Is it really that difficult to type your question into skype or campfire group chat? We're all remote and we have daily 20 minute video conferences, and everyone is always logged into campfire. It's the most productive team I've ever worked with, and if someone isn't pulling their weight, you can tell from their git commits. Every argument I've heard against remote working boils down to that "something special" you mention, which is pretty darn vague. We have had a few new hires lose it and go AWOL, but those people wouldn't have been a good fit in a co-located team either.
It's not the day to day interactions. Hell, most of the companies I work with that aren't remote chat over IM and group chat while we sit next to each other. As I said, I don't think it's a breakdown of the tools. It's not that people aren't productive either. It's the "other" stuff that doesn't fit into those categories. There's no technology to replace sitting around with a group of guys having a beer. While its vague, it's just a different experience that Skype or group chat. It's a different setting and a different mindset. The things that are special are the things that don't fit into the normal daily workflow. For many companies remote teams might make sense and even strive, this is just my personal opinion of what I think is missing. So much of it depends on the company, the culture and the people.
Point taken; in fact we recently rented a couple of houses in Belize just so we could spend some time together. Funny thing is, I found the entire experience to be extremely draining and couldn't wait for everyone to leave. I had a really difficult time getting anything done in a house full of people, but I think it's just one of those things that varies between individuals. I think the great thing about the rise of distributed companies is they give an opportunity for introverts to come together and thrive in an environment that suits their working style, instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, so to speak.
