This wasn't really a debate about being in a conference with your friends. As far as I can tell, that's all still very possible. As I mentioned before, conferences wouldn't change all that much.
I appreciate the banter and the folks in my conference, too, it's just that's not the driving force behind my WIS experience. As to whether I'm in the majority or minority there, I guess none of us have actual data to back it up.
So i'll go back to my first point: realism. That's what the game aspires to, and that's how I think it should stay.