My (29M) online friend (30’s F) has been flirting with me. She says her only intention is to boot my ego, but the way she is talking to be seems to be more than that. She will constantly message me and ask me to do things with her in game all the time. She also seems to want to know more about me, but any time I try and ask about her, she kind of brushes it off or changes the subject. She spent an entire day telling me that she had a crush on me (for a year??) and everything that she liked about me (the exact list will make this post too long). I really appreciate what she says, but I feel like I am on an emotional rollercoaster trying to figure out what exactly she wants. I have tried asking her, but it’s usually either ignored or the subject is changed. I do not want to cut ties, because she is an integral part of the group of friends I play with and I don’t want things to be awkward, but I really don’t know how to move forward with this situation. Any advice, even if it’s brutally honest, is welcome.
My assimption is that all of OP’s friends involved are only online friends.
Sure, anything is possible. But lacking any other evidence, I choose to believe that she is probably just a nice, but misguided, person trying to lift his spirits. Imo, trying to guess at her exact motives is a fool’s errand. All that matters to OP is what she says and does, and how OP responds to this. Trying to “out” her for her nefarious plans, or spending time hating her for catfishing him when he still doesnt know what she looks like is, at best, a waste of time and energy.
The question is what should OP actually do? And we don’t need to know her secret intentions in order to (1) establish boundaries and (2) seek out other options.