I play because I don't live anywhere near my real-life friends. During the week, I have nothing better to do really. Since I've played for so long, I've developed friendships with people from other states, and even other countries. It's the main reason people stick with games like Everquest and Warcraft for so long, in my opinion. It's not so much that they really still enjoy the game so much as that all the community they know online are still there perhaps.