There was something called the "Free Market" where there were no monsters to kill (so you couldn't die.) Guilds claimed different Free Market rooms as their "guild rooms" and people would just go AFK there. You'd always be able to find friends hanging out and talking in these rooms.
You could spend real-life money on their cash shop, which had cosmetics and small things like virtual chairs or couches to sit on.
You could even buy "friendship rings" that would display animations if the two of you were in close together.
The overall art/gameplay style is lovely, there's not really a single-player offlin equivalent to the platformer-JRPG thing that I'm aware of.
I recently went back and tried to play it again almost a decade later with my partner (who had never played it) and it was not quite what I remembered.
Fantastic game back then though, as well as "Conquer Online" around the 2007-2009 era.
;^)
This adult stuff sucks, someone send me back to being 10 and clueless so I can relive this again.
Not even gonna count the amount of time spent just running around Dalaran in World of Warcraft while on voice with guildmates.
Also, previous metaverses were only popular among specific demographics, like perverts/furries, or suburban teenage boys.
Really funny feeling, the sort of butterfly effect/unintended consequences.