Has anybody actually made friends through FFXIV?

I had friends before.
I asked them to join me so we could play FFXIV together.
But they were so bad...
So I lost those friends.
Now I'm friendless. Thanks a lot FFXIV.
Can I have a friendship refund please?

Yes, and it has been my preferred way of making friends. As an avid gamer and mmo player, this allows me to communicate with people who already have similar interests with me, like FFXIV. I do have friends outside the game, but our interests are nowhere close to lining up. It makes conversations with them very difficult most of the time while feeling awkward and forced. I don't have to feel that way with most of the people I interact with here because we all already have a common ground to build on here.

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I'm glad I was able to get some very nice perspectives on the topic.

I don't have any friends (both in game & in real life), just associates that I have varying degrees of trust.

People are people, no matter how or where you meet them. If you're finding it hard to make friends, it's probably because you're doing something to keep people away. People are as close as you decide to keep them, in this world or any other.

My closest friends I have made through XIV, ones that I spend my time in and out of the game almost on a daily with. What surprises me sometimes, is I never expected things to be that way at all, but they were there for me in some of my darkest times and for that I will always appreciate them.

I tend to meet and make lots of friends, a lot of them I can call more than just acquaintances but... since moving games or just real life happens, in the long run people kind of dissapear.

I find a lot of friendships to be strictly for the current game being played and due to the server I play on, meeting people from my own region never happens
That being said I do have really nice friends at the moment and I do cherish them ^^

I did for a certain fc. But their friends didnt like me and drama occured cuse "i created it" and got kicked from the fc.
Sooooooo yeh

No. I'm not even trying to. I'm not into raids so duty finder works just fine for the stuff I wand to do. I'm not even member in an fc because I can do everything myself or using duty finder.

I just saw this today.

I have made alot of long lasting friendships, not just through FFXIV but other games as well. I have people I've known for 7+ years and are the best of friends. Even met a couple irl!

My current FC has become my family.

So it's definitely possible to do esp if you spend alot of time together online. But I can understand wanting to keep distance as well :3