You eagerly accept the Skype call, hastily placing your snacks next to you. You immediately plug in the headset, a smile settling on your face as you are now surrounded by familiar voices. You each log on to the game of the night, laughing and talking about their day. The game begins with that smile, you each select who you want to play, determine the game plan and bicker within the process. The beauty of that? That smile rarely fades.

They simply know more about you then yourself.

No matter which game, Mulit-player Online Battle Arena (MOBA) or a Multiplayer Online RolePlaying Game (MORPG) you choose, no matter which console, Xbox, Playstation, PC. You are faced with the opportunity to choose a character. This character, may be completely opposite from your everyday personality—but you’ve chosen that character for a reason.

You could choose a tank, a mage, an assassin. A tank, builds massive amounts of health and doesn’t mind getting bounced around in a fight a few times. The mage, prefers range the ability to do damage without running up close, leaving room for an escape. Assassins, they go in regardless of the amount of health or guaranteed escape to deal damage and hopefully get the kill.

You can also choose between numerous roles, for example: support and high damage. A support role, the “mother” of the team coming to each members aid, providing them help through various battles or missions. A heavy damage role the “reckless son/daughter” of the relationship, they are the ones that run out into danger and rely on the support for backup. There’s a little bit of you, captured inside that character. There’s also your unique twist on how to play them. The games you choose, the characters you select all imply a bit about your personality.

They’ll see you at your unbelievably worst and still be around.

They’ll see you when you are overly cocky about the game (even if you have ABSOLUTELY no reason to be). They’ll listen to you become unbelievably salty. Did you die more than once? Did you mess up a perfect combination? Lose? They have no choice but to listen, stuck in a Discord or Skype call listening to you. They’ll ask you to come play games, ask about real life while you start up the game. You’ll talk about family, work, school. They’ll be there to listen about your best and worst days of the week. Most importantly, they’ll be exposed to your numerous stages of sleep deprivation.

They’ll hear you yawn constantly, talk about a necessary need for caffeine. They’ll notice your playstyle differing, slowing as your eyelids droop and you fail to talk as frequently as before. They’ll notice the giggles constantly coming from you, even if they hadn’t said anything funny in the previous ten minutes.

If you sacrifice yourself in a game to save them, you are basically family.

You’ve given up your personal stacks, possibly your rank in the game, to protect their positive score. You have given up everything that you could have achieved alone, everything that would put you ahead to make sure they can stay on top of the game.

Then again, many friends may just say, “Nope, you’re dead!” and turn the other way.

Thanks to Twitch, you don’t even have to be playing the game to make friends.

This streaming site allows for one to sit and converse with others who play the game around the world.

I have a lot of people I’ve become extremely grateful for, through this “gaming process”. We talk about everything from games to real life. We watch one another on twitch, plan vacations, and are there for one another. I truly couldn’t imagine living without them now that they are in my life and have been for so long, I wrote this for you. I appreciate, each and every one of you. Even if, we’ve never met face to face.