MMOGs

What I want from Massively Multiplayer Online Games:

• "Single player" gameplay; "challenges" like raids and dungeons, campaigns of these that are done over multiple play sessions.
• Co-op gameplay. Play with my girlfriend, my little brother, with my friends. Play with a group that practices together every night in order to try and win the big cash prize tournament. Any combination of these things.
• Competitive gameplay. Direct competition, or 'who can do this raid better', or both. Team competitions. Competitions not focused on combat; why not races as well?
• Ability to play with strangers; make friends and enemies.
• Ability to play with friends *instead* of strangers. Or a mix of both.
• Ability to play alone.
• Highly customizable character. And have this not be moot in favor of the 'best' character.
• Lots of activities to do. Not all of them have to have some sort of reward, they just have to be fun. They don't even have to all be fun to everyone. Allow players to pick the parts they enjoy, buffet style.
• This all takes place in a shared world.

In my opinion none of these things are unique to the RPG genre. A persistent world even fails in an MMORPG: players don't want to 'miss out' on things because someone else did it.