I do like large gatherings, but I don’t really do well meeting people and making friends in them. I find it too chaotic and difficult to “be myself” with so many people. I also feel there tends to be more shallow conversation in these settings making it great for banter and social energy but less great for connecting and getting to know new folks.
I am looking to meet new people to be friends, as in capital F friend, not just a random person I know. Someone who wants to hit me up and go do something fun, check in on me and see how I’m doing, etc.
How do you go about meeting people and finding social settings that foster deeper connections?
It depends on the group you join! I’m sure there are groups geared towards more casual gamers that have a shallower difficulty curve. I’m a fan of many-session tabletop RPGs (like DnD) and depending on who you have running the group, you can alter the rules to fit the skill set of the people playing. One time my mates and I were at the pub and played an impromptu game of DnD with no characters, spells, items etc - the guy running it just described what the situation was; we described what we wanted to do; and we then rolled a D20 with the guy running it deciding whether or not we were successful, or what unintended consequences happened as a result. It was tonnes of fun!