Specifically, Quakeworld and games coming after that. I still remember fondly how small the circles were, especially with Quakeworld. You could play on a server, and there were not that many, and actually see the same people there night after night, getting to know them and feel respect when you saw the more veteran ones entering the server.
And actually talk to those same people in IRC afterwards. Nowadays, there are so many players everywhere that it's very difficult to have a sense of connection to the people, as most times you might never see the same players again or connect with them in any way.
There was just so much more fun stuff happening there, when games were not nerfed to death and designed for everyone. I mean, nowadays when you play a online game, it's just so goddamn balanced and researched and overdesigned in many ways in modern games, and don't me let even start on the loot boxes and experience and all the crap around the core game logic that is not even relevant.
Sometimes I miss those days where everything was smaller and not everyone was on the internet.