Real life is a phrase used to distinguish actual events, people, and activities from fictional worlds or characters, or from interactions on the Internet.

Distinct from the Internet

On the Internet, "real life" refers to life offline. Online, the acronym "IRL" stands for "in real life", with the meaning "not on the Internet". For example, while Internet users may speak of having "met" someone that they have contacted via online chat or in an online gaming context, to say that they met someone "in real life" is to say that they literally encountered them in a common physical location. Some, arguing that the Internet is part of real life, prefer to use AFK (such as the documentary TPB AFK).

Some sociologists engaged in the study of the Internet have predicted that someday, a distinction between online and real-life worlds may seem "quaint", noting that certain types of online activity, such as sexual intrigues, have already made a full transition to complete legitimacy and "reality".

Real Life may refer to:

Entertainment

Music

Albums

Songs

See also

Real Life is a webcomic drawn and authored by Greg Dean. Begun on November 15, 1999 and currently published on an irregular schedule (though historically on weekdays), the comic is loosely based around the real lives of Dean and his friends (hence the name).

'Loosely' ranges from verbatim quotes to completely ludicrous events including time travel and mecha combat. The characters tend to be rather heavily exaggerated versions of their actual selves. Real Life focuses on humor related to video games, science fiction, and other such "geek humor", although in recent times Dean has been finding less time for video games and as such has been directing his comic slightly away from that. Though by name it claims to be based on real life, the characters live lives very much of their own and are best known for breaking the fourth wall. Real Life is also a major spreader of various memes such as "Fuego", "Shirt Ninja" and "The Game".

Real Life was originally part of Keenspot. After venturing out on its own Real Life joined Blank Label Comics collective on June 22, 2005, but due to lack of involvement with the group, went solo again on February 8, 2010. The Real Life website is currently self-hosted by Mr. Dean.