>>359036740
popularity is always an illusion. popular people don't realize they're popular until someone else tells them they are.
there's no such thing as "permanent friends". friends are situational and conditional.
friendship with someone is based on the two of you doing things together regularly.

if you want someone you met in vrc to continue being your friend even after you quit playing vrc, you need to make sure they meet the following criteria:
1. that person actually does other stuff in their life besides play vrc. otherwise, don't count on them ever being more than a "vrc friend", who obviously stops being relevant if you stop playing vrc
2. the other stuff that person likes doing is stuff you also like doing and it is stuff you can do together

and then, you have to still message that person every now and then and invite them to do things you both like together. you can't expect them to permanently "be your friend" (i.e. trying to arrange doing stuff together with you) unconditionally for all eternity if you never do the same yourself.

is your goal really a friend, or is your goal just feeling desired?
if you really wanted friends, it would be an easy as just doing the stuff you like, in communities filled with people doing those same things. that's the fastest way to make the realest friends. if you're not doing anything in your life and have no community where you fit, that kind of explains why you're alone. the "popular" people are just people that have many hobbies and like doing them together as part of a community.