You can make a case for either situation, at least from my experience. I’ve been a part of an RP where we were all really good friends, discorded and stuff. That went like two years and went pretty far. And then one of my present ones has been going for a year and a half. We don’t really talk in the OOC or have a discord. I think the GM made something magical (and is magical) so most of the player base is still around.