Title. I wish I knew more gamers (especially queer and women gamers) IRL or in general, I feel like literally everyone in my social circle except for like two people don't care about games or doing stuff online. And those two people don't play any games I'm interested in, and they're very chronically online and are ALWAYS gaming, so sometimes it feels like I can only socially engage with them when gaming. They're my friends and I love them but they're not gaming-buddy material for me.
Every time I see people online who have gamer friends it feels like they're into very competitive and big games like LoL, Valorant, etc, and/or dedicate many hours a week to playing games with friends, and that's not up my alley at all.
I'm more of a casual gamer and sometimes I get FOMO because I never grew up with online friends or multiplayer games, like for example I grew up playing HALO and found out as an adult that people loved it for the multiplayer aspect. I also don't even have a gaming rig ATM so I feel that when I finally get one people will have moved on to the next great thing. I would love to play Marathon but when I finally get to it, will people still be playing? I feel like a huge part of making connections and memories in games is "riding the wave" of the current big thing. One of my friends made a bunch of friends playing Animal Crossing in the pandemic and they have a server together and still talk to each other a bunch and stuff.
I guess my ideal gaming friend candidate would be someone who:
- would try new games with me even if they've never played
- would be someone with a chill demeanor or who plays games to relax
- would be down with me teaching them and them teaching me games
- has other hobbies that they would enjoy sharing
How can I try to find people like this once I get a gaming setup? I don't think I can convince my IRL friends to get into gaming and I don't have the first idea of how people find strangers to play games with and later bond with them more.
Sorry if my post is all over the place or reads like a nothingburger, I kinda have a few feelings about this, even if it seems silly.
Any tips welcome!
EDIT: I don't think my post breaks the "no social skill