On an episode of his “Scuffed Podcast,” Trainwrecks explained why he keeps some of his internet acquaintances and friends “at arm’s length,” as situations similar to Dream’s Minecraft cheating fiasco can create bizarre rifts online.
Twitch stars and other social media celebrities have this balancing act that keeps friends they meet online in different esteem to the ones they have in real life – especially when someone gets embroiled in drama.
The fallout of Dream’s cheating saga during Minecraft speed-runs hit the Scuffed Podcast, and a hypothetical situation was raised: would Train still invite him despite the drama?
Train replied that he would openly have people who’ve cheated in games on the cast. And, while that proved to be divisive, at least conceptually, the popular Twitch elaborated on his reasons.
“If m0e does some dumb f**king shit,” Train began by creating a hypothetical situation where close friend and streamer m0e was caught cheating in a game. “You deal with your shit, you deal with the repercussions, you deal with the responsibilities. If I dip because m0e cheated in Valorant, and I dip for people I don’t know to make them happy, then that’s more of a reflection on who I am and not on who m0e is.”
While m0e would be left to deal with the fallout of this supposed scenario, the relationship between himself and Train wouldn’t be all that shattered.
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However, that’s where Train makes the important distinction between an IRL friend and the ones made on the net.
“You have to understand: yes, this is our life, our world. But there’s a difference. There’s still a boundary; that computers and all that stuff is a boundary,” he explained.
It’s that middle ground between friend and regular collaborator where Train likes to keep people he’s met online. He says the secret of pulling it off is keeping people “at arm’s length.”
He’s still looking for that word between ‘friend’ and ‘acquaintance’ that perfectly describes this relationship with other Twitch streamers and social media stars.
The volatility that internet drama can spur requires there to be a buffer between people who are “part of the crew,” as Train puts it, and who are just friends you meet online.
