I think offline dating just doesn't work unless you are in highschool or college and very lucky, anyone else think this too?

[TheSpaceGnome]

I feel like outside those things, making friends offline isn't realistic, unless you are one of those boring "go to a bar or club " types.

[Effably]

Friends is difficult everywhere. Dating well, sort of. I think the best places "offline" are places that are not dating spots. A library, where you do your shopping, some local try-a-hobby event. Places where you would be viewed on the basis if a person and not in the dating framework. The success rate in those situations is likely many times higher.

That said, I could shoot my shot 10 times a day without getting out of bed if I felt like it. And the ability to filter potential partners by any metric you choose is certainly appealing as long as you do the filtering.
Online is probably more common. Offline still does work and not just drunk at clubs and bars.

[TheSpaceGnome]

I only date best friends, I need a way to make female friends who I have everything in common with, and I need a way to be around lots of women like that frequently so I can find a keeper.

[Effably]

If you want to make a lot of single friends who are still romantically available to you that sounds like a tall order to me and my attitude towards challenges is quite nonchalant normally.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Not lots of friends.

its more that i want to be around a lot of women, so that the odds are higher one will become a best friend, and then I can date that one.

[Phoenix-gb]

Dating in general doesn't really work for the majority of people these days, just look at the number of guys surrounded by tumbleweeds on online dating apps, the rise of male singleness and increasing age of male virginity and the correlation that has with male depression and suicide. The whole thing is broken.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Thats not the problem for me.

My problem isn't my value level with women.

My problem is that I can't find a single woman near my age, in my country, who doesn't have or want kids, who's smart, doesn't smoke, drink, or do other drugs, is bubbly and sweet, is good at difficult video games, good at drawing, likes anime/cartoons, sci-fi, fantasy, science, and dinosaurs, and is attractive (without me being so late to that party that she's already taken, or without her being in some other country).

I can't find what I want in an available state.

Online I find plenty already taken in the US, or single but in southeast asia or Europe, and as an adult, I have no where in person to go that would attract that kind of woman, so I meet almost zero new women my age per year who sre like that (in person).

[TheSpaceGnome]

are*

[TheSpaceGnome]

tldr, I have hermit problems and I want to date a cute shut-in nerd.

[Juxtapose]

I made some friends when I moved just by talking to my neighbors and helping them when I saw they needed help, such as when an older man fell down or when somebody needed help carrying things, etc. A little bit of goodwill really opens the door to establishing new connections.

[Juxtapose]

You could probably meet some people in an arcade or a pen and paper role-playing group.

I meet a lot of people through smoking green.

I don't like meeting people online cuz it rarely materializes into meeting in person but it is by far the most common way I meet people.

[TheSpaceGnome]

I hate smoke, especially weed smoke, the smell is literally barf inducing, and I get along with hyper, optimistic, multitalented overachiever workahaulic people, not chill pessimistic lazy people who just wanna relax.

I find tabletop games to be extremely boring, I love arcade games, but arcades are mostly filled with children and moms, and no one ever strikes conversations with me in public even if by some rare chance a single woman with no kids is in an arcade.

My neighbors are always people old enough to be my parent or grandparent.

Online I can at leastfilter for what I'm looking for while viewing the entire country's worth of single women who like videogames.

[Juxtapose]

For workaholics I will say that most people on their deathbed regret not taking more time to stroll around and smell the flowers so to say.

Ahhh damn, but a good narrator and group makes it so amazing! To me games like Exalted or D&D are far above any video game but to each their own.

Well it seems like your circumstances make finding people online better. I just don't like it in general, it feels too much like people are window shopping and not really getting to know me as a person.

[TheSpaceGnome]

My "flowers to smell" are challenging video games, drawing, writing, composing music, playing instruments, and other such things that involve work, talent, practice, etc. I like the rush it gives me.

If I spent most of my time not doing those things, I'd regret it immensely, and I find zero joy in just relaxing (it's actually VERY stressful to do nothing, it feels like I'm being deprived of fun).

I don't agree about the DnD group. Out of all tabletop games, it's honestly the worst in my opinion, its nothing but talking, the story is always bad because I have to help script it, and no manual skill is involved, and I'm the type of gamer with the "git gud" mentality, who gets pissed if games are dumbed down in difficulty to cater to casuals.

DnD is literally all casual, it's just story time, and you are talking to a person who skips text based dialogue in video games, hates directing where a story goes in a game (ie multiple choice I hate) and does not read novels.