While I see the logic in your request (it is how Star Trek Online does it, for isntance), bear in mind that many players will play on an alt to "escape" their friends at times and do their own thing without being interrupted, or will run with different circles of friends or in different guilds. The current style of friends list is more similar to how Star Wars Galaxies did it. I am not saying one way or the other is "better" only that there are reasons for/against both implementations. Personally, I am OK with leaving it as-is. It's all a matter of personal preference. To your point about the game claiming that someone "does not exist" if they are offline, I agree that is a problem and should be fixed. I believe that you should be able to add someone to your friends list even if they are offline. Another idea would be needing the person's approval to add them as a friend. A pop up could ask you if you want to allow it or not, and there could be an option to later revoke it if desired. Yet another option would be to offer to add someone as a friend on just that character, or account-wide on all their characters (and yours). That way, everyone would be happy.