@link i text every day with this guy i met playing(read: trolling in) Battlefield 4. I have never met him, I don't know his name or the names of his kids (do know the name of his loud ass dog though) but he is one of my dearest friends.
Videogame servers were a lot like that too.
I think about the people I played BF4 with, Shout Out To My 24/7 China Rising folks, Shrimpy, Gengar, that whining conservative who everyone would make fun of, my friends from Brazil i cant remember your names!
After a while it becomes normal.
There's people I have known for almost 50 years only by their online handles. One guy I didn't know his name until I had to ask him because he got me a job and it would have been embarrassing when I was introduced to my new boss if I didn't know it.