Lego Shares Fan Survey Results

[Hapori Tohu]

Earlier this year, we shared with you a survey LEGO was conducting to learn more about the fan communities. Today, the LEGO Community Engagement & Events team have shared some of the results. Read on to see what makes TFOLs and AFOLs tick!View the full article

[WORT WORT WORT]

excellent. they shared the results!very interesting though.

Only very few use LEGO related online sites to find new friends.

Awwww! Edited July 4, 2012 by WORT WORT WORT

[The Swimming Beard]

Only very few use LEGO related online sites to find new friends.

That surprises me also. I'm glad they made the results public, though.

[fishers64]

Interesting...Looks like a lot of Lego experts took the survey. There also seems to be a lot of "I can't let go"-ism going on, with people who liked Lego as kids refusing to let go of it as adults, and less adults becoming fans of it who weren't interested as kids. Nothing really revolutionary or anything...

Only very few use LEGO related online sites to find new friends.

That surprises me also. I'm glad they made the results public, though.

I wasn't surprised. Newsflash: the Internet is not a good place to find friends. It's good that people still prefer real-world interactions when looking for friends. Sitting around building something tends to be a solitary activity, anyway. Being an AFOL is still considered unusual, so I can see the reluctance there. I am not surprised.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

This was an interesting survey to read. It's cool that so many people are still into Lego!

[Nuparu1995]

Interesting to see what all of the other Lego fans think!

[dviddy]

Interesting...Looks like a lot of Lego experts took the survey. There also seems to be a lot of "I can't let go"-ism going on, with people who liked Lego as kids refusing to let go of it as adults, and less adults becoming fans of it who weren't interested as kids. Nothing really revolutionary or anything...

Only very few use LEGO related online sites to find new friends.

That surprises me also. I'm glad they made the results public, though.

I wasn't surprised. Newsflash: the Internet is not a good place to find friends. It's good that people still prefer real-world interactions when looking for friends.Sitting around building something tends to be a solitary activity, anyway. Being an AFOL is still considered unusual, so I can see the reluctance there.I am not surprised.

Some of my very best friends in the entire world I met right here. And they are no less amazing friends because I met them online before meeting them in person.

[Queen of Noise]

Only very few use LEGO related online sites to find new friends.

That surprises me also. I'm glad they made the results public, though.

I wasn't surprised. Newsflash: the Internet is not a good place to find friends. It's good that people still prefer real-world interactions when looking for friends.Sitting around building something tends to be a solitary activity, anyway. Being an AFOL is still considered unusual, so I can see the reluctance there.I am not surprised.

Some of my very best friends in the entire world I met right here. And they are no less amazing friends because I met them online before meeting them in person.

Word. If you'd told me, eight years ago, that many of my closest friends and confidants would be friends I initially met on a dumb Bionicle forum, I'd have laughed. And yet here were are. "DeeVee" here is one of my closest homeboys! Really I think it's time we got rid of the social stigma about friends you talk to online prior to meeting in person. I didn't come here seeking lasting friendships, but as I talked and interacted with people like Pat, Andrew, Bryan, Jen, and more on this site (and off it), we organically developed close relationships, just as I did with all my "offline" friends. Really, is there a difference between bonding while chatting over IM/telephone and bonding while chatting over a cafeteria table? I've made dear, dear friends both ways.

[fishers64]

Only very few use LEGO related online sites to find new friends.

That surprises me also. I'm glad they made the results public, though.

I wasn't surprised. Newsflash: the Internet is not a good place to find friends. It's good that people still prefer real-world interactions when looking for friends.Sitting around building something tends to be a solitary activity, anyway. Being an AFOL is still considered unusual, so I can see the reluctance there.I am not surprised.

Some of my very best friends in the entire world I met right here. And they are no less amazing friends because I met them online before meeting them in person.

Word. If you'd told me, eight years ago, that many of my closest friends and confidants would be friends I initially met on a dumb Bionicle forum, I'd have laughed. And yet here were are. "DeeVee" here is one of my closest homeboys! Really I think it's time we got rid of the social stigma about friends you talk to online prior to meeting in person. I didn't come here seeking lasting friendships, but as I talked and interacted with people like Pat, Andrew, Bryan, Jen, and more on this site (and off it), we organically developed close relationships, just as I did with all my "offline" friends. Really, is there a difference between bonding while chatting over IM/telephone and bonding while chatting over a cafeteria table? I've made dear, dear friends both ways.

