I grew up in a smallish town (pop 55,000) close to the bay, moved to Los Angeles for college and stayed ten years. I have since returned to the bay, now living in Oakland. Moving from my small town to Los Angeles would have been a nightmare without the implicit college social network. LA is an expansive, compartmentalized city (read Robert Bruegmann's "Sprawl") that is inadvertently ideal for homebodies. While you won't have any trouble finding meetups or fun events, you will have to spend an incredible amount of time getting from point A to point B. The bay area (I'm talking SF, Oakland, and Berkeley) is a much nicer place for transplants, in my opinion - vibrant walking neighborhoods, localized social events, and excellent public transportation. Oakland was my first choice when I moved because it seemed to merge the city feeling that I liked from LA with the small town vibe that I missed from home.
I didn't even consider SF because it is, indeed, full. Seriously. Not only are there a TON of new people looking for apartments, but there are a just as many people who had to settle for crappy apartments that are now looking for better places. Chris is right - Oakland and Berkeley both have hip identities, and are incredibly close to SF. (Neat fact - Oakland was named #5 on the NY Times places to go in 2012, just behind Myanmar and London).
My advice is to get involved with one industry at an entry level while you continue to explore options, build your skills, and learn where you might need formal training. For example, part time work as a game tester would afford you the opportunity to learn about the entire game production pipeline. It would be slow, but you would start to accumulate industry knowledge and relationships that help immensely when applying for full time work.