A PAIR of ‘best friends’ who have played video games together for four years, but never met in real life, have finally shaken hands in reality.
Bjetka Alzbeta Zmelikova, 25 from Prague and Jacob Stewart, 26 from the US but living in London, met virtually in an online game of Among Us in 2020 and instantly struck up a digital friendship.
Over the years they’ve shared hundreds of games together, meeting up online for over 1000 hours.
And now Bjetka has made the flight from Prague to visit Jacob in London.
Bjetka said: “Covid for me meant that basically everything was cancelled, and so I spent a lot of my time gaming online.
“My sister introduced me to the game Among Us, and that’s how I met Jacob – through a Discord chat specifically for the game.
“The friendship really helped me get through the isolation of lock down, a time where I really leant on online interactions for my mental health.”
Jacob said: “It was brilliant to meet Bjetka in real life and have the chance to game together, face to face.
“My fiancée and I invited Bjetka to our wedding which is next year and thought that would be the first time we’d meet in person, so the chance to have this meet up before then makes it even more special.
“We’re even going to do a mini stag do whilst she’s here in London.”
Hisense brought the two together in person at its Game At First Sight event at Aures in Waterloo to play on the newly released C2 Ultra and PX3 Pro, where gamers were together for the first time from across the globe.
They included Luke Brewton, 36 from Hailsham, and 44-year-old Edd Pearson from Hertfordshire, who have been gaming together for 15 years, speak every day while playing, but have never met in person.
Edd said: “We’ve been there for each other through the births of our children, our relationship breakdowns, all sorts of life’s ups and downs.
“It’s crazy to think we’re only now meeting each other in person for the first time.”
Robyn Bruce, 32, from East Kilbride, Scotland, and Stefica Schwarz, 26, living in Montreal, Canada also met for the first time at the event.
They consider each other best friends, although they’ve never met in person.
Stefica even helped Robyn virtually pick out an outfit for her first date with her current partner.
Hosting the event were hi-profile online gamers Mr Gibbon from Ireland (over 100k subscribers on Twitch) and Anna Demetriou from the UK (over 35k subscribers on Twitch) who know each other online but have never met in person.
Commenting on the occasion, Mr Gibbon said: “Hosting this event has been amazing as I don’t think people realise how much online gaming leads to people forming really strong friendships.
“Having online friends that you game with, for many, can really help improve mental well-being, with them providing a support network that many might struggle to find in their offline lives.”
The electronics brand also commissioned research of 600 online gamers, which found 57 per cent have friends they’ve never met in real life.
Nearly three in 10 (28 per cent) of these interact with online friends ‘multiple times a day’, despite not really knowing who they are outside the gaming world.
But nearly three quarters (73 per cent) reckon they have forged meaningful friendships with people they have only met through gaming.
As many as 48 per cent also believe the sense of community fostered through online gaming is ‘hugely important’ to them, according to the OnePoll.com figures.
With over half (54 per cent) saying the online friendships they’ve built through gaming have helped them find people with common interests.
And nearly two fifths (37 per cent) believe they’ve made them feel less lonely, while 29 per cent say they’ve helped them through a hard time.
Chris Joughin, spokesperson from Hisense, said: “The online gaming community has become an essential space for fostering connections and reducing feelings of isolation, especially in a world that’s increasingly digital.
“Through shared experiences, gamers are able to form meaningful relationships that transcend geographical boundaries.
“The projectors have both been specifically designed for use with the Xbox console, and have an impressive refresh rate that ensures fluid motion and sharp visuals for a truly immersive experience.
“With many gamers saying they find small screens a barrier to playing split screen, the large displays are perfect for multiplayer.
“Furthermore, with 26 per cent of gamers having previously been frustrated by input lag whilst playing, both products have been designed to ensure they have a fast refresh rate and smooth player motion.”
