Someone found out where I lived

Back in 2018, I started playing PlayStation again after being an Xbox loyalist for many years. Some of my first games were Fortnite and Minecraft. Initially, I only played with kids from school. It was fun at first, but they started acting like jerks both online and in person. I eventually got sick of the cyberbullying and blocked them all. I even had to change schools, but that's a story for another time.

In September, I began making random online friends, carefully vetting that they were within my parents' approved age range of 8-20 years old. I met some cool friends and we had fun, though as I made more friends, I tended to neglect and abandon previous ones - you know how it goes.

One way I found friends was through YouTube. I searched for small channels run by teens my age and found many. One YouTuber had brittle bone disease, which isn't really relevant, but he's part of the story.

We were in a party and he introduced me to his friend. Later, she left and joined another party. When I followed, she introduced me to a guy who liked Minecraft. Since I was trying to rebuild Disneyland then, he said he knew someone who could help.

Eventually I met this guy - let's call him John from Ireland. When John friend requested me, he used his real name. At the time, I didn't know PlayStation shows your real name if you accept those requests. John and I started playing Minecraft together often. Through him, I met more of his friends too.

In the summer of 2019, we were about to play when one of John's friends with an Irish accent joined and asked, "Why do you live in [my town]?" This scared me half to death. Keep in mind, I don't live in a big city, but a relatively small Chicago suburb. The fact that he knew where I lived terrified me.

My "friend" repeated the question too. I immediately left the party and told my dad, who said it was probably someone I knew in real life. I blocked them both and never spoke to them again. After that, I changed my real name on PSN. This is why everyone should be careful online.

I felt stupid for being so naive at the time.