Any gamer who's been playing massively multiplayer online games for a while has come across (?!) a couple of wood elves entwined in passionate embrace in an abandoned treehouse in Kelethin or has stumbled upon a pair of night elves deep in some abandoned mine grinding out more than just a few quests.

For some, cybersex and MMOGs just go together -- virtual trysts seem a natural extension of living in a fantasy world.

But be warned: you're flirting with danger. if you've got a real-world partner it's cheating, according to psychologist Dr. Janet Hall, who specializes in relationship counseling. "As soon as secret, intimate, emotional or physical information is shared, it's cheating," she told The Age.

Today's New York Times examines the success of World of Warcraft from a global perspective, concluding that "World of Warcraft has become the first truly global video-game hit since Pac-Man in the early 1980's."

In addition to the new angle, this piece provides a nice benchmark for mainstream media coverage of MMOGs. Just a few years ago, media were wont to "report" on the gameplay habits of Everquest and Asheron's Call players with a sensational "watch these people ruin their lives playing games!" tone that just wasn't fair. Often, introversion, depression, and suicidal tendencies were ascribed to people who choose to play games for hours at a time. The Times's coverage is much more balanced, finally allowing an eloquent gamer (Jason Pinsky) the opportunity to defend his hobby:

"I play this game six nights a week from 8 p.m. to midnight.... most people watch TV at least that much, and television is a totally mindless experience."

Word.

[Update 1: fixed a clumsy headline and formatting in body of post.]

Everquest II, released over 18 months ago, is being continually revived with expansions and adventure packs. Expansions are full-blown boxed releases which add a great deal of content to the game, sometimes introducing major gameplay changes -- adventure packs are cheaper digital downloads that add new zones and story arcs.

The third adventure pack, The Fallen Dynasty, features the addition of a new set of Eastern-themed zones. In order to feel foreign, a strong Oriental touch runs through the landscape, from pagodas to rice paddies. The adventure pack is heavy on story, and players will have to earn the trust of NPCs before parts of the story unfold.

Sony placed a full-page advertisement in the April 2006 issue of PC Gamer congratulating that magazine on their recent decision to stop taking advertisements from companies that amass huge piles of gold and other virtual items in games like World of Warcraft and Everquest in order to sell these virtual goods for real money. (The practice is often referred to as "real money trade," or RMT.)

First, we've got to give props to PC Gamer, because they've taken an editorial stance against advertising that they feel harms certain game environments. More game magazines should be willing to turn down advertising revenues when they feel it compromises editorial quality.

That said, Sony's note sounds a little whiney. They write, "For every fix we make in our games, for every new tool we develop for our customer service teams, there are literally thousands of unscrupulous people around the globe looking for ways to poke holes in our games and find exploits in our worlds."

Replace "games" and "worlds" with "software" and you've got a statement that could have been written by any company developing Internet-enabled applications. Welcome to the Intarwebs, dudes! Address complaints to Al Gore, plz thx.

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