Long Live Play PSN Community Spotlight

Welcome to this week’s Long Live Play PSN Community Spotlight! We plumb the depths of the PlayStation Community Forums to find the most interesting stories from PlayStation users. You too can get in on the action by heading over to the Forums and posting your story; If your post is selected, you’ll be getting a $50 PlayStation Store voucher code.

Remember to read the posting best practices for more info.

This week’s spotlight is from PSN member xLe3Fx, who shares how playing online games expanded his real-life friend list. Check out his story below, and share your thoughts in the comments!

Friends on PSN
Fat Princess was my vice for the better portion of a year, it was literally all I played and all I thought about. At the time, I was in highschool and going through a pretty rough and highly stressful patch. I felt like I had almost no friends, and girls weren’t particularly interested in me either. This lead to a lot of depression on my end, which in turn made it really hard to focus on anything. But a few weeks into my FP obsession I decided to get a headset so that I could better cooperate with my teammates at any given time in hopes of maybe winning a bit more often, but as it turns out, people thought that I was actually a pretty funny guy and enjoyed my company so they began adding me to their PSN friends lists.

To be honest I thought nothing of it at first, but then one night I was up playing at around 2am and hoping to come across a decent match. I chose the quick match preset and got tossed into a capture the princess game that was almost full. That’s when I met a guy who would later end up being one of my closet friends. We’ve played pretty much everything together ever since.

That experience reminded me that there were people in the world outside of highschool and that things won’t always stay bad, thusly helping me out of my depression. Even better still, last year, while playing a few games of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, I met a group of 3 guys who were so much like me we’ve basically become best friends! We hangout for hours on end every day, watch movies together, and even help one another out with the daily struggles of life. They’re honestly some of my best friends and I would’ve never met them without my PlayStation 3.

Experiences like these constantly cause me to question whether or not there really is a legitimate separation between the connections we make with people via the Internet and the ones we make in real life. I’d go as far as to argue that the bonds I’ve formed with these individuals are just as real and valid as any I’ve formed with people in a workplace, or a school. For me, distance has nothing to do with friendship. What’s more important is the connection you share with those you consider friends (even if that connection is aided with PSN). They’ve been there for me through thick and thin, and I know that I can pretty much always count on them, and that’s not something I can say about most people I know.

Playing a PS3 and interacting with others through PSN has vastly enriched my life, and broadened my horizons past what many associate with the conventions of modern gaming. Even today, my PS3 serves as a way for me to not only stay entertained, but connected on a broader spectrum; whether that be through playing a game with my girlfriend, or chatting with best friends. This console has become a very large part of my life, and I hope that PlayStation will continue to remain a large part of my life for as long as possible.

So what are your thoughts on xLe3Fx ‘s story? Have you found new comraderie and friendships through playing online? Share your thoughts in the comments on this story, and please keep comments central to this post. Congrats to xLe3Fx, who is now the recipient of a $50 voucher redeemable in the PlayStation Store! Send in your stories here, and feel free to read xLe3Fx ‘s original post right here.