Online Spaces

Recently I've been thinking of why MMO's and online spaces aren't as conducive to social connection as it once was. I've heard lots of stories of people older than me meeting friends online that turned into real friendships.

I think there's a twofold reason for this. The first reason is probably that there's just so many game out there and it's hard to invest time into them and balance life. I feel like a lot of game communities are broken up more into little enclaves instead of the monoculture that was there before. But I think that also is more of a return to form, like human socialization is returning to pre-industrial form, before we were connected. Maybe this is the natural state for humanity? Just small communities that the mind can handle.

Another reason I think is connected to the first one, in that a lot of younger people don't really have a concept of hangout spaces that older people have. Places in real life that people just used to hang out and you'd always know they'd be hanging out there is now all online, but now you can reach them instantly, no longer separated by location. Which kinda breaks down the whole conceptual aspect of it that people previously built in real life. I also think social skills atrophy (or maybe adapt?) when only existing in online spaces, without physical visual feedback from body language and faces.

I've always been weary of the online word bleeding into the real world. I've noticed certain words and sayings leaking into reality from the confines of the internet. It reminds of Lain, the anime, which to me was about that leaking of the online world into the real world. I'm curious about where the endpoint is when it comes to such a thing.