Human nature will never change much, so that part of the book is eternal. But the fact that Scott can write things about tanks, healers, and nukers archetypes and cover 90% (by subscription numbers) of all MMORPGs is kind of revealing. When will somebody develop a game where the tank is protecting the cloth wearer by physically standing between the monster and them, and not by spamming “taunt”?

I haven’t read the book, but this sounds like it says as much about Scott’s ability to write as it does about the nature of virtual game environments and what players are likely to do with the freedoms and restrictions afforded them. Either way, the notion that MMOGs aren’t that different in the way players can be expected to behave should be well past the novelty phase by now.

Maybe not. But this might be one more book to club arrogant designers over the head when they talk about how different their game will be.