For any of us reading this article, Second Life have surely played a generally large amount of Massively Multiplayer Online games; the good, the bad, and the clones. We read the news articles and hear from both friends and websites, learning of the newest games to hit the market. The industry is one that is growing, both economically and socially. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow gamers who could appreciate my background in the industry, people who were actually envious of my experience in the industry, my nerd-style love for these games. It seems that the nerd persona that has floated around gamers for years is slowly drifting away. In fact, I met some people who completely destroyed my stereotypical concepts of what, or rather who, a gamer is. Now, some of the honor in destroying these beliefs can be contributed to games such as Skate, Call of Duty, and other big-hit games that guys were not ashamed to brag about loving. However, as a whole, nothing has shattered the perceptions that gamers have faced for years more than the explosion of the Massively Multiplayer Online genre.

So now, we ask ourselves; what is the real point in these MMO games? Questions arise and raise difficult to answer questions, ranging from why we play the games, to what makes them unique, even to why we find them fun and what we hope to get out of them. First, I think it is important to understand that these games are different from many in that fact that they have blended together social aspects Second life linden with gaming aspects. Original stereotypes were born from gamers sitting behind a screen playing something by themselves, eating Doritos and drinking Mountain Dew. While these still exist, they are slowly diminishing at an exponential rate due to these socially active games. Now, World of Warcraft obviously played a huge role in mainstreaming MMO games, and even pushing forward a social gaming revolution. Services such as Xbox Live have come to a point where they urge and encourage gamers to become more social. To not only play with friends, but to make friends. Perhaps that is why they appeal to us so much? They allow us to compare and contrast. We can work together and raid bosses, yet we can also compare individual statistics and see who is superior. No longer do we play against the game, conquering mazes and bosses such as we did in platformer games. Instead, we play against each other.