It seems that the Australian Journal of Emerging Technology and Societies has released a game-related online issue of its periodical, and, rising prominently to the top of its table of contents would be 'Game Geek’s Goss: Linguistic Creativity In Young Males Within An Online University Forum'.

No, seriously - the abstract says it all: "Leet speak or 1337 5p34k, the language used by the participants in this study, incorporates symbols and numbers as substitutes for the letters contained in words... Of particular fascination to the authors was that despite the clear self- demarcation of the group from the users of ‘leet speak’, and their insistence on its use solely by ‘newbs and wannabees’, the group continued to use the language to communicate with each other online." D00d, that's so RSI Demo Maker! [Via Ludology.]