I'm not sure the common avatar is a prequisite, though. Steam doesn't have one, but Valve tries to build its social aspects into the games as deep as possible.
Re:Why virtual worlds died
by iosnoob on Sunday May 12, 2013 @05:37PM
(#5695962)
Good point about Steam. The community part is more important than the visual identity. Actually the avatar as a 2d icon or profile pic could do ok. Like in all the fb games.
You described Club Penguin: http://mashable.com/2011/12/13/club-penguin-disney/
I'm not sure the common avatar is a prequisite, though. Steam doesn't have one, but Valve tries to build its social aspects into the games as deep as possible.