I’m honestly surprised I never wrote a blog about this, but this is actually very true. I hear someone people start threads saying they need PSN friends or tell various people to add them on PSN (because they just got a PS3). You will never hear me say that to anyone, not because I don’t like them, but because my buddy list is constantly full. To warn people this is a long read and probably won't appeal to most people (the reading material).

Let me apologize to every single person who I removed on PSN or anyone I did not accept as a PSN friend. My situation has been very difficult. Before July 2008, the PSN friends’ list max was set to 50. I got my PS3 in December 2006. People started adding me from Modojo, CAG, PlayStation G.A.P., real life friends, etc. Around August 2007, my friends list finally reached the maximum. Ever since then, my friends list continued to stay near max. I removed people from PSN I barely knew first (like those I might have met in a game who added me or those I might have only seen at CAG or some forums like once). My list quickly filled up again in no time. I started removing people who didn’t sign on enough to PSN (like if I rarely saw them on, I removed them). I even removed real life friends because of this (we still talk and all, it’s just that most people I know barely play games, and my buddy list isn’t really set for those people). I even got to a point where I removed people or would accept if they said a small comment in a forum that angered me (I’d search posts and know what was said). My friends list continued to stay this way until it got increased to 100 in July 2008.

As my friends list increased, right away I got some friend requests from people who probably tried requesting me as a friend many times before. Unfortunately, it took until around the end of September for my list to fill up again (and some people were removed even). Right now I can never have a full PSN Buddy list because I coordinate Burnout Paradise nights. Whenever you need to invite people, send invite, or join a game, the menu freezes when you access the easy drive menu when you have over 96 friends. One time someone sent me a friend requests just before it happened, causing the game to freeze when I tried sending an invite, then I had to restart the game (Hopefully the problem is solved in the next patch). I basically removed those who I played CoD4 with at one point (since I no longer own the game and stopped playing), and I also removed some who don’t seem to play Burnout Paradise anymore. But what sucks is that it seems like I’ve gotten anywhere from 300+ friend requests total on PSN. I could say I’ve had around 200 or more different people on my PSN buddy list).

Right now I constantly get friend requests from CAGs (although I say not to add me in CAG PSN gaming because I’ll probably deny, due to a near full friend’s list and Burnout Paradise issue). Some probably do because I run various game nights, coordinate CAG PSN Gaming, and many probably know who I am. I STILL get friend requests from various other forums although I rarely post there and didn’t even list my PSN-ID in any thread (just profile). I get friend requests from PS3 forums, other forums, from various games, some people who I have no freaking idea who they are and how the heck they figured out who I am (like this one guy who seems like he plays a lot of games. People who add me from games or Home usually don’t get added, unless I really enjoyed talking to them and they own key games I play (key as in ones I sometimes struggle to find other people to play with).

When I get a friend request from a name I recognize, I’ll take a look at their trophies to see what games they play. If they have zero trophies, I’m not sure whether I should add them right away because the current games I play most support trophies (I’m not talking about having tons of trophies, I’m saying a few). I sometimes will do a post search on them to see what games they may be playing. If a game requires people to be on my friend’s list (or it makes things easy) to get in, and I coordinate CAG nights for it (like I did with Burnout Paradise and Call of Duty 4), I’ll accept them as a friend in order to make the CAG night work. If I get a friend request from a name I do not recognize (if they tell me they are from CAG I look around CAG, if they do not I try thinking of a few forums I normally post at), I will see if the name comes up. As long as it’s someone I never had a problem with and they play a good amount of stuff I do, I’ll probably accept or heavily consider. But if people only play certain games that don’t require people to be on my buddy list (like R2 and Warhawk), not likely I’ll accept them unless they are a really good friend (some of you know who you are). I normally don’t accept those right away who lack some games I like to play most (where they need to be my friend), don’t know so well, someone who has been quite rude to me before, and who our times conflict way too much (such as only playing in the middle of the night while I’m in bed).

Some might wonder who stays on my buddy list. The people who tend to stay on my buddy list are those who sign-on PSN quite frequently, own a decent amount of the same games as me (especially key ones like Hot Shots Golf: OoB, MotorStorm: PR, Rock Band 2, Burnout Paradise, Buzz! Quiz TV, etc.), talk to me a lot on AIM/MSN/telephone/emails, people I definitely see playing games with me in the near future (like some I KNOW that will have Killzone 2), and those people I’m quite close to (that means people I just really like and wish I could hang out with one day. Might sound silly to some, but that’s how I feel). Once a certain game night is done and I don’t see myself playing that person again, they usually get removed unfortunately. Two people (from other sites) probably shouldn’t be on my buddy list, but I’ll keep them because one has really helped me out with getting rid of my massive collection, and the other has been my friend longer than most anyone (and we still talk now, he just doesn’t play a whole lot of games these days). But that’s just two slots out of 98. The two CAGs who have stayed on my buddy list the longest are Inf^Shini and dallow.

Since I don’t post much on Xbox 360 forums (along with me being an XBL Silver member), I don’t get anywhere near as many friend requests on XBL as I do PSN. I have gotten close to 100 before. Some I removed because they don’t own a 360 anymore, while some I removed because I felt it was best I stay off their list (because I see their buddy list is full, play lots of games online which I can’t currently do so I rather give them an extra slot, etc.). Overall, I still say I get a decent amount and don’t have problems making friends. Hopefully whenever I get back on XBL Gold, I’ll make even more friends and play my wonderful friends again.

I understand I’m definitely taking this too seriously, but when you get quite a bit of friend requests, you sometimes have to decide who fits the best on your list. That’s what I try to do, and normally I’ve been very happy gaming online. Once again I really want to apologize to every single person I removed or did not accept. There’s always a good chance you’ll be on my friends list again/one day. I’m about to do some house keeping on my friends list, deciding between who should be on and who shouldn’t (MOST CAGs are safe). I honestly wish I could store over 300+ friends so everyone could play a game with me, but unfortunately I cannot. So if anyone tries being my PSN friend, please understand I do not dislike you and would love everyone to my friend. It’s just that I have to shift people in and out at times to get most people in, so you’ll probably have a chance one day to be my friend.

Those who are a PSN friend of mine right now, be very thankful you are and I’ve enjoyed having you on my list.

Oh yeah, some have said I should start a second friends list, but I held back on it because I still want stats/trophies to tie into my account. For some future CAG nights if I continue staying involved, I might create PSN-IDs for a particular game (if there are a lot of people playing).