The more things change, the more they stay the same. In 07 I made close friendships on the rs servers, enough that my friends would ask where I was if I took a few days. We reconnected years later, and if I was less asocial we could've met irl. I've been playing 07scape again and while I found a fun clan chat, I've been invited to several others by people I'm chatting with in public, due to just being prosocial and maybe well-adjusted.

My point is, maybe people have a higher barrier to entry for 'online friendship', now, as adults, but at least in this same game, people still reach our and form bonds despite there being little in-game support for that socialization. Many still recognize that it's the funny yellow text that touches the heart, and not the count of exp in stats.