The first campaign I’ve ever played advertised on a community related to a play podcast, tangentially related to D&D, and It was incredibly fun! It fizzled out, but it opened a whole new world for me.

I invited the GM and some players from that campaign, my best friend and advertised it on the same community. That campaign I started like 3 months after I first played TTRPGs, and is the longest campaign I’ve played, over 2 and a half years long! Very invested players

I’ve directed a campaign by responding to a group looking for GM but it fizzled out because I didn’t prep as much as I’d want, though mostly because players realised they didn’t have enough time to play. All others I’ve directed have been with the same people, or extended group related to the first campaign I’ve gm.

Looking for them was a bit harder, and I I used any and all tools; roll20, internet forums, discord, Reddit, you name it, I’ve probably used it. My most played was in like 2021-2022 with a different game every day, gm every Saturday and other Sunday, and player all days minus Sunday (yup, double dipping).

I had a lot of fun but I don’t think it was that healthy in hindsight because I was dealing with depression and It was my main way of socialising, and it drained me playing so much yet I always wanted more. Now I have a much more healthy and casual relationship, which I’m happy with

WHEW THAT WAS QUITE LONG TL;DR: I’ve used everything I could to find games as a player, but as a GM it has been very easy and with my usual friend group.