Are Your Online Gaming Friends Really Your Friends?S  You spend
your days playing with them. Maybe they're your backup in a
first-person shooter. Perhaps they heal your World of Warcraft
guild raids. You count on them, and they count on you, but do
you count them as friends?  As I was wondering through the
morning news, I stumbled over a Charm City Moms column in The
Baltimore Sun asking the question, "Are Your Virtual Friends
Real Friends?" In the short article, Liz Atwood observes her
children talking about playing games with friends online,
prompting her to ponder that question.  "When they play with
children on these gaming sites, are these friends? Does a friend
have to be someone you see face-to-face or can you be friends
with someone you never meet?"  I've been playing MMO games for
more than a decade now, from Ultima Online to World of Warcraft
to Second Life, and I've often referred to the people I play
with on a regular basis as friends. It just seems natural.  But
to someone looking in from the out