The L.A. Times has an interview with AO's lead designer Tommy Strand. Here's an excerpt: Q: How does "Anarchy Online" advance the genre of massively multi-player games? "Anarchy Online" has more focus on the casual gamer. If you don't have much time, you can still play. We have an auto-content system that generates content for you on the fly. The mission is generated specifically for you or your friends. In "EQ" ["EverQuest"], you spend a lot of time looking for people to group with. You also have to camp for hours waiting for your turn to attack a monster. In "EQ," they have static content, so the same monster will pop up every two hours or so. If everybody on your server wants what that monster has, there will be many people waiting and you have a queue. In "Anarchy," we will generate a new area just for you. It's a unique mix between single-player and massively multi-player. You can read the entire article at this link.