virtualship

When you form a friendship or relationship with someone online, purely through messaging or reacting to eachother's social media but have never met in real life due to geographical distance and have never chatted over video/skype or the phone. You just enjoy messaging each other and then suddenly weeks, then months and then possibly even years pass by. As time has progressed you realise you know a lot about this person without even meeting them. Suddenly you realise you are in a 'virtualship'. Then you worry that if you ever meet them that you possibly won't get along and there is a risk that you might not even talk to eachother ever again. So you stay in the virtualship, prolong meeting up in person and live in the dream-like fantasy in your own head.

Person 1: You're not seriously still talking to that person online still?

Person 2: Yeah I totally forgot how much time has gone by. Gees. I don't know what to do about it.

Person 1: You are going to have to meet up with them eventually. Just do it already.
Person 2: But what happens if I dislike them in real life? Or they dislike me? I would rather stay in this virtualship than face the true reality.