Nothing
It's easier to find people online who share the same interests and feed of off each other.
Pretty much always can talk and do stuff together
A blank slate as a starting point
almost always available to talk
Same interest and/or hobby
I think sometimes you can find someone with more similar interests to you when you're not limited by location, and knowing someone in a different place can be an interesting look into a different culture.
Additionally, sometimes with anxiety I find it easier to talk to online friends, I think its because they're isolated from my other friends or community (opposed to a school or work friend for example) because if I embarrass myself, they can't go tell everyone I know.
Easier to be honest with them
They don’t know other people in my life and therefore it’s easier to tell them things. More availablility at different times of day due to timezones
Sometimes a different kind of connection. Most of the time they live in a different city and have other life experiences, so i get out of my usual "bubble".
Anonymity
Sometimes it feels easier to open up to them
Being fully open without repercussions
I meet a lot of them in ranked play meaning that we are of similar skill level and usually means we can play that specific video game together.
Can tell them anything without feeling judged for the most part
Availability
a sense of removal from real life. i can tell secrets that won't get back to irl communities because there's no ties.
maybe by not judging me based off appearance alone or who i might associate with in real life or what they hear from other people solely because of the fact they don’t know me in that aspect
Shared interests are a large one. My offline friends might not share that many interests with me but we mesh well personality wise. With online friends, our personalities mesh well and we are guaranteed to have shared interests due to the fact that we met while exploring our interests.
most of my online friends share far more interests with me than my offline friends do, since it's easier to seek out & meet people who share your exact interests, so we can talk about semi-obscure things together in detail