The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, Madrid 2012. Mia Consalvo and Jason Begy of Concordia University have done at least two studies about or including the MMO "Faunasphere". You can read their paper on the Closure/Sunset of Faunasphere at Scribd
I was a Beta tester at Faunasphere starting in April 2009 and became a paying member of the community when it went Live in August 2009. I played until it's closure on March 15, 2011. During that end time (between Feb 15 when closure was announced and March 15) it became a struggle for me to face the inevitable loss of what had become my "Family". I suppose this event is much the same for many players of MMOs that end. It's hard to say how effected I was over this and how it still is a wound to my heart. I can view it rationally and say to myself, "It was just a game. The animals were not real. You don't really know any of those Friends you had". Yes, I can say it but I don't believe it.
I had three paid accounts at Faunasphere. That means that I had 3 spheres (homes) with a maximum of 15 Fauna in two of them and about six in the third. We all started with small spheres of only a few blocks and built them up to a 35X35 block "Home" for our Fauna. There were so many beautiful spheres and I "photographed" several of them to make Pans of as much as 60 images each. We loved our Fauna and our Spheres. They became more than just pixels to us.
I also have many of the same feelings about Glitch. Many of my Fauna Friends came here with me and I interact with some of them every time I play. Our Community has survived the Sunset of Faunasphere but we remember it dearly at Facebook and in other Forums and here at Glitch. At Faunasphere we had Oinkers and here we have Piggies. That gives me a smile every time I care for my Piggies. Some of my animals on my Home Street carry the names of some of my FS pets - Goldie, Velvet, Atlast, etc. Last Thanksgiving I combined both MMOs for a happy holiday reunion with my Sniffer Quilty in Bortola.
I play Glitch every day hoping that it will be long lived and enjoyed by it's Community as much as I loved Faunasphere. I find it strange and unexplainable that I can become so attached to pixels and even more attached to people I have never personally met except online. I majored in Sociology in College but nothing I learned in school or in life had prepared me for what I feel for Faunasphere and Glitch and those I interact with online. What a strange world I have discovered, may it never end!