What are MMOs really about?

If anyone is qualified to wax philosophical on the lessons of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, it's probably Raph Koster.

Koster is the chief creative office of "EverQuest" and "Star Wars Galaxies" publisher Sony Online Entertainment and an old-school MMO philosopher. And he's recently laid out his thoughts, almost poetically, about what such games teach, according to Wonderland.

For example, he begins, "Lone heroes can't slay dragons. It takes an army."

Or, "Intelligent beings who have civilizations and languages of their own are generally evil and should be slain."

Or maybe, "Charity is not a virtue; in fact, it's frequently physically impossible."

Now, koans about real life these are not--at least, we hope they're not.

Instead, they're little nuggets of Koster's musings on what his many years of making MMOs has taught him about life therein.

And some might take these musings as a rant, or a "cutesy joke." Instead, Koster writes on his site, it's a lament.

About what exactly, he doesn't say. But it's safe to assume, based on the general tone of the post, that he is a little disenchanted with the general behavior and dynamics of MMOs and their communities.