Five young people have gathered at the bedside of their terminally ill friend. The special thing about it is: The guys met and befriended each other online while playing video games. They had never met in person before.
Who are the guys in the picture? The photo shows David Miller and his friends, who met five years ago while playing online games. Since then, they have always been together in the latest MMOs, and even when they weren’t gaming, they kept in close contact with each other.
Gaming has united the guys as good friends. When they learned that one of them, Joe, was diagnosed with a terminal illness, they decided to support him in this difficult time. This was no easy task, as the six friends don’t even live in the same countries.
“We knew we had to do it”: According to David, the gamer friends had always dreamed of meeting in person sooner or later. The first meeting went smoothly without problems or awkward situations. “We just hung out normally, like we had a thousand times before,” David said. “It was very important to all of us, especially Joe. There were also tears.”
In the accompanying Reddit thread, many other gamers shared their own stories about years of online friendships. Many have gone through hard times such as divorces or the deaths of relatives and have always received support from their gamer friends.
The thread on Reddit has now received over 150,000 upvotes. Sites from all over the world are reporting on the online friends and their first meeting at the bedside.
Gaming can also connect: Even though you often read a lot of negativity and aggression in gamer communities, there are also positive examples. The story of David, Joe, and their friends is just one of many. Gamers regularly organize streams or other gaming-related events that raise a lot of money for good causes. And developers are also happy to participate in such events or host their own.
Another touching story about gamer friendships occurred in Destiny:
Destiny: Lighthouse – Friends grant terminally ill player’s wish
