Excellent observation Lag - I'm fascinated by the social/psychological effects that MMORPGs & Games in general have on people (check out Nick Yee's work on research in MMORPG's if you want to geek out more on this stuff, I've been following him since he started his work back during EQ1). I think when on the forums we aren't on the "gamer high". Which when playing the game, it's what gives us that escape from reality & sometimes feeling of euphoria... the "gamer high". So people are generally in a better mood.
But when on the forums, we aren't doing the most enjoyable thing - which is to play the game. And many are probably writing from work during the day, which compounds the "grumpiness" factor even more (i.e. I would rather being at home playing! Ugh!).
And I also think Glaani has a good point with the anonymity on the forums versus the game which is a bit more face to face & personal. The closer and more personal you get to a person, the less they act like the "jerk" they seem to be online. This is definitely a known & measured phenomenon.
OK I probably rambled too much... thanks for the brain teaser Lag!
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