I want to keep playing.

I had an FC member tell me they were depressed so I sent them a link of Haiti's famous Mud Cookies. Self pity turned into self detriment, and I personally find self detriment is tolerable when combined with humor!
Kidding aside, jump to Siren and Join Rubra.
I was once in your shoes, wondering where the hell everyone was.

We're around.

Its not that you can't find friends, its that there are no ways to bind you to them and them to you.

So here's a hand offering shared experiences that will hopefully lead to some friends and a sense of community.

I think one of the most important things to learn here is one: do you enjoy the game, or do you enjoy the game because of your friends?

What I mean is, I'm one of those lone players as well who actually had a good bunch of people nearby, but for a reason or another we had an arguement and we went to our separate ways. The sad part is that the discussion was often relatively simple, often about things that didn't go right in the game, but it often ended up with them hating me because, in short words, I didn't agree with them; I recently lost another friend because of the 45 days reclaim, constantly telling her that it's not "our" fault if we want to take a long break from the game. The discussion ended up well, but we never spoke again. Do I regret having this discussion? No: it's not my fault if I think differently on things, but if being alone means having to use your own brain and having your opinions on things, then so be it.

Sure, nowadays it's hard for me to make friends and I really don't trust anyone anymore (at least in this game, while in others I'm very open), but I still enjoy the game enough to play it and subscribe.

The same discussion should be for you too OP: if you still enjoy the game, then just enjoy the game: friends are a bonus but they won't remove the joy factor from the game you're playing (and subscribing). But if you need friends to enjoy the game - WHICH IS FINE, different strokes for different folks - and you're having a hard time enjoying the game because of the lack of, perhaps it's time to reconsider things and take a step further. Most likely into the outside of the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Twilite

But I seem to be unable to make close friends. Playing this game is depressing for that reason. I can't do it anymore. Some people just are forced to be alone. And as hard as I tried to prevent it..I'm one of them..

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I'm like that as well, have a very hard time to make friends both online and offline. However, I've met a few people on Phoenix who are a great bunch, and we do a lot of things together.

I do get mood swings and have off-days, but I tend to not log on during those times, and when I do people tend to be understanding.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Twilite

But I seem to be unable to make close friends. Playing this game is depressing for that reason. I can't do it anymore. Some people just are forced to be alone. And as hard as I tried to prevent it..I'm one of them..

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Lets get Married BE ME LILL WIFEY!

Becoming close to someone takes time. A lot of time. But if you want someone to hang out with, or do content with, come look me up, and you can join our Linkshell.

What kind of friendships are you looking for?

I've found it's easy to make casual friendships - just ask cool people if you can add them to your friend's list. I have a special linkshell I made for everyone on my friend's list, since I don't answer tells.

Making deep, meaningful friendships in this game is much more difficult. I can count the number of "video game only" friends I have in the game on one hand. Two of them have been with me since FFXI days. One is our FC leader. Everyone else in the FC I either knew from other places (real world) or I'm not quite that close with yet. That could change if they stick around!

Too bad you're not on shiva. We'd take you everywhere xD (dungs and stuff). As long as you're willing to improve yourself ingame that is.

From what I've read in the "Hook up Megathread" you change server pretty often maybe thats why? Making close friends isnt something you can achieve in days/months or so it sounds more like you want a very very very close friend NOW which isnt gonna happen. I can understand that having friends to play with makes the game more fun but can't you enjoy the game alone? I wouldn't go so far and call it "internal issues" since alot of players in a MMO have something like that. Maybe you will have better luck on a small server? Just don't try to hard to get sympathy from people^

Met my girlfriend playing this game as well, we even live together now.

My advice to the OP would be to put yourself out there, in my experience many people who say they can\\'t make friends don\\'t actively try as often as they should or get discouraged too easily by not having a best friend over the course of a month. If you truly want to make close friends you\\'ll need to be introspective. Do you find yourself coming off as abrasive often? Do you tend to be empathetic to others? Are you too sensitive to criticism or casual joking? Don\\'t feel like I\\'m accusing you, just saying some introspection can go a long way to self improvement and that can help with making friends.

In my opinion it is difficult to make actual friends in this game because of the duty finder and lack of any need to group up with your server.

I've made good friends in another game but this took years (2-7+) of daily chatting and partying together. Plus the chat system in that game was different. You type to your friend list and all of them would see it, you end up meeting friends through friends, group up, and everyone is much more talkative. There wasn't a duty finder either.

It doesn't help any when some people are on console and find it a chore to chat and type back to people. (Just speaking of a particular person I know on ffxiv, not everyone who uses console...)