In a relational entry to my last post, playing Gauntlet and Dead or Alive 4 last night, I made 4 new friends (2 being far apart geographically from each other and me, though maybe not so much, culturally, 2 very close to me geographically) on Xbox Live.
One from Mexico (this just being one small piece of info gleaned from his Gamercard). He didn't talk much (or at all) when playing and I wasn't sure if he had his mic on and could hear me, but after playing, I got a friend request and through a few voice messages between himself and I, I got to know him (just slightly) better. After, Gauntlet, we played some Smash TV, but he got disconnected. I'm looking forward to finishing the whole game online soon.
Another of my new friends I made last night, while playing Gauntlet, made an impression on me with his sense of humour and him stating that he had played Gauntlet when he was younger. I'd never played Gauntlet until downloading it in the Xbox 360 Live Arcade and was about to write off the game, but after playing online with some fun people, I've started to see a little of the appeal of it.
During the game, there was some unexplainable lag and the three of us made it through without much complaining and just enjoyed our game. Afterwards, I reviewed my recent players list and sent him a friend invite and noticed he resides in Canada (specifically British Columbia) and added a voice message in the invite stating that I had the pleasure of visting there about 2 years ago. He initiated a private chat soon after granting my request (on the Xbox 360, you can chat in up to 4 seperate "private chat" channels, though only 1 at a time, but you can being doing completely unrelated tasks while chatting).
For the next couple of hours (and probably longer than we should have), we chatted about miscellaneous topics and exchanged IM addresses (upon his request). I don't know if it was just me being tired, or my tendency to sometimes be unguarded online (though anyone who knows me personally knows that I am completely opposite in person), but our chat extended beyond just small talk and I directed him to my blog here. I felt a little vulnerable being that I was being this open to a complete stranger whom I had never known before that night and had never seen in person, but I think we got along pretty well and look forward to more gaming sessions with him.
Earlier in the night, also in Gauntlet, one of the persons I was gaming with and I started conversing about ourselves and it came up that he lived in Cincinnati which is very close to where I am. After a bit, he had to leave but not before sending me a friend request.
Even before the Gauntlet and SmashTV, I was hosting some Dead or Alive matches and one of the players I was fighting with (and having a good time losing to) asked where I happened to live and I mentioned Ohio. He then revealed that he lived in Middletown and I asked him if he'd heard of Huber Heights. It was pretty funny on that we lived so close, but what made it fun to play with him was his sense of humor and fighting skill despite the major lag preventing a "real" display of our abilites.
I had a lot of fun just in one night on Xbox Live and it makes me wonder why I sometimes shy away from playing online. I already have quite a large friends list, so I usually just play by myself unless I get an game invite, though with the improvements made to Xbox Live (in particular the "Zones"), it makes finding compatible people even easier.
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