Played Anarchy Online way back then. Took me a while to realize it's a truly boring game, nothing exiting ever happens. The action just never comes.
Try something new like
Heroes of Newerth
http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/index.php
You have two days to test it out. It gets released 12 May. It's 30$ once off fee.
You'll see more action in that game in 5 games than in your 3 years of Anarchy online.
It's not very newbie friendly though and takes some patience and the ability to take insults.
If that not work out then there's always
WoW, the only game that seems to always have a local player base and never dies.
Not many locals playing
Guild wars anymore unfortunately...It's cheap and only have to pay for it once though. You could always play with overseas people.
The main problem here is that most locals is kinda waiting for the "next big thing" when it comes to multi-player games and growing tired of the old.
Except for Battlefield bad company 2, Modern Warfare, Dota. Don't those games dying out very soon.
Here's my predictions for the next 3 big multi-player games:
Heroes of Newerth
Starcraft 2
Guild Wars 2
That's about it, anything else your just gonna grow tired of very quickly...
