the only place i kinda got to know some people on was steam. and that was only cause i played on the same server as them, and i don't really even remember how i started interacting with them
but yeah, i too was doing nothing but be online/rotting my brain with chinese cartoons and playing video games for a good two years, so i lost what little friendships i had with irl people, and was a little anti-social during this time. these random online people kinda helped me realize that your world's not as self-contained as you think. idk how to really explain the feeling without sounding pretentious, but yeah.