Who are you? Who is "DeeVee" or "Black Six" or "GSR" or "ibrow"? I have no real clue. Even if I met any of these people in real life, if they told me "I'm [insert username here] on BZPower." that probably wouldn't affect my real-life preception of them at all, except for the "You like Lego, right?" idea. The people I've met here seem to be nice and friendly, and I operate under the assumption that they are what they seem, because anything else is insane. But for all I know, you're people I would avoid IRL for reasons that would be obvious upon a real-life meeting, and for all you know, I'm an alien with two heads who has tapped into human interwebs. :)In other words, the internet has little effect on my friendships. If I meet you, I'll like you...or not. And that's the way it should be, because internet information is incomplete and is only what the person wants you to see. Not something to base a friendship on.

[Athmos]

I agree with Fishers64 about the whole friends thing. I can call someone here a friend, but I don't know you. I never met you. I don't remember a survey taking place! Must have missed out on it. Well, at least it's pretty interesting to see what the majority of LEGO fans think.

[Queen of Noise]

Only very few use LEGO related online sites to find new friends.

That surprises me also. I'm glad they made the results public, though.

I wasn't surprised. Newsflash: the Internet is not a good place to find friends. It's good that people still prefer real-world interactions when looking for friends.Sitting around building something tends to be a solitary activity, anyway. Being an AFOL is still considered unusual, so I can see the reluctance there.I am not surprised.

Some of my very best friends in the entire world I met right here. And they are no less amazing friends because I met them online before meeting them in person.

Word. If you'd told me, eight years ago, that many of my closest friends and confidants would be friends I initially met on a dumb Bionicle forum, I'd have laughed. And yet here were are. "DeeVee" here is one of my closest homeboys!Really I think it's time we got rid of the social stigma about friends you talk to online prior to meeting in person. I didn't come here seeking lasting friendships, but as I talked and interacted with people like Pat, Andrew, Bryan, Jen, and more on this site (and off it), we organically developed close relationships, just as I did with all my "offline" friends. Really, is there a difference between bonding while chatting over IM/telephone and bonding while chatting over a cafeteria table? I've made dear, dear friends both ways.

Who are you? Who is "DeeVee" or "Black Six" or "GSR" or "ibrow"?I have no real clue. Even if I met any of these people in real life, if they told me "I'm [insert username here] on BZPower." that probably wouldn't affect my real-life preception of them at all, except for the "You like Lego, right?" idea.The people I've met here seem to be nice and friendly, and I operate under the assumption that they are what they seem, because anything else is insane. But for all I know, you're people I would avoid IRL for reasons that would be obvious upon a real-life meeting, and for all you know, I'm an alien with two heads who has tapped into human interwebs. :)In other words, the internet has little effect on my friendships. If I meet you, I'll like you...or not. And that's the way it should be, because internet information is incomplete and is only what the person wants you to see. Not something to base a friendship on.

Of course you don't know me - we've never talked, never chatted, never gotten to know each other. I don't know anything about you and this is, I think, the first time I've ever addressed you. But me and Pat ("DeeVee")? We've been chatting for the better part of a decade now. We know each other inside and out - we know the good, the bad, and all kinds of in-between about each other. We've helped each other in crises, joked around in the good times, and generally just been true and solid pals for years and years now.My friendship with Pat grew organically and normally, just like any other friendship I've made. We happened to start talking about a common interest many years ago, found more as we spoke more, and eventually started talking a lot, enjoying each other's company, having fun together. How is that any different than the people I've grown friendships with in school or in my neighborhood or about town here locally? The truth of the matter is that it's not. Pat's just as much a real friend to me as they are - heck, I've spent the night in his bed (and what a night it was)!Is it easy to be duplicitous on the internet? Sure, but it's easy to be just as duplicitous offline. Friendships grow when a certain amount of trust is gained, and Pat and I have earned that with each other. The same certainly doesn't apply to every BZPower member - I don't know the first thing about most people on this site; they don't mean anything more or less to me than any other stranger on the street - but folks like Pat, Jen, Bryan, Bulltop, Ryan, Maddison...those are people I've chatted with, grown with, hung out with for years. They are my friends. To suggest they're somehow less worthy of this title simply because we chatted over IM for years before meeting in-person is, quite frankly, a very silly and small-minded assertion. Edited July 6, 2012 by McSmeag

[bonesiii]

I can call someone here a friend, but I don't know you. I never met you.

Meeting someone in real life doesn't mean you know them either. Knowing someone is more about time spent talking to them, and that can be done either way. And it's always incomplete no matter what. You could say that we all know each other to varying degrees.To the story: Interestingly a lot of that describes me, heh. I found myself nodding my head over and over again and thinking, "exactly." I wasn't surprised either about the friend thing. I didn't come on here consciously hoping to meet friends, although I did befriend many, and still am. I came here mainly because I was a fan of Bionicle and wanted to talk about it. Edited July 7, 2012 by bonesiii

[Aanchir]

Only very few use LEGO related online sites to find new friends.

