In Europe there are neighborhood cafes where people go to unwind. That's where I regularly make contact with my friends and family and whatever. The Internet was rich in content with information, shopping, and games, yet the experience was somewhat empty. Now something deeper is going on.
People are craving communicating with each other - they want a place where they can meet people.
When you go into one of MSN's MUDs you create a character from a head and a body that represents you and your persona. You travel through rooms or spaces and encounter characters that have standard responses, and others that are actual representations of other people visiting the same MUD at the same time. Now when you connect to this virtual world you will find a lot of headless newbies running around trying to figure out how to acquire a new head or to get their original one back. This has evolved into a story which is told and told again on-line. Cyber-reality suddenly has a history, a past, a story to tell.