I realize the problem is that Blizzard is brilliant. By making it so that people can't just casually go in and out of these parties, they force "crucial" players to stay in. Added to the fact that the instances and raids are just inexcusably long, and you have a system that forces people to keep playing.

Compare with StarCraft, where games rarely run over a half hour, and you don't see that obligation. People don't throw a bitchfit if you have to leave during the game.

And I maintain that being trapped by social obligations for a video game is stupid.