too much WoW!

since i can remember I've been an major fan of mmorpgs, well any game, through which i can actually interact with real people. this one aspect of an internet virtual environment (V.E.) part of the online gamers world is playing the game itself which is rather basic to online veterans but second to this is interaction with other avatars(players) from around the globe. part of gaming cultures is to compete with others in you niche', online games are a major example to this. whether they are fps rpg rts. they all take on some form of competition. most of these competitions take up serious amounts of people patience and time, I've clocked around 50 or so days in one such mmorpg.
as one gets to know his culture or niche he finds himself online more often that he should be, making invisible friends, maybe starting a complete fantasy life that takes up more than its fair share of a persons time. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/11/21/wow_lawsuit/

as far as gaming culture developed into many different niches, people still ignore and refuse to accept that gaming cultures are widely apparent and get to people in many different formats, such as forums, blogs, articles, games themselves, face to face chat, even if they don't wish to believe so. gaming cultures are what drive people to debate -key word- compete and argue over what they believe is to be true, whether it be games or any other medium. people take part in gaming cultures through the many formats to be more involved in their chosen culture. In truth gaming cultures have formed many derivatives and kind-of split games in different independent pieces, such as video game music (http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=home) and commonly known retro games. everyone that is interested in the games industry knows of or is part of the games culture by default, but it is up to them to take it a step further to be more involved.

everyone that i call friend -that is interested in games- likes some form of game derivative and that is why the game industry will continue to interest all gamers and non gamers alike, who knows maybe in the future something new will come of game cultures. its a partly unexplored area of games and with every new game style or game development comes a new niche for people to take part in.