Yeah, it was probably a mistake to say "living world". A more accurate description might be a "world that feels alive" or "a world that you could live in". Not a game where you can't do much more than spend time in pursuit of the Almighty End Game Content or digging an irrigation ditch in some Hobbesian nightmare world. I just want to be able to by a tent in town, go out into the virtual wilderness with some friends or by myself, and go camping. Maybe catch a fish or two (and I wouldn't have to have a certain amount of skill to catch certain kinds, though I wouldn't be adverse if skill even drastically helped my chances), clean them, cook them, and eat them. Then, if there are people with me, someone could pull out an instrument of some sort and play it, and we could all dance in the moonlight.
It could take place in the End Game Rusher so long as I don't have to be a certain level or have to grind to be able to do all the stuff I mentioned. I suppose it could be in the Hobbesian nightmare world, though I'm wary of that since I really don't want some jackass to come in and murder everyone while we'e out on our virtual vacation, and I'd like to be able to get away from some city full of NPCs rather than a player-made fortress created to protect the one cow they own from raiders.
Also, I'd like to be able to possess a collection of tools that I can use without being near some sort of crafting station. If I'm out in the wilderness I wanna be able to whip out my needle and thread and mend some clothing right then and there. And, of course, if I have the tools and materials, just make something form scratch in a logical fashion. If I mess up at all, I want to end up with a mostly worthless product, rather than everything evaporating because I did such a poor job I somehow managed to destroy matter. And, if the product is so worthless as to be unusable, I want to be able to scrap the piece of junk and get back some of my raw materials. And crafting would work like fishing, in that you could luck out and do everything perfectly your first time, though practice will ensure that you do a good job consistently.