Is everyone on your friends list really a friend?
A little while back, some kid added me as a friend on Live. Being a friendly guy (and also nowhere near the 100 person friend limit), I went ahead and accepted his friend request even though he didn’t really introduce himself. Shortly after that, he asked me if I would help him beat all the Spec Ops missions in Modern Warfare 2. I replied and said, “Not right now – maybe later.” In my head I told myself that if the kid asked me for help again, I would take him off my friends list. And what happens? Maybe 15 minutes later, he messages me again and asked if I could help him then. I removed him from my friends list and hoped to never hear from him again. Of course, he did try to add me as a friend again the following day, but I didn’t accept, and ever since then he’s been forgotten. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, but it has gotten me thinking lately about what it even means to be an online friend.
