i was playing today, and my buddy villainelle was too. and ...
we didn't socialize or collaborate or even communicate at all really.
that's dumb!
i'm thinking twitter-like status updates could help generate a sense of activity and shared play.
i'm thinking that the most useful use could be to send out a general invitation to all your friends to join in a certain activity.
"in hetchey building a tree fort - come help!"
"need a cook in ix to work with the sack of potatoes i just harvested."
"found an awesome new mini-game in nirvana."
i think these kinds of intentional communications and explicit invitations might spur more communication and interaction than an automated status stream with a lot more noise in it [like the stream of automated noise that drowns out local chat]. plus they would have a bit more character and could evolve to fit unexpected new needs better than an automated system.