>>55665845friends? lol
not just to say i could never have friends here but nobody has friends. i dont think you realize what friendship means
anyway, I played pokemon with sibling and neighborhood kids until diamond and pearl, also at the times during gen 3 there were for example random "pokemon clubs" at the beach to discuss metropolitan legends with, particularly that of deoxys on the moon which basically became real in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (not the moon thing, but well, everything else. instead of a rocket you use megarayquaza)
After diamond and pearl's peak with the undergrounds, they all stopped playing pokemon except me. mainly this was due to the internet and los drugginos of moderno white asociety, as well as sexual derangement which drove them away from videogames or any crumb of actual sociality in favor of american AIDS
My sibling only came back with Pokémon X and Y and GO, but I did like a single battle with him so I basically still played them alone
I got into Pokémon, at least early so, due to him having leafgreen though. Nowadays he plays shitty ass mmorpgabcdefg of pokemon on the pc while i still play the actual games
The only positive thing I can mention related to the internet in the context of Pokémon sociality is a poketuber from my country which is very intelligent if he wants to, nowhere near as handicapped as american poketubers or, well, any other poketuber leech.