>>49049118"friends" online is a pretty abstract term. are people you've known on steam for years friends? kinda maybe. but are they the same caliber of closeness as people you know IRL? usually no, unless you actually meet them IRL some day. that's obvious.
yet we still live in an age where lots of people have tons of online "friends" on discord, social media etc. is it that hard to stretch it that a streamer you hang with and talk with collectively is also in a way a kind of friend? I don't think it's that far a stretch. and no of fucking course it's not the same thing as IRL friends. but still to give an objective "no we're not friends" also leaves no room to wiggle for the weird-online-y interpretation of the term. that, is the slip-up.
