But we all know the truth. It's 30 year old lardballs who still live with their parents that play this game. The lack of friends and human companionship drives them to seek out online communities where they can be accepted as who they portray themselves as rather than for who they, unfortunately, are. Seeking companionship is one of the most primal of human urges.

You're working this deal all backwards. It's real life that allows people to portray themselves as someone they, unfortunately, aren't. The cute girl with her hot body, the salesman with his endearing smile, the exec in his spiffing suit, it's all covering the inside. If we'd ever got to see who these people really are, we'de be running away screaming half the time. In worlds like WoW, however, such physicalities have fallen away. What you call 'pretending' is, in fact, often the opposite: that sweet girl you're talking to, well, she really IS sweet. That's who she really is. It's YOU, used to judging people by their outer package, who concludes she's pretending to be something she's not, should it turn out she's fugly in real life.

In worlds like WoW, the avatars notwithstanding, you are what you write: your inner thoughts is what attracts people to you (or repels them from you). There's no cute body to help you out. You can't jiggle your boobs to get your way, or bat your beautiful wide eyes at that policeman, and have him tear up that speeding ticket. It's all just you. Now, if that allows some people to be highly more successful, or popular, than they are/would be in real life, then only so because there's no (sometimes plain, ugly, or plain ugly) cover to judge the book by. That's a good thing, BTW.

You are now beginning to witness the folding of American law and justice. This is where someone in a movie once said that in the future, they abolished all lawyers. Hmmm; could there be some credence to that thinking..??!!

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers". - Shakespeare, King Henry VI (Act IV, Scene II).