MMOs are a major part of the gamer world today. In fact, most new releases have a partial MMO aspect to them. This unites gamers as a community while allowing the power of the individual to shine. In Spidersilk the novel, Mark is developing his own MMO for work. However, when you begin to look at the details it almost seems as if Mark is living in an MMO. If you take a look at this quote from the book:

“The game was an MMO (massively multiplayer online game) where each player would need to decipher symbols, communicate through symbols, best other players in combat, discover treasures, and even create treasures... While players could communicate with one another in the usual way, there were parts in the game where players would have a distinct advantage while utilizing silent symbolic communication.”

...it is clear that Mark utilizes many of these in the novel. From dream catchers to special ways of communication with friends, it is almost as if Mark has created his consciousness around an MMO lifestyle.