In theory, I will admit, it's a unique, kind of cute way of building community.
Actually applied, though, I've found the server to be full of power-hungry kids who couldn't care less about community. The Be My Friend medal results in some downright creepy (and annoying~!) experiences that just bug me, because I'm picky like that. Use a smega? Get a buddy request, or a few whispers saying "PLZ CAN BUDDY YOU?". Go into fmch1? Get requests constantly from some randoms that you've never met (quite frankly, half of them seem like people you wouldn't want to meet anyway).
My rationale for saying that most of the random buddy adds aren't in the interest of friendship is that people... don't... talk. Hell, I'm pretty sure some kids DELETE people after they get the medal, because my buddy list looks barren, with the only people online being the people that didn't add me for the medal or vice versa. Sure, the rush of buddy requests might make new players feel at home, but when you have a blist of people who don't actually give two shits about eachother, it tends to be a bit on the counterproductive side. It's also just plain weird. In gMS and any private server with a good community, I've had the good fortune of knowing most of my buddy list fairly well. Before I cleaned up my buddy list and got rid of people I hadn't even ever talked to, I couldn't say the same about here.
Basically, I'm suggesting either the medal's outright removal, or at least a nerf such that it's more a novelty than something actually helpful to your damage. Keep the buddy list for buddies, not a list of people who you're using as a stepping stone and vice versa. It's a lovely idea for an ideal player base. Not to drag some people down or make anyone QQ, but the community at the present is a far cry from ideal.
The medal seems broken anyway... my NL has 25 people on its blist, the @medals command says I have like 4. Owut.
