  We present an overview of a series of results obtained from the analysis of
human behavior in a virtual environment. We focus on the massive multiplayer
online game (MMOG) Pardus which has a worldwide participant base of more than
400,000 registered players. We provide evidence for striking statistical
similarities between social structures and human-action dynamics in the real
and virtual worlds. In this sense MMOGs provide an extraordinary way for
accurate and falsifiable studies of social phenomena. We further discuss
possibilities to apply methods and concepts developed in the course of these
studies to analyse oral and written narratives.
