I met Richie on the internet almost 10 years ago, which was back when it was still taboo to talk to strangers online. He’s now one of a few people I met online first and then in “real” life later on. We played games together throughout the years and kept in touch through instant messenger. Both of us started heavily playing League of Legends around 2011.
League of Legends is the most popular eSport in the world; professional players get paid to play the game and compete in tournaments against each other. There is a world championship at the end of the year where all the best teams come to compete against each other, sort of like the World Cup but for a video game.
Last year the World Championship was hosted in Los Angeles, which just so happens to be where Richie lives. Cody and I took a trip out to see him, which was the first time Richie and I ever met in person after being online friends for almost 10 years. Here’s a photo of us at the World Championship in 2013:
Richie came to visit us for a few days in Austin in August 2014. We picked up right where we left off the last time we saw each other. Since we all enjoy playing video games we went to a local arcade here in Austin called Pinballz. Like the name suggests they have a ton of new and old pinball machines to play, as well as other games like Street Fighter. Rich and I played a few games and then a stranger wanted to hop in and play. Rich is way better than I am so I stood back and watched as he beat three different people in a row.
It still kind of blows my mind that our friendship has endured over both time and distance thanks to the internet. I’m happy to call him a friend and I look forward to his next visit.
