Hiya! Welcome to the community :)
PlaneShift differs, immediately and mainly, by being at version 0.3 - that's not even beta yet. We're still itty bitty babies in the Scheme of Things :P PS also aims to be very roleplay oriented, so players will be (and are already) highly encouraged to act in-character when they are logged into the game. The setting is quite interesting and unique, and most importantly PS will always be free - no matter what. No matter how much the world will expand (and did you read about how large the world is? It's huge! :D), no matter how many players come, etc.
Plus, we have one of the best communities around ;)
Except for people like Robinmagus who are totally addicted to smileys. It's okay though, they have their charm.
