Shared Experiences in Gaming - Getting to Know Others while Roleplaying

This post was triggered by an interesting post to my Pathfinder game group. Although this question was not asked within the conversation - I'm the only anthro nerd after all - my brain jumped to all the theoretical implications about what had triggered the conversation. The question is: How do shared experiences in role playing differ from shared experiences when playing oneself in regards to getting to know others and social bonding?

Screenshot of my game group, Ladies, Lairs, and Lager, by Erik Landru