From On Point: In the age of the Internet, new worlds have flowered online — and giant communities engaged in virtual environments and role-playing games. The biggest of the massive multi-player online role-playing games is “World of Warcraft.” More than eleven million enthusiasts pay a monthly fee to immerse themselves in a vast digital world of elves and orcs and trolls and warfare. One of them is sociologist William Sims Bainbridge. Now he’s come out to say he may have found the future of human civilization in an online game.

From On Point: In the age of the Internet, new worlds have flowered online — and giant communities engaged in virtual environments and role-playing games. The biggest of the massive multi-player online role-playing games is “World of Warcraft.” More than eleven million enthusiasts pay a monthly fee to immerse themselves in a vast digital world of elves and orcs and trolls and warfare. One of them is sociologist William Sims Bainbridge. Now he’s come out to say he may have found the future of human civilization in an online game.

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