The excellent virtual world blog 3PointD has managed to uncover a new mainstream article about MMOs, as it notes: "Nice to see that the Washington Post today has an unabashedly positive spin on massively multiplayer online games and their power give far-flung family and friends a different way to connect."

As the piece explains: "Some families play games to maintain contact from far-flung towns; some parents play online games with their kids in the next room as a way of bonding with them. Game designer Jack Emmert... played his own game, City of Heroes, to stay in touch when his brother was serving in the Army and based in Korea."

The much-quoted James Paul Gee also has a nice mention: ""The prediction that this was going to be an isolating technology turned out to be so thoroughly wrong," said Gee, who sees the worlds forming in these games as a new type of public space. Gee started studying video games five years ago and ended up with a World of Warcraft habit of his own -- he plays on a team with other professors and academics." Hey, it's the WoW academic all-stars!