I think I know which LS you are talking about. Anyway, DM is a good friend of mine. Last year his home Internet died last year, and he basically stopped logging in. But I think there are more than that -- GF, career or whatever. And he lives in a crazy city where people never sleeps, hustle in a subway station even with a grocery or shopping bag, and a place that is always, kind of, something to do.
There is quite a bit of LSes are only run by member seniority. As someone grew up in the East, I do agree Asians tend to put more focus on that than probably people in the West. The thing is, regardless, how online gaming groups are ran, often it gets way too complicated. It is often quite close to office politics, and sometimes much worse as people often (over the Internet) show little accountability, and often a teenage and 40 years old mom are put in par how decisions are made.
I myself try to minimize the situation that I need to "play" politics with people to get things done over the Internet. Anyway, it is still a game, I try stay on the lighter heart side of things.
Edited, Jul 24th 2009 1:01pm by scchan