When my peers of the class of 1995 were choosing the location of their next academic foray, they used rather diverse metrics.

Most sought qualities of a scholastic nature: professor/student ratio, program depth, academic reputation, etc. Some looked for the legendary appellation of “party school,” seeking to broaden their social horizons. But another quality, perhaps less obvious and rarely listed in brochures, was the diversity of peer groups.

I went to a big state school with 26k students, so finding a group that fit me wasn’t difficult. The internet was just getting its legs – chat rooms, email – these things suddenly became pastimes, though there were still few of us aware of it. Somewhere in my Sophomore year, my friend started playing Ultima Online – it had a small online population then, and I doubt many students of West Virginia University were playing it.

Things have changed. Not only do universities probably boast a rather large number of World of Warcraft’s 8 million players, but now you can actually get a vague idea of what schools have the most players.

Are we seeing another new metric for selecting college? Are you, gentle reader, planning on enrolling in Washington University because 1.7% of the traffic to Mapwow.com originates from its servers?

If so, you should probably not tell your parents.