You are not dead yet. Live! Make friends & memories, at any age.
Yes, this Blog has a fair amount of "Good Reddit posts" examination. Works for me, a good idea and a good (human-made) text is a good idea and text.
The screenshot above was from this thread:
https://old.reddit.com/r/JustGuysBeingDudes/comments/1qaloty/just_some_boys_living_a_core_memory_but_they_dont/
The OP was deleted but it was a nice video of a few young boys sitting in a room on floor and playing split-screen Minecraft, it looked to be recent.
There are some good responses to people trying to "Gotcha" or preemptively saying why they could not, or would not, do something similar.
D&D is just one avenue, a good one, but the post was not really about that. Instead it is about getting older and lonelier and mostly reminiscing about a time when you were younger and were in the moment with one or more friends -in real life- instead of making new memories and friends.
Yes, it is often harder when you are older. Yes, some people find it easier to show up to places, or talk to and invite strangers, to put in that work. It is maintenance and "work". It is also very worthwhile, necessary and even essential for your mental and physical health and countless opportunities.
It is absolutely a muscle, the more you do it, the easier it gets. Board game meetups, very casual sports hang outs, book clubs, TTRPGs, might just be some of the easiest, cheapest and lowest pressure environments. There are thousands of other options, whichever any person tries, likes and consequently can show up to with some consistency, all awesome. Whatever works for that person.
Anything that is in the same room as other actual human beings, is what we evolved to love and need.
Solely online gaming, even while using Discord (I never have had Discord & absolutely would delete my account if I had one, now that they want your ID and/or biometrics!),.. is not it.
Here I wrote about the importance of showing up (in real life) and some idea on how to be reliable, reachable and why you should almost never cancel last minute:
https://anon0.bearblog.dev/show-up-how-to-be-a-reliable-and-reachable-friend-it-matters-a-lot/