a screen than in real life. That’s actually given me a lot of insight on how to interact with people in real life. Humans are overall pretty simple to deal with as long as they don’t have malicious intentions towards you. But it does require way more effort to maintain relationships in real life.

Anyone have any interesting stories from meeting up with people from online?

DXP meet up

Posted by KimboSlice

DXP meet up

Lol I’d show up depending on the sign up (◕ᴗ◕✿)

Posted by peachy06

I've met 1 person through internet and that was a female penpal, she was super cool and we got along very well.

Meeting people online isn't really my thing though. I generally prefer meeting someone outside because I like to feel their aura/energy. I can tell right away whether we'd get along or not. It's more secure.

I still have a few internet penpals left in my life and I adore them so much! I’ve still yet to meet them. I’ve never been able to come across as amazing people in my real life.

Real life is definitely more secure and ideal if you’re exposed to different groups of people often which I’m not. It’s harder too cause it seems a lot of adults are severely walled up. So you have to work on getting through that or something….

Nope never. And if I see some dxp members in real life like walking past me I'll keep walking as if I don't know them or pretend I didn't see them.

i've dated people i've met through games. maybe it's coz i feel like we share something and it's very hard for me to approach anyone without reason/pretext. feels so much more comfortable this way 😌😌 there's only maybe 2x when i've really gone out of my way to ask someone: "hey, you wanna play *insert game* with me?" both times i've found them very attractive. these are my bold moments.

co-op games always ❤ which is why i tend to avoid them when i'm in a relationship.

I met people from the Net more than once. Most people I met told me that I was a bit different online and offline. It is so strange even for me. Meanwhile, I see that I have my own issues with the Internet space, e.g. I never post selfies or photos with me, I do not know why.

I spent a lot of time chatting online too growing up. I met someone online who was to be a senior when I was to be a freshman. I can’t remember how long we chatted before realizing we were going to the same Catholic youth convention!! I remember seeing him there and just knowing it was him and thinking, I HAVE to talk to him. I think I had a friend go talk to him first or something. He ended up giving me some of my best memories growing up! We stayed connected until I was probably 21 and then lost contact. We’ve only now regained contact and it’s really nice to. I just wish we chatted like we used to growing up, but he has a girlfriend so I understand. It was very easy to start talking again. Sometimes it’s just like that.

Posted by Plague

My situation isn't that interesting but I met my boyfriend in a Discord group for an Animal game we both play. He thought I was a guy because of my name and picture. Started out talking as friends, then he swooped in, said he could only do the online relationship thing for only so long. Understandable

Talked about me visiting, next thing I know he sent me money to get an expedited passport. Then he bought me a plane ticket to Ireland.

I said fuck it. My intuition told me if I don't go I'll miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime. He could be a cannibal, he could sell me, could do whatever. Best fuck it I've ever had. He's just how he is online but better. My being melted away for 5 years with one person. A year and a half each with 2 other people. So I was really riding the fuckit train.

I say if your intuition says do it, do it.

Also met a Cancer chick on a Sims forum for Sim dogs years back. She ended up living around the block from me. She was over the top. Fun while it lasted but just like her dog, she bit me in the ass.

That’s a really great story of how you met too! Love it!!

Chat with too many, met 0 in real life. Some stuff and people are meant to stay online only.

I've met a few Dxpers, Just met a different one last summer.

All goes well and they seem super familiar because you chat so much online with the person. Nice friendly vibes all around.

I like it cause it brings a face to a screen name.

I think I would be more nervous/ scared to meet someone I flirt with or confess my undying love to, and that's only 1 person here and it won't happen anyways, so I'm not worried about it. 🙂

There are Dxpers here that I would love to meet, if the chance was available, or if I crossed through the city that they lived in.

There just has to be a built up familiarity. I wouldn't randomly meet some online redditor that I had 1 conversation with.

I've met ppl IRL from the internet. 80% of the time, they have been great people, and I still actually have friendships with them. The other 20% :

-they've misrepresented who they were (personality wise),

-are "out there",

-or they're simply 'not there' altogether.

Before I've met these ppl, I've made sure I've seen them on cam and spoken to them to get a feel of what they're about.

I have never met anyone in real life from online life.

I don’t oppose it but not super open to it either. I think it would be weird.