"three quarters of online role-playing gamers make good friends with the people they meet in their virtual worlds, with almost half meeting in real-life situations and one in ten going on to develop physical relationships." Unofruntately struggling to believe this...

"The younger kids are focusing more on their planning and problem solving while they are actually playing the game, while adolescents are focusing less on their planning and strategizing and more on the here and now," Interesting. Thought it would be the other way round.

Good summary of what makes social media and games appealing, with particular reference to WoW.

Positive reinforcement and operant conditioning in MMO are the reason why games like WoW are so addictive. i wonder how important 'stroking' and other more social means of interaction reinforce the interest in the gaming experience.

Much talked about piece. In summary, instrumental group play in the context of quests might not be an important source of social interactions in WoW. Guilds are also very sparse social networks. A society of the spectacle.

Influential researcher and writer about the social life of virtual worlds. A list of his publications is here. Recommend "virtual third places..." (2007)

Great article and resource for studies into MMORPGs.