The Daily Grind: Do you socialize differently in-game?

I'm fairly affable irl. In-game it varies from title to title, depending on the community, whether I can find a guild that clicks etc. In pvp when someone's being an ass I'll troll them to get a rise when normally I'd turn the other cheek; so I do act pretty differently at times.

Not much differently, to be honest. Stay away from the loudmouth group and try to find a good few people I can have a lasting friendship with.

I'm very outrageous, loud, and somewhat a jerk/ass IRL, especially with the guys. But when I'm in game I tend to be a very polite and well spoken individual that loves to chit-chat and help people out.

Ah, MMOs.....

I don't act differently online than IRL, but I'm quuicker to getting to myself.

Huh?

I've found that IRL there is an awkward distance humans feel due to fear of rejection, mistrust of strangers, etc.--i.e. a general lack of control. This distance is a non-factor online due to a lack of physical proximity, the ability to simply log off when things get too much for you, the ability to simply type /ignore and never see the person again, etc.--i.e. near complete control. This factor of control makes us less/more comfortable to be ourselves.

So if I'm going to like (even love) someone IRL I find myself getting closer faster online. Conversely, if I'm going to hate someone IRL, I'll do so faster online as well.

In MMOs I'm very sociable and will often randomly talk to people if I'm bored.

Many don't answer back and that makes me sad :(

I sometimes find myself trolling a bit more than I should. Then, I realize I'm most likely mocking a 16-year-old nerd, then I'm ashamed of myself for spending my time that way. What a vicious cycle.

I usually start off pretty normal in games in regards to socializing, but then, inevitably, I meet more and more asshats who are rude, obnoxious and completely out of control and I find myself becoming quieter and much less likely to group up.

I risk showing off my sense of humor much more when online. My social network is mostly work people, and Im not comfortable to spread a bunch of jokes in a hospital.

I used to be really shy in real life but I never shut up online...
Then all of a sudden I just became really social, now I'm pretty much always social.

My RL job requires me to be outside all day in the Arizona heat and it involves a lot of contact with people. I'm in the spotlight and deal with people...both good and bad...throughout my workday.

Is it any wonder I like to solo when I get home?

I used to socialize a lot on MUDs when typing and lots of chat channels was the main UI.

I also found that on a nonstandard MMO interface like A Tale in the Desert, I was able to chat a lot more since the gameplay is slower, and based around social interaction.

But on typical MMOs where the chat window is an afterthought shoved into the bottom left corner, I tend to be very quiet. For one thing, there's very little need or reason to socialize, the dependencies are less. And MMOs tend to be more crowded than a populace of 300ish regulars where everyone recognizes each other's names, just fly-by-night strangers whom you'll rarely ever see again.

For another, it's too tedious to bring hands out of position from WASD mouselook, and you get the feeling more than half the players are not paying attention to the typed chat either and are yakking it up in their own private Ventrilo/Teamspeak servers.

I don't do mic socialization either. I'm heavily visual and prefer conversations in typed sentences. Concentrating on audio that can be blurry and emotion-laden ("Ahhh, he's on me, he's on me. *shriek*") makes me wince, not to mention, also highly immersion breaking.

Sadly, I'm just as much of a hermit in mmo's as I am in real life. I want so badly to want to group... but I still spend most of my time in game alone. I enjoy when friends are around, but I secretly hope they won't ask me to join up :o

No different at all. In RL I'm sociable but talk too much, I make friends easily but can't always be bothered to stay in touch, I'm polite and tactful but won't back down from confrontations when something needs to be said, plus I usually end up organising/leading things but only when others fail to step up (I don't enjoy responsibility, but I dislike waiting around for something to happen even more) - I'm the same online, whether using voicechat or text.

I have RL friends who can't type fast as they don't use computers in their day-to-day jobs - they seem more introverted in games without voicechat because they don't type much and accordingly they avoid leader roles. By contrast I used to know an introverted IT coordinator with confidence issues in RL, but due to the anonymity and lack of body language online he felt more able to be chatty in text chat MMOs, and being a fast touch-typist facilitated that.

So yeah I'm sure lots of people behave differently online compared to RL - I'm just not one of them.

I'm the same in both. Kinda quiet in new situations, though I'm not afraid to say hi or voice my opinion on issues. As I get to know people I'll start getting more social, starting conversations and carrying them on better. Process probably goes a little faster online though.

I'm not social in real life, in game is mirrors just about the same. If I talk to a stranger (which is rather rare because they tend to approach me) I tend to not talk much or keep somethings left unsaid. After 3 months that's when I get an idea if I find the person to be a friend or not. After that I find myself socializing with that particular person or persons. If I'm in a party (when I'm playing a job or character that requires partying with others in order to go from one level to the next.) with people I will talk and joke just a bit, even if I don't really feel comfortable doing so. Other times I just flat out solo and talk to friends only.

I designed a game called Rejection Therapy back in 2009 to encourage myself to get out of my comfort zone more. It was amazingly effective and enlightening (for as long as I did it).

If anyone wants to try it, it's here: http://rejectiontherapy.com