Is it necessary to know other players?

Start discovering games to earn money on your own and then invite your friends. If you don't have any, that's okay.

All games are played in 1v1 (and sometimes in teams). The platforms you sign up on have a system of rating players based on their results.
So you will always find someone to play with who will be on top of your level.

Of course the system allows you to add opponents to your friends list and be able to meet them whenever you want.

Also if you know the nickname of a player, it can be added as a friend.

If you don't know anyone, it's not a problem because we've chosen the most well-known, safest but also the most frequented gaming platforms.

Who, what, how to make money?