[Treyno]

Have you tried online gaming? No it doesn't solve the fact that you'll be sat alone still. But from past experience, personally online gaming being a huge hobby of mine I often like to meet people from other countries in-games such as counterstrike and World of Warcraft or DayZ. We speak a little through game chat (Mic, if they're enabled). If I enjoy playing with them I get them to hop on to Teamspeak or skype with my little community and go from there.

A lot of the time I meet people who don't speak English that well and explain it's not a huge problem. They often just speak about game related things and don't really go any deeper in to anything more personal. Until 2-3 months down the line and it's easy to notice how much they've come out of their shell. Throwing banter around and asking how works going or other personal things and they seem 10x more comfortable speaking in front of me and my English friends (and new people I get to join the teamspeak). It's not something you have to dedicate a lot of time to, can be very casual.

I don't usually post on here but I felt this could be very beneficial as I've seen it work countless times. I've got a lot of these people on my facebook, twitter and snapchat during the day. Even been to lans in Sweden ETC and met up with a couple.

*Edit: I'm 23, and speak to my 'online friends' 2-3 hours a night, and go out on a weekend with a different social group on the weekend. Played games since I was 11 and had 2 'serious' relationships lasting around 2 years each. - If you was interested.

[dimillian]

Hey, +1000 for online gaming. I'm an moderate introvert with some greats friends. Nowadays I play a lot a certain MMO. I met some greats & awesome people, even had some meetup IRL.

I've met people working at Apple, Blizzard & more. We shared passion & experience, it got me some business opportunity too. The world is so small it's amazing.

[leaveyou]

-10000 for online gaming. You don't know it yet but online gaming can ruin your life. It's the most accessible, inoffensive looking, procrastination enhancing, important decision delaying, time wasting, addictive habit/hobby/relaxation.

[dimillian]

Yup, I agree with you on that point. You need some amount of self control. It's easy to just play and delay everything else. You need to know when it happens. But it's still good for meeting other people.

[icebraining]

Lots of things can ruin your life, including having friends IRL. It's a reason to be mindful, not to ban it from one's life.

[leaveyou]

I'm not for banning. I'm for actively discouraging people who "have nothing to do" with their time, from seeking refuge in something which is actively designed to captivate them and consume as much of their resources as possible. There are many addictive & destructive things, but few of them are legal and actively being evolved to enslave you at the same time.

[leaveyou]

@dimillian I can't give details. I'm too afraid to associate the enormous number of hours I wasted with online gaming even with this relatively anonymous nickname.

[dimillian]

You have such a dark view on online gaming. May ask you why? I'm sure you have an experience to share, and I can't wait to hear it!

[dimillian]

@leaveyou hey, I'm really interested by this subject, I can see why you don't want to speak about it here, you can drop me a mail at ricouard77[at]gmail[dot]com I would love to speak with you.

[icebraining]

Fair enough, I agree with that.

[jaekwon]

+1

[xxs]

No, online gaming is a bad idea for the person in question. I tell that having an online maxed out toons diablo II hardcore (if you die you lose your toon), maxed out toons (gear) in Linage2, Aion and Rift.

The escapism offered by the online gaming is a no substitute for real life. You're basically asking a person with no social life to become a true no-lifer.