is having RL doll friends important to you?

Having RL doll friends and finding more isn't really important to me. However, I do think it's nice. I like to be able to visit a friend, make some clothes, drink some tea and talk dollie stuff. This is simply because those people like dolls too, they understand what I like about them, they'll admire them and listen to me yap about them (et vice versa). My doll friends are people who were "regular" friends first, and then later we found this common interest. Actually, one friend sparked my interest in these dolls and another one's interest in dolls was sparked by me
My "regular" friends all know about my dolls. I have showed them my dolls, and told them a bit about them. Some then are interested in seeing or hearing more, whatever the reason may be, ands some aren't.
I'll admit that I wouldn't mind making more doll friends, but I'm not actively trying to find doll owners in my area. If I do meet someone, I need to have more in common then just the dolls I do hang around on a dutch BJD forum too, but I haven't been to a meeting or something yet. First and foremost because of time and money issues, but also because I don't really like getting put into an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. House-meets aren't my thing, unless I already know the person. I wouldn't mind going to a meeting in a public place or something though, especially if I have something to fall back on, should I not like it.

tl;dr, I don't think making new doll friends is very important, but it is fun, however I am shy xD

 

I have a couple people who like them. My best friend got into BJDs shortly after I did, and thus our BJD journey began ^-^ So she was the first friend I have that likes BJD. Then a short time ago I found out that my cousin in fact has 3 BJDs! Which it totally awesome if you ask me! and then just recently as in today, a friend on Facebook saw my post with a picture of my BJD and I found out she is a fan of BJDs too!!!

Fans in mysterious places, I say.

 

Interesting question. I'm kinda ambivalent about the doll community. My hobbies have always been solitary affairs, partly because I'm into niche and "non-mainstream" interests, I'm quite a reserved person, and leisure time is my "me-time". I've always been happy to play by myself and don't see any reason to share my hobbies with anyone. So now living in a place with a thriving BJD scene is a first hobby community I've been exposed to. I actually find it awkward socializing in a purely hobby setting -- not because of anyone, all the meet-ups are filled with wonderful people! But it's awkward because I feel a perceived pressure of having to talk purely about dolls, and not much else, with not a lot of other connection, and being an introvert, this causes me to clam up. Again, it's all perceived. Really, the meet-ups have been totally chill and accommodating to this strange girl who smiles but doesn't say much, just walks around looking and photographing all the dolls.

My social awkwardness aside, I like having a doll community, for sure - it's great to be around such different people with a common interest. But I think making friends goes beyond merely having a common interest. BJDs would just be a lovely frosting on a friendship built on a deeper foundation.

 

I wish there was a way for people to like see more clearly who's in what area. Like for me it'd be

OHIO (list all of the users in ohio) >> North East Ohio (list these users) >> Kent (list all these users and users w/in a certain radius).... kinda like deviantart does (not that many people actually use that feature)

 

It's not really important to me... it'd be nice. But a lot of my hobbies (like writing) are things that you can't really do with other people around, so I'm mostly on my own out of choice anyway. In fact, aside from my man I only have two proper friends and they're both long-distance. It'd be really nice if there was somewhere to go once a week and talk dolls but it's not incredibly important to me. And since the closest person to me I've heard of with an interest in BJDs is 75 miles away I doubt it'll be happening any time soon

@SmoteyMote - you should suggest that to the mods!

 

I'm not good at socializing, so most friends I get I end up losing, but I really enjoy occasionally talking to people who just get it.
My normal friends either don't care or are quite hateful towards it, so I like to just sometimes talk about dolly stuff with people.
But that's mostly why I come here tho, to talk about random dolly things with random dolly people.

 

Not until I had them

My suggestion to you would be to set up your own doll meet or seek out one in the nearby area.
This way, you would meet like minded people and are likely to meet potential RL friend subjects.

It's been through meets that I have met a lot of people who I now consider RL friends eg. the kind you would consider for a night out with, sharing a meal with, general hanging out with that not necessarily have to involve dolls but often do as well, you already share this interest.

But, had I not met them I am sure I would still be collecting dolls.
They are just adding to an already, for me, brilliant hobby.

