I think his main point is somewhat off, simply because experience has shown that people don't learn much of their social behavior from games. I don't play WoW or EQ or another other online world game, but I know quite a few people who do.

I do think he some points when it comes to the flaws of WoW though. His point about time vs skill is interesting and valid. All games like WoW give an advantage to people who play more, simply because their characters and players will have more experience and they will have more loot.

But WoW is particularly bad in this regards. There are a large number of 'gather X units of Y' quests that are not difficult, just time consuming, and things like the 'honor system' scoring that rewards total number of hours played rather then any skill in playing. That is combined with a combat system that is noted for the limited level of skill involved.

And some of his points about the terms of service points out huge flaws. Trying to use the terms of service to paste over game flaws is a horrible solution. The game should be designed so that players can't do those things.

But not everything he mentions there fits in that category. Some things can't be designed out of existence in the game, such as cheating via out of game communication, and other can not be totally stopped, such as swearing.

His points about group vs solo and guilds are more subjective game design decisions. I don't agree with all the ones the company is making, but I suspect they have their reasons. Limiting people to one guild may simply be an attempt to keep the number of guilds under control and make membership mean more.

Jay