Acronyms in [cyber]Space

Over the last 3 years that I have been working on research surrounding game studies and identity, the shift in acronyms - much like definitional terms in the field - have been confusing at best. After a good coffee and chat with a friend, this is where acronyms stand...

When i started writting, the acronym MMORPG was used (massively multi-user online role playing games). Although a mouthful to say when presenting, it covered the four corners of what games like EQ, WoW and Lineage II were...

Then one day when I wasnt looking, I noticed that people were using MMOG (massively multi-user online games) to discuss the same lot of games... a tad perplexing when you consider what other genres could potentially fall under that acronym.

Places like Second Life, There.com et. al were (and are) being called VW (virtual worlds). But Mike asked me if they were called MMOE's (massively multi-user online environments. This got me thinking about the use of differentiating descriptives to talk about online spaces. If we call player versus player combat in an MMO (shortened again for convenience - which is often done ..) PvP, and player versus environment (static monsters) is called PvE.. so why not call VW's MMOE's? Is the issue not with the E but with the MM? A question of linguistic nuance I suppose...

I promised Mike i wouldnt think this out too much, but as one can already see, once it starts rolling ....