Do social games affect real social interaction?

The topic really says it all. But as i was reading the 'Game Analysis' article, and as we were discussing the Sims in class, i started thinking how social games affect our 'real' social interactions.

Before i get to into writing this, I understand that social interaction in games can be real too, but for simplicity in this article 'real' will refer to in person interaction.

If people get used to a specific habit in a social game like the sims, does this affect how they act in real life? I think it does, but am interested to hear what the rest of the class has to say.

For example, if you live with your parents who are very traditional and socially conservative, and the very mention of homesexuality is enough to draw their anger. But you play a sim game which does not differentiate between male and female when charectors flirt and have relationships, how does this affect your real life.

Does the sim game than open your mind to more options? does it allow you to explore without your parents knowledge? Will the social aspects of the game act as a practice run for real social actions.

By now you will have noticed that these are mainly rhetorical questions, and that in my opinion social games do affect real social interaction. However is this a widely held idea, or do people believe that social games and real social interactions are seperate things entirely.

In my opinion games allow you to expand your imagination since you gian access to multiple peoples ideas.

With this in mind, are we as potential game designers not in a subtle way creating the social constraints of tomorrow?

If this is the case, would we not be morally responsible to create games which do not further socially constructed negatives such as racism, homophobia, and sexism.

Thats my $0.02 and spcom 325 starts in 7 mins. But maybe someone else can tell me what they think about how social interactions in games affect social interactions in real life.