Ok these people are SUPER engaged. Some might term it fanatical and others might call it more than that. WOW players collaborate on line in the world’s most popular MMORPG (if you have to ask then you won’t understand) that has 11 million members (that pay a monthly fee to access servers around the planet). The players can talk and share in real time, the content is truly genuine and the engagement motives are simple to understand – they just want to play the game.

It can be addictive for sure and there are even support groups for those that cannot control themselves since they can play for 16 hours per day or more. It would be easy to pass off this group as a bunch of computer geeks with no life if there were not so many of them. But their sheer numbers and committment level make them a formidable force.

Let’s see 11,000,000 people who actually PAY something to network with one another both verbally and in writing sharing a real-time experience with participants worldwide. Facebook and MySpace may have more members but neither has figured out any kind of sustainable revenue model.

WOW proves that true user engagement combined with revenue can coexist after all! It’s just a different kind of social network.