Academic vs General Research
Over at my WoW guild's message board, a member posted a link to an article done on the fly to see what type of people/players are playing MMOG's. Their methodology?

"we decided to spend ALMOST 30 MINUTES compiling the 10 player archetypes that make up the barren husks of human matter behind the keyboard. And trust me, we covered them all. Didn't miss one. See for yourself!"

Interesting archetypes I daresay with a touch of comedy for good measure ... I responded by offering the guild some academic culture with links from terra nova, richard bartle and nick yee (forgive me, my links seem broken from this point of the post on..). I know that what separates academic research and material like this article is methodology. But I guess it kind of bothers me that someone who spends a year of their life (slight exaggeration here for effect) working towards creating a typology of player types in mmog’s only to reach the same conclusion as a bunch of guys who, in 30 minutes outline 10 player types complete with comedic anecdotes and humorous pictures.