Sometimes just sitting in the lobby or the start menu

Even table games before that served much the same purpose, similar with sports and some hobbies. It's much easier to talk about something or over something while engaging in an activity. They provide a default topic, a medium, a space and a diversion from unwelcome topics when needed; an agreed upon means of social interaction.

Autistic people... Silence during small talk.
We need this, that and that from there, over there and there... starts info dumping

I have three close friends who are abroad and we game once every weekend but we never really talk about what's going on in the game. We just chat

Same. All my close friends all moved in separate directions. We use game night as an excuse to catch up on each others' lives.
- It is exactly the opposite for us. We are all at very separate locations, but since we almost every evening get together on discord, mostly over a game, we don't have much new stuff that is worth talking about over the game. It usually leads to very fun game activities usually, but sometimes it becomes pure gametalk and bores.

So?

Man, you can't have shit nowadays.

I'm having a shit right now ... talking to other men.

It's no different than being at a pub or sports really. A focused activity to keep the mind engaged and allow for other unrelated things to surface as the conversation evolves

Not sure about whether anyone needed an excuse, but yeah. Gaming is social. It’s funny how some people don’t really know, and think about gamers “isolated in their rooms playing video games!” when it is often a very social activity.

Not disagreeing with anything you've said but I think the Tweet was meant to be taken with a little tongue-in-cheek attitude.
- I get that. I was just commenting on a related side issue about people who don’t get that games are also communication platforms.

ironically the game i've enjoyed most is deep rock galactic, where the whole schtick is that you just pop into missions with random people and communicate almost solely via pointing at things and shouting about minerals.

every single time i've been in a voice call with someone online it has been absurdly uncomfortable and i've just wanted to jump out of my skin and run away, i cannot fathom how people even tolerate it.

Rock and roll and stone, brother.
Got to have the right kind of game to foster that kind of online friendship. Talking in game is generally the precursor to going to a discord. DRG and your example miss that step
- DRG is the perfect game for my friends to remain connected because it's low stakes and fun. We can shoot the shit.
- Yeah I don't mind voice calls with people I know well or in game chat, but I've had friends that could just pop into a VC on like the apex discord to find teammates and that idea just fills me with so much dread lmao
Mushroom! Mushroom! Mushroom!

Pffft I'm a dude and I talk to my bestmate on the phone for hours every day, his wife calls me his mistresses.

NGL I always hoped Discord would be more... Diverse in its topics? Most discords have like all these gaming channels and one or two lonely hobby or selfies channels. Our social media is so bad at helping us.

Discord's main purpose is to be a gamer focused chat program. Isn't Instagram a selfie chat app?
- I guess but Instagram is designed to feast on our insecurities. Like I open it and its just so many edited perfect photos etc. Discord, for me, fills... Too many social media roles! It is a gaming chat app, but I need more than that.
Selfies channels?! It's that a thing?

You can always be an antisocial online gamer like me. Headphones off. Other people are basically just advanced AI
Lovely
- and some of us play like a below-average ai.
I usually fall into the same category but I think the difference is that when I do play online it’s usually with actual friends not random people. Random people suck.

Used to do this in my late teens. Now almost 40 and miss it very much.

Relevant VLDL https://youtube.com/watch?v=uBKp-oQYTWU