incredibly loose live O8

[bodie]

The last few B&M's I've played in have featured players who are so unbelievably loose that it's almost hard to play against them. The answer, of course, is to play for the nuts and you'll beat them every time, however I imagine that if you played with these sort of opponents all the time your own play could similarly deteriorate.
For example, the other day this hand came up:
I was in the BB dealt: 10, 10, 5, 6 s
No raise to me so I checked. Flop: 8, 10, 3
I bet, get 4 callers.
Turn: 4
I bet, get 4 callers again.
River: J
I bet (even though there's a straight possible) - get 4 callers.
I win the High with a set of 10's - I win the low with 5,6!
Even I was surprised. Why did they all call the river, I wondered?

My question is - for those of you who have played both live and online - do you find that online is similar to playing live, or are the players generally "better", tighter, etc?
I've heard that is the case, and for the sake of keeping my level of play thoughtful, I may start playing online as well.
TIA