Boyfriends Friends????

My Boyfriend finds his friends to be very important to him, I don't have a problem with this because I feel the same about my best friend but there are some things I find hard to compromise with. Me and him have been dating for a while, and we've bumped heads about his friends quite a bit. I have nothing against any of them, I am probably one of the nicest people you could ever meet. My problem is their attitudes towards me (or maybe its in my head). For example, the last time he brought me around his friends I spoke and said hello to all of them. They gave me an equal hello and I sat down in the living room with the rest of them. They start to joke, laugh and converse amongst each other and I listened and smiled..really not saying much. The reason for this is because I don't know these ppl, im a shy person and until I feel warmed up amongst a group of complete strangers I say NOTHING about I keep my mouth shut until I feel its right to just jump into conversation and interacting. No one mind you makes an attempt to get to know me or make me feel comfortable. No one says a single word to me while Im there. My Boyfriend keeps looking at me and because I'm not saying anything he keeps asking if I'm okay, I tell him yes and continue sitting. They start to play the game, he asks if I want to play, I say no and I decided to watch. When we leave he gets upset. He says that I was being anti-social and it bothers him. I get upset because I felt like he wanted me to kiss their *** and that's something I wont do. I told him plain and simple that once I felt comfortable that it would be easier for me to communicate with them BUT these ppl seem uninterested in me period!! Like I said, they say nothing to me and I feel like these aren't my friends why should I have to go out of my way for them??? He has even tried to include me in the conversations, but I still feel a sense of unacceptance from his friends or feeling like they think they are better than me (maybe I'm wrong, but I get the impression from them all that they feel higher than others) Now we have come to the point where I don't go anywhere with him and his friends just to avoid conflict. I want to be able to be around him and his friends but I find it very uncomfortable.....anyone been in this type of situation before who can give me some advice??