While I got along with everyone as a child, it was difficult for me to make lasting friendships. I knew everyone in my grade, and they knew me. I never had any serious bad blood or bullying. I drifted listlessly in a sort of friendship limbo. Neither stranger nor best friend to any of my peers.

Online friendships seem to come about a little easier, as is the case for many people these days. Maybe it's the reduced communication channels. The I/O of dealing with text or voice only isn't likely to overwhelm. In-person friendships are an ordeal all their own. I like them, too, but they have their own challenges.

I played a lot of World of Warcraft as a child, and a teen, and even now as a fully grown baby. Today is the release of the next of WoW's many expansions. With it, a tradition is observed: the gathering of friends in my state. Some from far away, some local. We've traversed digital worlds for 15 years now. Despite each of us sprouting more greys and growing busier and busier... that feeling of friendship has never withered.