The raw art of this strip was up as a placeholder while the the strip was being finished.
pwned = owned

Piro speaks:
MT has been, and still is (though no where as much), an evolving story. I've been exploring where all this is going for a long time and i have been trying to understand some of these themes for a long time. Stories don't come out fully realized any more than a person does, it grows and changes over time (though this is usually best done BEFORE you start releasing it to the public :P). You can't change what happened in the past, only your understanding of it. That said, the relationship between Pirogoeth and m0h was there from the beginning, but the full structure of it was something i wasn't really sure of until the past year or so.
I am not going to explain or verify things here, because my job is to do that with the comic, not with liner notes. I will, however, point out a few things that should be cleared up before you guys get derailed enough about them that they become accepted (and very wrong) fact.
First, for reference: http://megatokyo.com/strip/432
"so much so that i thought you really were a female player"
"imagine my surprise when i first saw you in real life."
First thing, you must keep in mind that this is a very barbed diatribe. Miho is seriously mocking Piro here, even more than i realized when i did this comic. Piro has just had his world view jolted (again) and he's not one who shifts gears well or very quickly.
Second thing - Remember that Pirogoeth and m0h fell for each other BEFORE Piro started talking to Miho. This was as confusing for Miho as it was for Piro. Miho's snipes here are referring to that point, before they started talking. At this point: http://megatokyo.com/strip/1211 & http://megatokyo.com/strip/1212
What she means by "when i first saw you in real life," is referring to finally seeing a photo of him. I think she knew before that, much like he did in regard to her. She's mocking him with what happened before they started talking directly, before things 'glitched' - http://megatokyo.com/strip/1213
i won't expand further on that, that's for you guys to work on :)
Some people will argue that it's poor writing and *is* retconning to have things resolve into something a little different than what you were originally thinking, but i don't think so. Some of this does feel awkward because i was starting to throw down some vectors that were pointing in directions i wasn't sure of yet, but i don't think the dynamics of what is going here would have been any where near as curious or interesting as they have become if the out-of-game interactions between Piro and Miho were as evident as they are now. It would have called in a much different set of established story themes that would have been harder to avoid.
Speaking of established story themes, the one that is NOT at work here is any concept of an intimate relationship (mental if not physical) between two people of the same gender. Not because i have a problem with them (quite the contrary, actually) but that such a relationship structure would call into play a lot of things that would distract us from what i am really trying to get at. Also, i do not feel i have the ability to really address same gender relationships properly, and that it would be disrespectful for me to try.
Strip http://megatokyo.com/strip/1209 was both a good use of humor about about a particular genre of anime and it's fans, but more seriously was to establish the fact that really, this has nothing to do with gender. Gender *is* a major component in the structural workings of a relationship, but it is not the core. At the core, it's about the interaction of two people, two individuals, and why so many stories about the struggles people have to fill that need.
lots of words, and hopefully not spoilerific, but i hope it helps explain MY mindset on things. I love watching you folks get off course, but it's no fun if you go zooming over the horizon, perhaps never to return. ^^;;

Piro speaks:
Miho knew piro was a guy. Even when i wrote that comic, the intent behind her lines is that she was messing with his head. Geezus, people, do you believe EVERYTHING everyone says without ANY application of both tone and context? Haven't any of you ever come across self mocking sarcasm from someone before? I guess this really is the problem with a sound bite world...