As I discussed here the other day in another article concerning the proper creation of a guild, the social aspect of MMOs is a vital one and without it, the game would quickly become boring. For that reason, all developers put a lot of time and effort into creating a good socialising platform within their games such as chat and guild creation tools. But as the popularity of online worlds grow, could we perhaps be seeing a decline in the use of online social networking sites and MMOs quickly overtaking?

By Dean Sherwin

I mean think about it. Although social networking sites such as Bebo and My Space are quite popular at the minute, does it seem all too unrealistic that small stage online world could take over?

MMOs the new social networking?

There would have to be improvements made to how user information is displayed in the MMO in order to compete with social networking site's member profile pages. But that really is about it. Servers are getting so advanced that literally hundreds of thousands can be logged in and not a single glitch can occur. With how big servers such as the ones in WAR and WoW can handle these kinds of figures, its not an unlikely prospect.

Sony's recent release of 'Home' for the PS3 only proves my point further. In this game, friends can interact within one world where they can play games, chat, make new friends or simply walk around in other peoples houses or around the area. It provides a basic view of the future of social networking where MMOs aren't simply based around achievements and levelling up, but around social interaction.

What ever the future use of MMOs, I cant see the video game aspect dropping away either. I think that the most plausible outcome is a combination of the two , giving the users the best of both worlds all rolled into one.