From time to time in my mundane existence, I experience an event that stops me in my tracks. It could be that I hear a song that won’t leave my iPod for weeks. I might discover a new TV show that blends the greatness of the X-Files with familiar Boston landmarks or even the inherent joy that can only be truly appreciated from realizing that Alice In Wonderland is a more engrossing 3-D journey than Avatar.

Last weekend, I attended PAX East at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. I was only there for one day, failed to get on any of the really popular games, and was beaten at PONG by my significant other, but it was still an immensely valuable event — A gathering of humanity that proved that gamers are not the solitary creatures of legend and showed that the gaming community is as comfortable interacting with real human beings as they are sitting in a comfy chair playing Grand Theft Auto.

The bleeding of Virtual and Real Life is what excited me most about PAX East 2010.

I knew my mind was going to be blown by the latest games and I was expecting PAX to be crowded, with the occasional individual dressed as Bowser or Mario. What I was not expecting was to discover that the worlds of online social gaming and virtual communities are translating significantly into real relationships between real people.

We have all read in newspapers about how individuals meet online in a virtual worlds, strick up a friendship, and then meet in the real world. Certain media outlets have fallen over themselves to paint some Internet-lovers as hiding behind their online avatars when their real-life personages are a disappointment. That is unfortunate and a symptom of a society that fails to understand how the virtual world is so important to what we consider to be a “normal” life.

The fact is that online gaming communities are becoming a significant presence offline. These people are interacting with each other on a daily basis whether it be through Facebook or dedicated sites such as WeeWorld that cater to a younger audience. Farmville is expected to have 82 million active users in April, illustrating what a massive behemoth online social gaming has become.

At PAX East, I attended a crowded panel hosted by characters with names like DSmooth, Wombat and Codemonkey, who were all dedicated to online gaming but whose friendships had extended beyond the narrow confines of the computer screen and into regular meet-ups with fellow gamers. They use the virtual community to add to their lives; to them the social interaction and the friends that are made online are just as important as those that they’ve made in the “real world.” Stewart “Wombat” Nacht works in a physical environment but considers his life to “have become significantly better” since he joined a virtual community. He sees no separation from the real and the virtual.

This sentiment was echoed by Derek “DSmooth” Nolan who founded 2old2play.com — a site that caters to the older gamer. He believes that “the foundation of a friendship doesn’t matter; online I am part of your life.” What became obvious during this panel discussion was that the sense of community that is so necessary for humans to be able to grow and develop is just as significant online as in real life, even if the friendship is based around talking to someone called Shipwreck on a regular basis.

Boston, of course, does networking and real life meet-ups very well. Every week in Beantown there are events for the tech community to forge relationships and to discuss the latest cool applications or startup companies. But like those who game online, the majority of these relationships have been cemented in cyberspace whether it be through commenting on blog posts or through Twitter conversations.

For many years, I believed virtual interactions to be one that in some ways inferior to actual, physical ones. Of course, I still think the value of a handshake is more important than an emoticon, but the pleasure that millions get by interacting in their virtual communities cannot be underestimated. As the world around us seems to shrink and online interaction increases, the importance of actually knowing what Wombat looks like seems to diminish.

After all, when you need the comfort of a physical meeting, you can always pick up the phone and arrange to get together — Provided of course that your virtual self is not just a convenient place to hide your true intentions. Online social gaming’s value lies in being honest and real online, and the benefits are huge if users are willing to do that.

Editor’s Note: David Bolton recently relocated to the U.S. from the United Kingdom. He isn’t quite a full-blown Luddite, but he’s certainly a skeptic, so we call him the Neo-Luddite. For more of his work that’s not tech-related, check out his blog, Limeyview. You can also follow him on Twitter @SandmanDave.