But I’ve been enjoying the heck out of my 360 the past several months. Mostly playing either online co-operative or competitive games, naturally. I own very few single-player-only games (other than RPG’s) although I’ll give Batman props for Game of the Year, hands-down.

I’ve made enough friends on the 360 I’m never lacking for someone to play any number of games with, and especially now that Bordercrack is out and nearly every XBL friend I have plays the game. I’ve been co-oping with them plus I have a character just for my blogger-only group. I will say one thing about Borderlands though: I was going to get the game on Steam as well but now I don’t think I will. It’s so fun and addictive, I just keep going for hours and hours, and I don’t want to rekindle my wrist injury I sustained from playing waaaaay too much competitive FPS games a decade ago. Playing anything for too long — such as raiding in an MMO — brings it back and I end up with a wrist-brace and a lot of pain. That alone makes me wish someone would get off their butts and release an MMO for consoles so I can play without worrying about eventual wrist pain from holding a mouse for hours.

For that matter, I don’t even need the “massively” part since no one’s really ever figured out what to do with “massively multiplayer” games other than having a massive amount of players on a server but they’re all separate and playing the game solo or in a “normal-sized” co-op group. So… why bother? Just give me Age of Conan that’s somewhere around 4 to 8 player co-op and I’ll be good to go.

Then again, I don’t consider the community of gamers I “hang out” with to be representative. Most of us are thoughtful and articulate in our opinions, and most of us don’t knee-jerk about whatever the latest bitch-fest is — and even when we do, we tend to do it entertainingly and not just in the style of the whining 8 year old over in the corner.

Maybe I just hang out with too many bloggers and not enough forum-goers. (Heaven forfend!)

I think you’re on target. Because of the fact that people interact with one another in MMOs, the game becomes the medium for communication. Look at…hell…look at Europe, where pubs and bars are oftentimes the center of social activity. Even here in the US. If you go to the bar alone, chances are you won’t have an affinity for it, but if you and your friends visit, and visit frequently, it becomes a home of sorts. You start to care when they change the menu, or the decor, or when they hire or fire staff.

One thing that DOES get lost in the complaining, though, is that people complain because they care. Really. Sure, they aren’t always as articulate or.. restrained…as they could be, but no one REALLY spends time an effort to unleash venom on something they REALLY want nothing to do with. Even “I’m leaving” posts are done because the poster is telling people that they like the game, and are saddened by some of the design choices. It’s an extreme and childish method, but in the end, people are attached to their MMOs.