That surprises me also. I'm glad they made the results public, though.

I wasn't surprised. Newsflash: the Internet is not a good place to find friends. It's good that people still prefer real-world interactions when looking for friends.Sitting around building something tends to be a solitary activity, anyway. Being an AFOL is still considered unusual, so I can see the reluctance there.I am not surprised.

Some of my very best friends in the entire world I met right here. And they are no less amazing friends because I met them online before meeting them in person.

Word. If you'd told me, eight years ago, that many of my closest friends and confidants would be friends I initially met on a dumb Bionicle forum, I'd have laughed. And yet here were are. "DeeVee" here is one of my closest homeboys! Really I think it's time we got rid of the social stigma about friends you talk to online prior to meeting in person. I didn't come here seeking lasting friendships, but as I talked and interacted with people like Pat, Andrew, Bryan, Jen, and more on this site (and off it), we organically developed close relationships, just as I did with all my "offline" friends. Really, is there a difference between bonding while chatting over IM/telephone and bonding while chatting over a cafeteria table? I've made dear, dear friends both ways.

Who are you? Who is "DeeVee" or "Black Six" or "GSR" or "ibrow"? I have no real clue. Even if I met any of these people in real life, if they told me "I'm [insert username here] on BZPower." that probably wouldn't affect my real-life preception of them at all, except for the "You like Lego, right?" idea. The people I've met here seem to be nice and friendly, and I operate under the assumption that they are what they seem, because anything else is insane. But for all I know, you're people I would avoid IRL for reasons that would be obvious upon a real-life meeting, and for all you know, I'm an alien with two heads who has tapped into human interwebs. :)In other words, the internet has little effect on my friendships. If I meet you, I'll like you...or not. And that's the way it should be, because internet information is incomplete and is only what the person wants you to see. Not something to base a friendship on.

Sounds pretty legit, but let's see what happens when we switch things around, shall we?"The people I've met in real life seem to be nice and friendly, and I operate under the assumption that they are what they seem, because anything else is insane. But for all I know, they're people I would avoid online for reasons that would be obvious upon checking their online profile, and for all they know, I'm an alien with two heads who has developed an astonishingly-convincing human disguise. :)In other words, real life has little effect on my friendships. If I chat with you online, I'll like you...or not. And that's the way it should be, because real-life information is incomplete and is only what the person wants you to see. Not something to base a friendship on."Certainly sounds a bit less typical, but no less true for some people. Many of the people I know and interact with in real life probably know very little about me. And the same is true for many people I have known IRL and later learned I'd prefer to avoid online. And what we know about people in real life, just like what we know about people online, is only what they choose to present to us. The people I know in real life might wear generic preppy clothes for the college classes we share, but how do I know they don't go back home to a room decorated with animal pelts, put on a hand-made caveman costume, and chat with an online girlfriend who's into that kind of thing? How do you know that the person who talks with you about your favorite sitcom at lunch isn't just humoring you while secretly harboring a deep-seated hatred for that particular series? How do you know that the person flirting with you in the hallway isn't just toying with you so he or she has something to laugh about later with their online friends?A photo you see of a person online might be photoshopped, but a yearbook photo of the same person might have their hair dyed orange and their face obscured with makeup. And when it gets right down to it, what difference does it make what a person looks like, whether online or in real life? What difference is there between what an online friend engages in in real life and what a real-life friend engages in online or behind closed doors? Once you stop thinking of face-to-face interaction as a prerequisite for a meaningful friendship or relationship, suddenly the difference between the two isn't nearly as clear. There's no more reason that you have to meet someone in real life to have a genuine friendship online than that you have to meet them online to have a genuine relationship with them in real life.

[fishers64]

Only very few use LEGO related online sites to find new friends.

That surprises me also. I'm glad they made the results public, though.

I wasn't surprised. Newsflash: the Internet is not a good place to find friends. It's good that people still prefer real-world interactions when looking for friends.Sitting around building something tends to be a solitary activity, anyway. Being an AFOL is still considered unusual, so I can see the reluctance there.I am not surprised.

Some of my very best friends in the entire world I met right here. And they are no less amazing friends because I met them online before meeting them in person.

Word. If you'd told me, eight years ago, that many of my closest friends and confidants would be friends I initially met on a dumb Bionicle forum, I'd have laughed. And yet here were are. "DeeVee" here is one of my closest homeboys!Really I think it's time we got rid of the social stigma about friends you talk to online prior to meeting in person. I didn't come here seeking lasting friendships, but as I talked and interacted with people like Pat, Andrew, Bryan, Jen, and more on this site (and off it), we organically developed close relationships, just as I did with all my "offline" friends. Really, is there a difference between bonding while chatting over IM/telephone and bonding while chatting over a cafeteria table? I've made dear, dear friends both ways.

