> 'Making friends' doesn't occur by just being in proximity to people. [...] Quite likely at the end of the night they'll return to their lives and you won't be invited to interact with them again until the next meeting.

Yes because sharing an activity involves greetings, interactions, group laughs which break the glass before more conversations starts and making friends becomes naturally a possibility.

Friendship is something that grow, not something that gets created in all its deepness from nowhere.