The Daily Grind: IRL

I really like Sanya Thomas (although she's Sanya Weathers now, isn't she?)-- I read her stuff every day when she was writing ye olde Camelot Herald as a Dark Age of Camelot CM, and and while her blog, Eating Bees (as in a job you signed up to do) runs a little blue sometimes, it's definitely an interesting read for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes of MMOs.

And in this recent entry, she lashes out at folks who use the term "in real life" to describe something that occurs out of game. She says that saying "IRL" makes the time spent in an virtual world somehow seems less real, when really, you're actually sitting at an actual computer, and having actual interactions with other people online.

Now, her argument is a little more academic than practical-- of course there's a difference between virtual worlds and "real life," and most of the people who use "IRL" don't do it to devalue their ingame activities; they use it to describe something that happens in a place that (we assume-- whoops, this just got deeper) is real.

So what do you think? Does "IRL" imply that what you do in a virtual world is somehow worth less respect? Are the friendships you have with the people you know ingame not "real" friendships, or the achievements you're earning not "real" achievements? Or is it just a phrase you use for lack of a better one? And if so, is there a better one? "Nongame"? "Out-of-game"?