Who are you? Who is "DeeVee" or "Black Six" or "GSR" or "ibrow"?I have no real clue. Even if I met any of these people in real life, if they told me "I'm [insert username here] on BZPower." that probably wouldn't affect my real-life preception of them at all, except for the "You like Lego, right?" idea.The people I've met here seem to be nice and friendly, and I operate under the assumption that they are what they seem, because anything else is insane. But for all I know, you're people I would avoid IRL for reasons that would be obvious upon a real-life meeting, and for all you know, I'm an alien with two heads who has tapped into human interwebs. :)In other words, the internet has little effect on my friendships. If I meet you, I'll like you...or not. And that's the way it should be, because internet information is incomplete and is only what the person wants you to see. Not something to base a friendship on.

Sounds pretty legit, but let's see what happens when we switch things around, shall we?"The people I've met in real life seem to be nice and friendly, and I operate under the assumption that they are what they seem, because anything else is insane. But for all I know, they're people I would avoid online for reasons that would be obvious upon checking their Facebook profile, and for all they know, I'm an alien with two heads who has developed an astonishingly-convincing human disguise. :)In other words, real life has little effect on my friendships. If I chat with you online, I'll like you...or not. And that's the way it should be, because real-life information is incomplete and is only what the person wants you to see. Not something to base a friendship on."Certainly sounds a bit less typical, but no less true for some people. Many of the people I know and interact with in real life probably know very little about me. And the same is true for many people I have known IRL and later learned I'd prefer to avoid online. And what we know about people in real life, just like what we know about people online, is only what they choose to present to us. The people I know in real life might wear generic preppy clothes for the college classes we share, but how do I know they don't go back home to a room decorated with animal pelts, put on a hand-made caveman costume, and chat with an online girlfriend who's into that kind of thing? How do you know that the person who talks with you about your favorite sitcom at lunch isn't just humoring you while secretly harboring a deep-seated hatred for that particular series? How do you know that the person flirting with you in the hallway isn't just toying with you so he or she has something to laugh about later with their online friends?A photo you see of a person online might be photoshopped, but a yearbook photo of the same person might have their hair dyed orange and their face obscured with makeup. And when it gets right down to it, what difference does it make what a person looks like, whether online or in real life? What difference is there between what an online friend engages in in real life and what a real-life friend engages in online or behind closed doors? Once you stop thinking of face-to-face interaction as a prerequisite for a meaningful friendship or relationship, suddenly the difference between the two isn't nearly as clear. There's no more reason that you have to meet someone in real life to have a genuine friendship online than that you have to meet them online to have a genuine relationship with them in real life.

Look, if I was an alien with two heads, it would be more obvious in real life, okay? Even if the obvious physical deformities were disguised, it would be obvious that, because I understood little about human customs and interactions. If you met me, say, at a traffic light, confused as to how to operate the signal, you might get a clue that I wasn't exactly right in the head. But here on BZPower, that wouldn't be evident. If someone dressed up in cavemen clothing and had pelts on their walls, don't you think they would avoid talking about their house? There would be evidence. And if someone projects a facade in person and has a secretly bad online life, it usually comes out into the real world, either when they try to meet the people they've seen online or some other thing. Double lives don't work forever; there's far too many examples of that.In real life, you have more evidence of what people are like. You see, to a degree, if I walk up to a person on the street, I know where they are. I know what they look like. If they're talking to someone, I know how they talk - if they're chit-chatty or not, reserved or no. On BZPower, I know none of these things. I know that you like Lego/Bionicle. If I read your blog or your posts for long enough, I might get more, but it's all scattered. Is this person really an artist, or is it just a hobby that shows up on BZPower often? Do you like talking about your work, but don't get the opportunity here There's always more to someone than just one hobby - I like things that aren't related to Lego/Bionicle, but I don't talk about them here. If you met me in person, you couldn't avoid them, anymore than I could avoid aspects about you that I disliked or liked. Edited July 6, 2012 by fishers64

[Black Six]

Hey guys, it's an interesting discussion, for sure, but this is a Talkback for the survey results. Please stay on topic.

[Dwanny]

I would say that i was not very surprised with the results.I have always found that lego fans can be very alike, both in interests and personality; these answers virtually prove that right.It's good to see that so many lego fans are willing to participate or even oganise events.It does not however surprise me that most people do not come here looking for friends, though i will not deny that many of my best friends i have met here and elsewhere on the interwebs. But i did not come looking for them; i simply met them along the way.It also seems logical that us lego fans believe lego is the best-in class (for surely it is), and i have had many a friend come to me for lego-related advise.On the whole, this survey was a succes.