It order to continue the discussion in a fruitful manner, what we have to do is define what Azure is asking out of a multiplayer game, and decide how that fits in with the current definition.
And that basically is that there's a difference in social interaction, where meatworld based multiplayer forces people to sit together and talk to each other, while online multiplayer allows people the luxury of pretending no one else is playing.
I disagree with this actually, since it's not an accurate comparison. All multiplayer games allow for the option of playing without friends, or as some would call it "Single Player mode". Playing Single Player would be the equivalent of ignoring everyone else on the field as you're playing an MMO. Except for that everything would be made easier for you, as oppose to the MMO which doesn't expect you to be playing alone.
On the other hand, Get togethers work much the same way in Online games as they do in the real world. My father's only reason for playing World of Warcraft is because it's one of the only games where he can constantly meet up with a friend of his who lives in another state (and calls our house every day, and talks a lot :<) I can't imagine how if they got together to play side by side, anything would be different. This is especially true since they play PC games, where hotseating is the alternative to being on different computers.
