So, John claims that Dave and Davesprite are the same person, despite previously calling his Dave the “real Dave”. He was passive towards Davesprite, always calling him “orange Dave” or “Davesprite” or implying that he is not a “real Dave”. Despite this, he now insists that Davesprite is the exact same as his supposed best friend and suddenly refuses call him anything but Dave. Alright, I will take a look at the relationship between John and his alternate-but-not-alternate best bud. They must have some sort of close relationship - after all, Davesprite is the exact same as his best friend. And he never met his best friend in person. They must both be totally psyched to have each other around after a year of finally meeting and getting the chance to chill together! 

First, John did not even bother to invite Davesprite to play his favorite game. He did not even know Davesprite was playing. According to John, he previously told “a few people” about the game so they could play together. Looks like Davesprite was not one of those few people. John actually thinks less of Davesprite than a chess person, and certainly less than Jade. If he considered Davesprite to be one of his friends, he would have been talking to Davesprite and would have figured out that hey, Davesprite knows about the game. If Davesprite considered John to be a friend, the two of them would be chatting in-game. If they were actually friends, they would be in the same room playing together. 

Immediately after finding out that Davesprite is playing, instead of asking him to join their team, he declares him the enemy. This implies that he only thinks of Jade as his equal, and the ship is filled with “us” and “them”. “Them” would be the chess pieces, salamanders, citizens, and apparently Davesprite. “Us” would be John, Jade, and a few select citizens whose identities I do not know. I have no idea how this fictional game actually plays, so there could be pre-established teams, but it kind of sounds like a regular MMO that John just declared had teams so he could be ahead of everyone else and be a leader of a winning team. 

Next, Jade asks John about Davesprite. If Davesprite is the mirror image of John’s best bud, you would think that the question would either be a statement or John would not talk about him like a stranger. Which, as previously explained, he kind of became. John talks shit about and insults Davesprite’s jokes, which he previously did to Dave, and it looks like after a year together Davesprite finally gave up and decided to stop telling them to John altogether. 

John claims that he and Davesprite have no secrets, implying that he thinks the two of them are close as can be. They are so close that they do not invite each other to play their favorite game and constantly insult each other. What about the whole having this really great game that you want to play with other people? Or talking to each other in general? 

Next, instead of confronting John and saying this himself, Davesprite puts Jade between the two of them and insults him, bringing up that one event where he ditched his universe to save John’s ungrateful ass, expecting to still be close friends. Looks like it meant more to him than John is willing to notice. It would be pretty hard for him to contact John in-game anyway, since they do not know each other’s usernames. That is kind of hard to know when you do not even know that they are playing the game. 

That is essentially all he sees in Davesprite. He does not care to look for any deeper meaning, or maybe consider how Davesprite feels, or maybe analyze his personality, or maybe mention anything else about him, because he really does not care. Jade notices, but Dave[sprite]’s “best friend” does not. 

Also, he raps. 

So, according to John, Davesprite is the same as Dave. Davesprite thinks that John is a douche and they stopped talking. In John’s mind, Davesprite is summed up as being magical, orange, having wings, cawing, and rapping. 

When asked to back up his claim that Dave and Davesprite are the same, John could only name physical traits of Davesprite. It is pretty hard to point out differences between two things that you know jack shit about. The one thing that John could point out Davesprite has in common with Dave is his rapping. That is the only thing he could remember about Dave. Or, maybe, the only thing he ever noticed about Dave. John thought Dave’s rapping sucked in the first place and was constantly insulting it. No wonder he does not rap so much anymore. 

The two of them are not on good speaking terms and view the same relationship in two different extremes. 

If John still thinks that Davesprite is the exact same as Dave, that should tell you something about his relationship with Dave.