Once in a while, someone in game studies indirectly raise this question, concerning the contemporary MMORPGS… and I got thinking about it too, while reading a humorous (and acid!) column from wow.com on warlocks, authored by the mage Christian Belt, which I partially quote here:

Little-known warlock facts (click here to redirect to original text)

Fact: Fear isn’t actually something the warlock actively casts at you; it’s an aura he projects at all times, a byproduct of his latent anger at society, his parents, the cool kids, Justin Bieber and sun-tans. In fact, the original name of the spell was Surly Suburban Angst. Simply getting near a warlock triggers the effect in normal people, as does walking within 15 feet of a Hot Topic.

Fact: Don’t worry when you encounter a warlock. Just take care of the pet first, because it’s the larger threat. The warlock isn’t an issue because he’s alt-tabbed out to the damage-dealing forums, complaining furiously about mages, hunters, rogues, his father’s lack of attention and the quality of the last Fallout Boy album.

Fact: Warlocks hate puppies.

Fact: Warlocks have been known to punch babies and kittens.

Fact: Warlocks sparkle when their skin is exposed to direct sunlight.

Fact: Warlock neighbors drive down property value.

Fact: Warlocks lack sexual stamina.

Fact: Dogs and little children can sense a warlock’s presence. Just like the Devil.

Fact: The only way to get warlock out of your clothes is with lots and lots of club soda and a flamethrower.

Being a warlock myself, I had a good laugh, especially when he says that the warlock Fear spell was originally called “surly suburban angst”. The rivalry between mages and warlocks are part of WoW culture, so the community can relate to the acid dialog between the wow.com columnists Christian Belt and Dominic Hobbs.
I am no exception. When I read Belt’s comments on warlocks, I have in mind a special mage… we used to compete, brag and taunt eachother so hard… and yet we were inseparable when it comes to discussions on game and class mechanics, statistics… always pushing ourselves to performance perfection. We quit playing the game almost at the same time… and I miss him a lot, while maybe he’s probably happy to be free of my warlock curses ;-)
Even if there’s few occurrences of “traditional” or “classic” roleplay while playing MMOs like World of Warcraft and Aion, I think that role and class affects socialization in an MMO. In a moment where everything is “hyper” and wow players are viewed as “hyper workers”, I would suggest that there’s no RPG….. there’s “hyper RPG”.