A lot of people have been poking fun at this study, which is if you read it carefully, pretty close to my corner bar theory, only with academic citations.

The researchers, Constance Steinkuehler and Dmitri Williams, claim that MMOs function not like solitary dungeon cells, but more like virtual coffee shops or pubs where something called “social bridging” takes place. They even liken playing such games as “Asheron’s Call” and “Lineage” to dropping in at “Cheers,” the fictional TV bar “where everybody knows your name.” “By providing places for social interaction and relationships beyond the workplace and home, MMOs have the capacity to function much like the hangouts of old,” they said.

The general response I’ve seen: “Duh”. But the study is important, in that press and parents are a lot more likely to believe that games can be healthy if an academic tells you, rather than some industry flunky like myself.

“In other words,” Williams said, “spending time in these social games helps people meet others not like them, even if it doesn’t always lead to strong friendships. That kind of social horizon-broadening has been sorely lacking in American society for decades.”

I believe that Raph once said that the ability for like-minded people to gather without restrictions of geography is one of the most powerful reasons why the Internet is useful to so many people. Sadly, our games still don’t do enough in this regard – we could be doing much more to match what’s already being done on the Internet.