Language is most often chosen as the culprit responsible for the barrier between the societies, but even a common tongue would not eradicate the differences between East and West. Perhaps the cultures have normalized some in the years since Kipling penned his ballad, but separation is still quite clear, even spreading to gaming.

Given the long history of Western civilization and the ancient traditions of the East, it would be foolish to think that a new medium would be able to overcome the diversities, but one would think that starting fresh would put all participants at roughly the same point, regardless of background. The MMORPG, for example, is a new phenomenon that has seen tremendous popularity on both sides of the world, but as popular as one type of game has been in the West, another type of game has been popular in the East. Not that there has been no crossover success, mind you, but it seems that certain games are much more popular in the Pacific Rim than in the Heartland, and vice versa.