Many times on this site I heard people claim that our group at the VG Press are not just some forummers, but a group of friends! A friend can be many different things to many different people. For some it is someone who always helps them out, for others it is a supporting ear when you talk about your problems and for some others it is the dude that pushes you to try new things!
It does not matter what your definition is, but in all cases it means people are happy to see you. In my case if someone I consider a friend visits my hometown, I would want to meet up and show him around. Why would I not? I mean we are friends right?! Someone you enjoy spending time with. So why would you not spent some time with him?!
Gamingeek has some reservations about that. What if your expectations and reality do not match up? So what?! Your expectations were wrong, Vader does not look like Wesker and Homer does not look like Homer! You will manage! Sometimes people are more awesome in real life sometimes they are better in text! So?!
Or we might unintentionally offend each other? Well that is a load of crap. Text communication is vastly inferior to communication when people are in close proximity of each other! Text communication misses stuff like body language and speech! Sometimes a joke can be taken seriously through text, while in real life the body posture and tone can give away that it was a joke. So no GG, unintentionally offending someone has a much greater chance of happening here than when we all meet up! And lets not forget that we often intentionally offend each other. I know I do!
And not getting each other in real life is a strange thing to say, seeing again texting is a inferior way of communicating! Chances are that we will get to know each other better! You will definitely learn things about each other you will not like, but you will learn things about each other you do like! With some people you get a closer connection with other people you do not, such is life!
But what could be the reason why GG does not want to meet up! There could be many! He could hate me, he could be affraid of me, he could be too shy? Whatever the reason, it does not matter. Because if you are friends you would like to meet up and me and GG are therefore not friends, we are just some people that post on the same forum.
Sequence of events:
Sounds about right.
As soon as I typed that I meant to clarify it. When you came over to Au you went to Melbourne and Sydney. For me those are like 8 hour flights away (after a 3 hour drive). Even if someone came to my state capital that is a 3 hour drive.
With enough notice I'd probably turn it into a weekend getaway and coordinate a nice weekend in the city with a fellow-forumite.