From Lord Putnam’s keynote address at the Virtual Worlds Forum in Kings Cross, London which is going on over the next couple of days:
“people are saying World of Warcraft is the new golf for technology focused networkers”
I love it. The parallels are legion – the addiction, the time away from the family, the incomprehensibility to non-players – and now people playing it as much to be social as for the game itself!
To generalise this – building something which is fun AND helps people with their social lives is a great way to get a really sticky community.