This paper begins by contextualizing human interaction networks as both arbiters and products of specific cultural practices. The various social scientists’ attempts to organize these network relationships into specific models, while notable for attempting to provide a usable framework for analyzing human interaction, share weaknesses that reduce these complex systems into simple and ultimately unreliable predictors of behavior. The analysis is expanded to include virtual world designers whose development of fictional cultures and societies ultimately provides a more useful simulation through which to examine human interaction. What makes these virtual environments a more successful model than others? What lessons can be drawn from their development cycles? How can we utilize these models for the benefit of all researchers involved with complex societal dynamics? Answers to these, and other questions, are combined with a discussion of anthropological research methodology – specifically participant observation and ethnographic fieldwork. This paper suggests that the data gathered from one branch of the social sciences can be more effectively utilized to provide more accurate information for modeling complex systems. A case study of one such enhanced model is discussed as well as recommendations for future directions and areas of interest for the study of human interaction networks.