Well, I'm a bit of an extreme case, imo.
I literally (like, literally. I'm not kidding or exaggerating) have never had friends, not even when I was little -- and not even my family likes being around me, and acts like I'm not even there unless they need something from me. I'm not a psychopath, I don't smell, I'm a clean person, I'm stupidly nice, all that. There's no real reason I can think of for it. But, I'm halfway to 23 years old, and I've never had a friend (in person or on the internet), and never so much as hugged a girl, much less go on a date or find a girlfriend (I'm a guy, by the way, so it's not unheard of).
In person, people seem to like me, and I make people laugh a lot, but I just don't really connect with anyone. I'm not like anyone near my age, and get along better with older folk (40-50+) than I do other early 20s people -- but, even then, I'm very different from most people in my ideals and morality. I'm kind of a boring person in today's society, and I'm not willing to get drunk, high or anything like that, and I'm not a thrill seeker. So, after so many years, I just lost hope really, and stopped caring about people. I'm still nice, still talkative, all that, but I don't go chasing people down. I can go days without talking though, if I'm not at work or something.
On the internet, I tend to be a lot more blunt about things, and speak my mind easier -- not entirely a good thing. What happens most of the time is that I piss people off and make enemies with everyone just because I don't agree with some idea of theirs, or I think differently than they do, or something. I've been playing MMOs for close to 14 years now, and I never really had a guild, never had internet friends to play with, none of that. Just always done stuff solo, or pugged groups for things.
As for girls, I hear that I'm not ugly, even attractive, but I'm still anathema to them. I've had several dating ads / profiles for around four and a half years now, and I've never been on a date, despite messaging people I like and would get along with. Every girl I ever talk to in reality has a boyfriend, or just wants nothing to do with me -- the girl I had a crush on from 4th grade to graduation said, "Sorry, I'm working on myself right now."
So, honestly, I don't really think I have much reason to have any kind of hope whatsoever. I've been alone all my life though, so I'm used to it at this point; doesn't really bother me unless I think about it too much.
