Ad Hoc roleplay groups in the great desert

Jim Moreno just posted an article about forming ad hoc roleplay groups in WoW. He calls them roleplay troupes and contrasts them with guilds. The advice could fit any similar theme park world, or any any commercial AAA MMO environment for that matter. I generally favor building a small RP focused world using whatever platform/engine as opposed to trying to find water in the desert; but I do know some folks who do it and this article has some useful tips for them.