Third Sphere

with the big success of world of warcraft ,
MMOs as medium of entertainment has become mainstream .

There are a lot of excellent single player games, that have never
achieved the level of success world of warcraft is having.
Furthermore , The most Successful ones boast robust
Multiplayer components .

So, what's the appeal of Online gaming ?

To make an analogy lets look at coffeeshops.
on sunny days, They seem to be bustling with Customers.
Most patrons though are there alone .they sit at their table
enjoying the hot beverage ,while reading a book or flipping
through the local newspaper.Now ,I can argue that i could
brew the same coffee ,sit ona chair in my sunny backyard
and abosultely enjoy it alone.
So , what drives people to flock to coffeeshops ?

As people , we spend the majority of our time in 2 social spheres.

The first sphere is the Home . At home , we eat , sleep ,
enjoy our families company , entertain friends among many other things .

The second social sphere is the work place. whether it is aneducational institute , corporate environment , or a local businessthat's where we spend a lot of time earning a living and interacting with our colleagues.

Even though we spend majority of our time in the above 2 spheres,
The leftover time (i.e Leisure time ) is our own .
Social animals as we are, where would we seek social
interaction in our leisure time ?

Enter the 3rd social sphere .

Coffeeshops as they are a good example of the 3rd place theory .
A coffeeshop is a neutral locale , where people withthe same taste
in coffee head to enjoy their brown beverage .the "possibility" to
connect with peers with similar interest is present
if the person decides to seek it.

Another example is an amateur sports league team .
The members of such teams come together twice or more a week
to enjoy their activity of choice , and play competitive games
against other teams of similar minded individuals.
Similarly to the example above , the "possibility" to establish
personal social relations beyond the activity itself is available to be pursued .

To generalize , any location where a random group of people
congregate to partcipate /enjoy a certain activity
(that activity not being work related ) can be considered a 3rd place .

MMOs are the new 3rd places .
Virual Worlds to engage in and explore alone ,
share and enjoy with a buddy, or compete against
other like minded individuals under a predetremined set of rules .
Or pretty much do just about anything .
With this new Medium , The possibilities are Endless.