Encontros familiares na Internet

Famílias americanas. A distância pode separá-las, mas jogos on-line voltam a reuni-las. Através desses mesmos jogos (que são antes de mais uma fonte de diversão), convivem e conversam, fortalencendo os laços familiares.

Far-Flung Families Unite in Cyberspace -- And Kill Monsters
By Mike Musgrove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 20, 2006; Page A01

The Holman family gets together practically every weeknight and most weekends these days, even though Jean is in Dupont Circle, her father and sister Susan are in Pennsylvania, and her uncle and cousin are in Texas.
Together, they're also in Tyria, the virtual world of a fantasy computer game called Guild Wars, where they form the "Jelo" team, fighting the undead and other groups of players as a family unit. Along the way, they also might plan vacations or share family gossip.
Although computer games have often been thought of as a pastime for the antisocial, communal online worlds such as the one in Guild Wars are the hottest things in games these days. The most popular title in this genre, World of Warcraft, has more than 5 million subscribers -- all text-chatting with their fellow players or using microphones and headsets to collaborate on the latest monster-killing mission.

In Washington Post – TechNews