I had come across an article called "Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as "Third Places" by Steinkuehler and Williams
They referred to the MMORPG space as a type of community - a type of place for social gathering. The implication is that as our daily lives continue to grow more complicated and the work day seems to leave less time for social lives, a certain need has been going unmet. Social interaction, whether, classified as a need or desire, is exploding by way of MMOs and myspaces, and facebooks, etc.
The force behind them is nothing new. It is age old, in fact. Only the medium is new.
There is a saying that thirst is a terrible indicator of dehydration. One often realizes how thirsty he is after the first sips. Paradoxically, though there has never been as many people on earth as there is now, individuals may be parched of social interaction.
