Napster chapster to start up gamers social networking site

Shawn Fanning, creator of Napster, is turning his talents to online gaming social networking. Because it's hard to find your friends in World of Warcraft.

The MySpace for Azeroth will pull data directly from WOW and publish stats and information on a personalized page. Gamers will also be able to instant message while playing, as well as track the progress of their guilds and organize playing time with their online buddies.

... says GameSpot, continuing rather cheekily with:

Rupture will rely on ads for revenue and also focus on exchanging info on gamers' real lives, should they have one.

Gnarf!

In the past year and a half, Fanning has been glued to World of Warcraft, an online fantasy game played by 7.5 million people, and he's frustrated with how hard it is to communicate with other players.

... says BusinessWeek (scrolling required). I wonder which server he's on? Anyway, good news about this service. There's no doubt that it's needed, and not just for WoW...