 

I think having RL doll friends is important, so yes. Unfortunately, I'm still at a loss for finding any. I have a friend who's supportive of the hobby, and enjoys handling my boys, but she thinks they're way too expensive. I'm planning on eventually attending some meet-ups, however, but I just have to find some that aren't hours away and don't conflict with my schedule! I love my dolls, and I still have a great time with the hobby, but that aspect of actually meeting people face-to-face and discussing, ect. is very, very appealing. A listing mechanism would also be useful, but perhaps the best way is to try and set up and/or attend meet-ups, which I definitely have got to get to!

 

It's important to me as none of my non Dollie friends have any real intrest in the hobby and a couple of them are down right terrified of them, so I didn't have anyone to talk to other than the internet, which is why I made sure to go along to panels at Anime cons (before I had the dolls) and make friends with people there and I also went along to one of the meets I found on DoA (again before I had the dolls) and made friends that way and it's great as it means that now at least once a month I have people I can meet up with and discuss all things Dollie with without them rolling there eyes. =D

 

I love having real-life doll friends! It's nice to look at other peoples' photos and discuss dolls over the Internet (and I do enjoy that!), but it's much more fun to have a friend who can come over and spend the day doing doll things. I didn't used to have any real-life doll friends until just last year, and now that I do, I love having them over to take photos, make new clothes, and so on.

 

I think it would be so so so nice to have some RL friends to sit around and talk dollies with but I have only done one meet up and it was awkward and uncomfortable for me. I think I fail at the social game so it is probably not an option for me. I keep trying to go to more meet ups but I am too nervous from the first one. There was this girl there who stared at me hardcore the whole time and it really freaked me out a lot...

 

I could go either way. It's be nice to have a friend to sit down and re string or do faceups with, but the friends I have now are all into different sorts of crafts. When we get together for a craft day, they're still interested in what I do even if they're not doll owners themselves.

 

That quote really made me lol!

I live in a really small town, and most people here are really judgmental, or I'd dare to take mine outside. I just might anyway! But still, I'd love to at least have a nearby meet, or something I could attend once in a while. I'm in a small town in Colorado, and everything seems to go on near Denver, which for me is 200 miles away. And it's hard for me to find the time to drive that far for a meet or something. My bf tries to humor me too. After a while I feel bad, or like a nerd for trying to explain some of it to him. I want a friend who's into them! D:

I think it would be cool, and fun, if DoA had a setup for networking!

 

Having RL doll friends is very important to me. I have a couple of friends who are into dolls in general...okay, just one. He's really awesome. In fact, he was the reason I got into collecting them again. When I took my BJD into his shop, he was just enchanted. I like talking to him about dolls and gossiping about the companies. I wish I had more doll friends, but I'm not exactly sure where to look. I've asked my friend about clubs, and he's told me of a few. Unfortunately, they're all a bit of a hike from where I live. The closest is a BJD club about half an hour from where I live. It's doable, but I've never gotten up the motivation to check it out....

 

It's relatively important to me. I mostly just enjoy the idea of sitting with a group of friends, popping in a movie and working on making outfits for dolls. I have two friends who live relatively close-by who I see maybe once a month, and that works out quite well. I suppose deep-down I'm just lonely because it's summer and all of my friends are out of town, but it's really nice to have people who I can have a face-to-face talk with, as well as chances to get cute photostories with other dolls or even pictures in general. When you put a bunch of doll fans with lame sense of humor in a room, crazy things happen.

 

I do have a couple of real life friends that are bjds collectors, but they live in another state. I enjoy dolls by myself. I would be fine not really ever interacting in a group setting with other doll owners. Yet, I think it would be nice to have one person I can share this stuff with when hanging out every now and then.

 

WOW, Southernbelleincali, that is so horribly embarrassing. I mean, not for you, but what a JERK for someone to say that I think there are a lot of "ugly" dolls out there, but I would never tell someone that ever! That's just so incredibly rude by anyone's standard!

 

i'm indiferent cause when i started out i didn't know anyone in to them. nor did i care. i wasn't even part of an internet doll community. i just liked them for myself only and so i got it.

however i will add now that i have lot's of freinds with dolls that i hang out with on a regular basis and enjoy their company wether we have our dolls with us or not.

 

It's not a bad thing to have doll-owning friends off-line, but I wouldn't call it necessary to my enjoyment of the hobby. If some of my friends are into dolls, that's fine. If they're not, that's fine too. They're still friends either way, and that's the important thing.

 

I wish I had RL doll friends. I've only been to one of my state's meet-ups and I only ended up finding one person. @__@
I mean, if I knew someone close-by that, a doll-owner, and I became best friends with that person, I'd love it!