Implementation detail The unique thing is that it's a single shard - that is, every player inhabits the same game world, and there's nothing to stop you interacting with, cooperating with or shooting in the face any other player (whereas in SW:TOR they need to be on "your server"). Big fan of EVE and a long-time player, along with some of my colleagues; one of whom, when I mentioned that SW:TOR was sharded, responded, "Why do people still make games like that in this day and age?"

Yeah, some of the post-Endor novels are pretty poor (I'm looking at you, Kevin J Anderson) but some are really good - the Thrawn trilogy which has already been mentioned, and the X-Wing series by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston, break from the all-powerful-superweapon-destroyed-just-in-time plot and don't just wash away the post-Endor Empire. A good place to start if you're looking to get into EU novels. Personally I have far more niggles with the Old Republic timeline than the post-Endor one... but that's for another thread

Sad, but oh so true...