How To Make Friends Through Videogames

[Apollo]

Mildly stupid question, but still.

I can tell most people here are mid 20s - mid 40s, so I'm assuming atleast some of you play with people online and make friends with them. One problem for me. I'm 13. I never played MW2 or Halo 3 on 360, I was still in K5. So I'm used to joining randos in a game and then dying and leaving and that gets tiring, so essentially I'm wondering how you can make friends online after the death of the In-Game Lobby.

 

[jpishgar]

Discord tends to make great out-of-game chat, particularly when it's associated with a given server. It can be quite useful as a gathering point, and for live chat during missions. I had a lot of great experience recently on a custom server for Conan Exiles with it's own Discord, and highly recommend it.

I will say, though, that forums (even like this one) also can go a long way towards forming relationships with fellow gamers over the years. Stick around these parts as I'm sure there's fast friends to be had here.

 

[Pifanjr]

I would guess the most likely place to make friends through video games is in MMO's. I've never done it myself, but I have friends who made friends that way. I have however made friends through a forum, so like jpishgar said, it might be worth it to stick around here.

 

[Zoid]

@jpishgar has a great point with Discord. Being part of a Discord server for a specific game can be a great way to keep the "lobby" experience going after an in-game lobby dissolves. There are great communities out there for loads of games, and that can allow you to start to form friendships with people before even getting into a game lobby.

Things like Discord and Twitch actually make it easier to make friends online nowadays than it was back in MW2 or Halo 3. Joining randos and then having the lobby disappear is exactly what happened in those games, but there weren't as many avenues for interaction outside of the game lobby.

If you enjoyed playing with someone in a match, see if they'd like to join your party and go into matchmaking together for a few rounds. A couple of folks who remain on my friends list today were simply people that I met in random lobbies. There are people out there who are looking to make friends with you just as much as you are looking to make friends with them.

What games do you like to play, @Apollo? Maybe there are some people right here on the forums that enjoy the same stuff.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

I guess it also partially depends on the games you play. I never made any kind of connection while playing Dota 2 for example.

In Fear multiplayer and then Bad Company 2 I was often meeting people from one particular clan, they happened to be from same country and asked me to join them. Being in a clan surely allows to get to know other players better and I still have contact with some of them. In StarCraft 2 I sometimes would ask my opponent for advice after game or get asked myself and sometimes it does lead to practicing and talking about stuff.

Discord's communities are now certainly a way to go. Personally I would recommend smaller, more focused ones than big servers with hundreds or thousands of people.

 

[Inspireless Llama]

I guess it also partially depends on the games you play. I never made any kind of connection while playing Dota 2 for example.

In Fear multiplayer and then Bad Company 2 I was often meeting people from one particular clan, they happened to be from same country and asked me to join them. Being in a clan surely allows to get to know other players better and I still have contact with some of them. In StarCraft 2 I sometimes would ask my opponent for advice after game or get asked myself and sometimes it does lead to practicing and talking about stuff.

Discord's communities are now certainly a way to go. Personally I would recommend smaller, more focused ones than big servers with hundreds or thousands of people.

Almost every online friend I have was made in Dota2 actually. I don't have anyone from IRL playing it. But it kinda goes with failure and retrying. Find some rando in a game you like in that game, add him as a friend, if he (or she) accepts, play another game. If it keeps fun eventually you may become friends. That's how I met my first few friends. Then via them I started meeting more and more people and now I play with a stack that are not at all related to the first few friends I made.

Point being, if you play a game and you like someone in it, just add him / her because you might never run into them again. Then play another (few) games and see if they're still fun. And if they don't, don't play with them anymore, you'll meet someone else.

Besides Discord communities can be fun, but from all Discords that I'm in and that are not owned by friends, I made few friends. Some people I like for sure but I don't really play with any of them. Also, if you want to join a smaller community you need to know which one exactly. "PC Gamer" for example would be pretty general, but would you join a Dota2 Discord, there are alot of them and I'm sure far from all of them are nice.