Yeah, but everybody being on the same server also means that there's nowhere you can go to avoid people you hate. It's funny you should mention GoonSwarm. I have friends who were victims of real-life seriously hateful attacks, completely unprovoked, by the Something Awful Goon Squad, people whose lives were seriously harmed. Having to play on the same server as the Goons would ruin any game for me, because even if I spent my whole game experience avoiding them (and how much fun would that be, since nobody on the entire Internet is better than they are at organizing bullies in order bully someone much weaker than them for the lulz?), every time they came up in conversation I'd be fighting the bile in my throat.

Maybe you're okay with the GoonSwarm, maybe it's some other subculture or clan or whatever that you don't want to have to deal with. If you don't like my example, I'm sure you can name your own. The fact remains: all-on-one-server MMOs mean that if someone is determined to ruin your fun, or someone that grosses you out that you'd just rather avoid, there's nowhere you can go that they aren't there.

Yes, yes, a million times yes players should be able to influence the direction of the story in an MMO; I fully support (for example) Trion's commitment to the idea. But doing it via PvP combat on a single-shard MMO turns the direction of the story over to the biggest, best-organized bunch of bullies, it's a recipe for a brutal story. There's got to be a better way.