In her article World Vision (Autore Magaine Issue 6, ISSN 1832-9152), Justine Larbalastier compared the current use of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) like World of Warcraft and virtual worlds like Second Life with the similar phenomenon of Dungeons & Dragons, fandoms and sci-fi conventions in pre-Internet, pre-PC times.

Interesting facts and observations aside, what struck me was how our core human nature applies regardless of the time, venue or situation.



So what has the Internet changed? Only the ability for people to connect with others faster and further. Easier to create and maintain multiple artificial identities.

(Interesting numbers in 2009: World of Warcraft has 8 million users (that is almost twice the population of Singapore, or slightly less that twice of Sydney, or Toronto); Second Life has 20,000.)