After the game's release, Tørnquist published his short fiction novel Prophet Without Honor (Anarchy Online Book 1) that serves as a historical primer. The story has since been extended beyond its original conclusion, but a second book was never written.

Role-players were often encouraged to participate and influence the outcome of the story during the first four years. This is evidenced in a New York Times article, published in 2003, about a well-known player named Rick Stenlund who used the game's message boards to organize an in-game rally in protest of a proposed change to gameplay. Administrators responded by preparing a role-play event with official characters and incorporating the rally into the official timeline.

Development
Development for Anarchy Online started as early as 1995 at Funcom's Oslo, Norway studios. The company was then only two years old with a relatively small number of developers, and the MMORPG genre was a niche market with few popular titles available. Management at Funcom believed that this genre would grow quickly in the following years, but some developers such as former project director Gaute Godager were not convinced. He later described the development team as "ambitious" in most facets. Virtually all MMORPGs and MUDs at that time including the two most successful, Ultima Online and EverQuest, were based on a more traditional role playing fantasy theme. Funcom chose to use a science-fiction theme instead, and the official announcement was made in 2000. The company grew substantially during the late 1990's, and by the time the game was released over 70 developers were employed to the project.

Anarchy Online's servers officially opened on June 27, 2001 after a public beta test that lasted several weeks. In its first month online the game suffered heavily from stability, registration, and billing issues. Customers reported they were unable to register using product keys provided with the installation discs. Others were accidentally billed the registration fee twice, although they were never billed for the second charge. Players were unable to access large portions of the game's content once logged in, as servers struggled to stay online. Funcom later announced that no customers would be billed for play time until the issues were resolved.

Initial release problems were eventually fixed, and by the second quarter of 2002 subscription numbers began to rise again reaching 150,000. Four expansions have since been published that customers can buy to extend the original game: The Notum Wars (2002), Shadowlands (2003), Alien Invasion (2004), and Lost Eden (2006). Periodic free updates are also released which fix bugs, add features, and release new content.

Reception
Anarchy Online's unique proposed features such as the science fiction setting, large playable area, and dynamic missions created significant interest leading up to the release date. The game was one month away from launching when it made its second appearance at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2001, and video game websites such as GameSpot had written pre-release articles. At the European Computer Trade Show that same year it was awarded Multiplayer Game of Show.

The game's launch problems had a strong negative effect with initial critics. Many larger video game sites chose to wait a month or more before publishing a formal review, and the troubled release is often briefly mentioned in later reviews of the game as a juxtaposition. It went on to be received favorably from most outlets, averaging a 7.6 out of 10 from GameSpy, GameSpot, and IGN. Caryn Law of GameSpy called it "a promising game with some big technical flaws." IGN descibed it as "a brilliant, engaging, profound MMORPG," but they added it came with "atrocious technical problems." PC Gamer magazine awarded it with Best Massively Multiplayer Game and described it as "the next great MMORPG."

The Shadowlands expansion was the most critically acclaimed by far, winning several Editor's Choice Awards from IGN, CNet, GameSpot, GameSpy and others after its release in 2003. Critics applauded the size and scope of the expansion, such as Andrew Park of GameSpot who called it "absolutely enormous." Craig Morrison of IGN praised the artistic style of the six new themed areas calling them "visually stunning." Micheal Lafferty of GameZone wrote that it "has depth in spite of its linear nature."

Alien Invasion's release in 2004 was not taken as well as the Shadowlands, although most scores were above 7 out of 10. The expansion, in critic's eyes, was not designed for new players. GameZone wrote, "...this is definitely targeted toward in-game organizations." They went on to say that it "certainly brings new depth to the title."

Most popular gaming websites chose not to review the Lost Eden expansion pack released in 2005. The expansion's content itself was well received, but critics pointed to the overall game's aging interface and visuals. Sarah Borger of Games Radar wrote that it "make[s] the world hard to interact with," but she went on to acclaim the new features.

Subscription
Anarchy Online uses a variation of the industry-standard Pay to Play business model. Customers must buy one month of access to the game for a flat rate, or multiple months at a discounted rate. The subscription model is broken down into three tiers. Users have the option of paying to play all of the game's expansions, paying to play only the Shadowlands expansion, or playing only the original game for free.

Funcom began offering the game's original content including the Notum Wars booster pack for free on December 15, 2004. In exchange, players are shown in-game advertisements provided by the Massive Incorporated advertising company. Images and videos are shown on static billboards placed in high traffic areas of the game. Paying customers have the option to replace these ads with ones for fictitious game-world products. The Free Play Program was originally advertised to last one year, but Funcom has extended the deadline every year since then as of 2008. These free players, known colloquially as "froobs" (free newbies), have become so common that Funcom incorporated the phrase into the game as a wearable t-shirt. Other online games have since offered indefinite free play with restricted content.

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