Making friends and having people to chat with is so important to me. When I was in the WoW beta, I didn't play much because none of my friends were in it, and when I did play, I was always looking for someone to chit chat with. In fact, the only thing lacking for me in the release of WoW is that so many of my guildies from EQ didn't make the switch. I miss them literally every day, everytime I logon, I wish that I could have moved my guild as a whole over to WoW. We all still keep in touch through the message boards, and people who have left the guild have even asked to be requilded in the Iksarian Broods (my guild) before they quit the game. My guild has had several RL meets, and many of the guildies are close, close friends now that talk on the phones etc. [WoW, F, 26]

I like interacting with other people, chatting, etc., but for me the game world is a game world and I have a pretty low desire to make what I consider 'good friends' as that would involve a real-life component I'd rather keep separate from my game playing. [EQ2, M, 39]

I love to talk to people, all of the time. I generally am talking to several people at a time, and feel slightly uncomfortable in silent groups. My friends list grows often. When I played EQ1, I maxed my friends list (100 players) at one point and had to delete a few alts of friends. [EQ2, M, 17]