Arstechnica reported on a publication called Journal of Virtual Worlds Research that is focused on understanding the sociology of digital worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life.

A few interesting things from Arstechnica’s report include:

• Intimacy formations in real and virtual worlds have striking similarities.
• The National Science Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant for further research in this field.
• The distinction between online and offline socialization isn’t always clear. Instead of choosing to play alone at home players often go to play games at certain cyber cafes where they know there’ll be able to meet all their real world friends.
• Certain cyber cafés in China offer foot massages while gamers continue with their quests.
• World of Warcraft’s total population is twice as large as Scotland’s.

Read the full article to find out more about things such as a Second Life made for the blind and the link between President Obama and gaming ethics.

Source: Arstechnica