What makes a MMO an MMO and how does SW:TOR stack up in this regard?

World PvP is lacking because, 'you" the players aren't doing it. Next questions is why? Simple answer, because in world PvP you don't get any reward except for the gratification of killing another players. Seriously, does every game being made need to hold peoples hands in order to get them to do anything anymore?

Or maybe it's because the factions were hermetically sealed and compartmentalized in their own stuffy corners of the "galaxy"? I know it's hard for you to believe your love affair with SWTOR is based on a lie, but well... there it is.

Actually I think it is you who seems compartmentalized here... yes populations are thin on many servers but every server whether PvP biased or no has Openworld PvP areas... Tattoine, Quesh, Hoth etc etc... but even on populated servers getting Openworld PvP to happen is nothing short of a miracle unless someone or something initiates it... therein lies the issues.. I am not a PvP'er but I should be feeling pretty on edge everytime I decide to cross through the Den on Tattoine, but I dont becuase experience now tells me noone actually bothers with it and so that attitude grows throughout the game.... but that is not really down to BW to address that is down to us to address... like the poster says we run content for shinnies and titles, we run PvP for fun... but by design the game itself takes people on a singleplayer story and so openworld is an unwelcomed distraction and that mould is hard to break unless your actually prepared to up sticks and roll on a PvP server and even then you have to take some responsibility to initiating some openworld with another person/grp etc....

I made it a point not to bring up population issues because I wanted to highlight how well the game does at keeping people apart on its own--even without rampant population decline on many servers..

So we agree, you just misunderstood me. There is no incentive to PvP, correct, but there is no dynamic happenstance open-world PvP either. And that's not a population issue--it's a design one.

There is nothing from keeping population apart aside for the players actually put forth the effort to invite players to a group. Do you purposely go out of your way to ignore people when you see in chat, "LF questing buddy?"

Not a design issue. Again, does the game designers have to hold your hand and place it in the other players hand in order to get you to do something? Do they have to throw a shiny in the middle of you and your opponent in order to get you guys to fight?

SWTOR meets every definition of an MMO, the people that say it isn't an MMO are trying to make the argument that whatever aspect of the game they don't like disqualifies it from MMO status. It is the equivalent of one soccer player telling another player on their team "your not a real soccer player".

Do you know what "happenstance" means? You're basically telling me that for dynamic happenstance PvP to happen, players have to arrange it.

You also apparently ignored the rest of my previous post which outlines exactly how this game goes out of its way to wall off players. Truth hurts.

Or maybe it's because the factions were hermetically sealed and compartmentalized in their own stuffy corners of the "galaxy"? I know it's hard for you to believe your love affair with SWTOR is based on a lie, but well... there it is.

You see player, you kill it. Is that not a simple concept?

Again, "you", the player, have the choice to group or not to group. If they didn't make most of this game single player do you honestly think people would enjoy it?