The lonely gamer revisited ?
A large survey of WoW players shows robust patterns of real-life (RL) sociality while gaming. Most people played with RL friends & family; about half made new RL friends in-game. Intriguing cross-cultural and gender patterns were found. Contrary to the lonely gamer stereotype, online gaming can promote RL sociality.
world of warcraft (wow) massively multiplayer online games (mmos) social online games game studies online sociality virtual world