I knew this guy once...

[Iriohm]

It was through Steam, so it wasn't a face to face deal, but we'd known each-other about two years, and were friends. I and this friend and another friend had this trio of friends going, wherein we would play games together and generally hang out. We never really discussed typology, but knowing this guy, I believe him to be an INTP with a particularly heavy focus on absentmindedness. The others in the group were an INTJ and an INXP, the latter being myself.

Basically, we'd all known each-other two years, and this friend of mine suddenly withdrew. He severed ties with us hardcore, removing us both from the majority of his friend lists, including multiple MMOs and Steam itself. He left us no explanation for this. Indeed, the only way we even knew about it was a suspicious lack of him being online.

This topic would have gone in the advice or relationships section, except that I am not so much hurt by this behavior as simply confused. Does anyone have any insight into why a long-time friend of the type described would suddenly walk away?

 

[Rasofy]

I suppose that's a matter of compartmentalization. The friendships served a purpose as long as he desired to spend time on MMOs. If he felt like he was procrastinating too much, and wanted his life to have another focus, the best thing to do was cutting ties with that aspect of his life. A direct and honest good bye could do more harm than good.

I made a bunch of friends playing Tibia back in the days, but when I stopped playing I was left with friends whom I didn't have much in common with. MMO friendships are meant to be practical - you befriend people because you want them to heal you, or block a dragon, or something.

 

[Iriohm]

I suppose that's a matter of compartmentalization. The friendships served a purpose as long as he desired to spend time on MMOs. If he felt like he was procrastinating too much, and wanted his life to have another focus, the best thing to do was cutting ties with that aspect of his life. A direct and honest good bye could do more harm than good.

I made a bunch of friends playing Tibia back in the days, but when I stopped playing I was left with friends whom I didn't have much in common with. MMO friendships are meant to be practical - you befriend people because you want them to heal you, or block a dragon, or something.

I doubt this was that sort of relationship. but honestly, who knows. My best guess up to this point has been that he had been slowly growing more distant for a while before the event, losing interest in the sort of stuff we were interested in, but tagging along out of a desire for companionship, or simply to avoid drama. Then, one day, he just couldn't take it anymore and vanished without goodbyes, again to avoid drama.

Essentially what you said, I suppose. Thank you for your response.