"On ebay people are paying real money to buy WoW gold... while some guy
in Korea murdered another guy over a rare sword that existed only in an
MMORPG. This essay looks at the way more and more people are failing to
draw a distinction between their real and online lives and takes it to
its logical, yet utterly insane, conclusion."
"If you don't know what an "MMORPG" is, don't worry. It's a geek term,
like "e-mail" used to be a geek term. For now let's just say it's the
most instantly gripping, involving and demanding entertainment
technology ever invented. The addiction rate appears to be about twice
that of crack Cocaine. There are 10 million MMORPG users in the world
and their population is doubling every two years. "
http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/wowworld.html