Reddit mentions of Video Games and Social Competence (Routledge Advances in Game Studies Book 1)

I too have made lifelong friends with my former guildies and guild leaders and they have definitely changed my life for the better! Unfortunately, there remains a stigma to meeting friends online, especially through online games. Friends made through online games are often perceived as “less valuable” friendships because "how can online friends be be “real” friends if you don’t interact with them face to face?". I think that this stigma and misperception of online friends as "not real" friends will begin to change over time as online games continue to become more prolific. Just like with online dating. The stigma has only just begun to lift.

In the meantime, you can take solace in the fact that friendships made through online games have been found to be more intimate and more long lasting that friendships made through other mediated contexts (social networking, for instance) and can be as “real” as any “offline” friendship (see here and here. I also talked about this a lot in my PhD research).

I hope your Mom enjoys the book! There is a little bit in there about the value of online gaming communities - hopefully, that will help to break the stigma!