One of the weirder aspects of blogging is the way readers start to feel a personal connection with their favorite bloggers, even if they’ve never had any genuine contact with them. That observation may not apply in the case of this blog, since I happen to know that most of my readers are actual friends of mine from out there in the Real World. But in my experience of reading other blogs, I’ve noticed that I often start to think of their authors as friends. I’m perfectly aware of how ridiculous that sounds. I’m not a big commenter as a rule, so the bloggers I like aren’t even aware that I exist. How can I feel anything resembling friendship toward people who don’t know I exist? I don’t know, but nevertheless the sense of connection — or perhaps pseudo-connection is a more accurate term — is quite real. I find myself caring, sometimes deeply, about what happens to these strangers who happen to write about themselves on the Internet.

Take, for example, the case of Wil Wheaton.

A few years ago, Wil was merely a face on my TV screen, that kid who was in Stand by Me and Star Trek: The Next Generation. If I thought about him at all, I considered him just another has-been child actor, a guy whose Hollywood career didn’t survive the transition into adulthood and who was probably now selling insurance or something. Unlike a lot of Star Trek fans who held him personally responsible for the shortcomings of the character he played, I felt no animosity for Wil. Neither did I feel any particular affection for him. As I said, he was just a kid who happened to have appeared in some shows that I enjoyed. I hoped he wasn’t on drugs, for his sake. Beyond that, he wasn’t much of anything to me.

Then I stumbled across his blog. And I discovered that there was much more to Wil Wheaton than the label of “has-been child actor.” He’s a smart, funny guy about my age who has spent years trying to live down the curse of playing one of the least-popular characters on one of the most-popular television shows of all time. He’s also a good, expressive writer who successfully uses his blog to prove that there’s much more to him than just “Wesley Crusher” (the character he played on ST:TNG). I like him, or at least the part of him that he lets us see on the blog. And here’s where things get strange.

I have become a fan of Wil Wheaton. I believe he could be a friend, perhaps, if lived down the street from me. I feel bad for him when he fails and I delight in his successes. I am conscious the whole time that I don’t really know the guy at all, that the persona on his blog could be as carefully constructed as any role he’s ever played, but it doesn’t matter. As I said, I like him, and so I experience all the emotions one feels when you like somebody in the Real World. As weird as that sounds.

A couple months ago, he started writing about an audition he’d had for something big, something he couldn’t talk about until he knew if he’d gotten the role. I shared in his excitement and hoped he’d get the part. When he announced that he had, in fact, landed the job, I silently cheered him on. When he announced that the part was on the blockbuster weekly series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, well, I was absolutely thrilled for this friend who doesn’t know I exist. I remember thinking, “Way to go, Wil…” and then feeling silly when I remembered that he was just a face and words on a screen to me.

Wil’s episode of CSI was on last night. I was anxious for much of the afternoon, waiting for it to begin. I hoped it would be a good episode, that he’d have some meaty scenes and that he’d done a good job in them. I felt very much the same way I imagine I’d feel if one of my Real-World friends was appearing on television.

In the end, his part wasn’t very large. He appeared in only two scenes and one of the quick-cut flashback murder sequences this show specializes in, but they were memorable. He played Walter the Homeless Guy, a filthy, long-haired derelict with a tendency to make unpredictable outbursts. In short, Wil was playing a role as far from clean-cut, boy-genius Wesley Crusher as he could get. And he was good in this very unfamiliar role, too. He imbued Walter with nervous, twitchy energy and a believable aura of danger. He was memorable in a small part that could’ve been nothing more than a throwaway. I’m proud of Wil Wheaton, a guy I’ve never met.

Weird, isn’t it?

[Ed. note: Wil has posted up a few thoughts of his own on his performance as Walter.]