Asheron's Call (Turbine's first MMORPG) was developed in the late 90's and MS was indeed the publisher. However, I truely doubt there are any assets from that game in DDO or LotRO considering the rigidity of the engine. If memory serves Asheron's Call 2 used a completely new engine and it's possible some of that was used in their later games.

Having said that, there are some techniques in AC that seem to have been used in later games. For instance housing in AC could only be decorated by placing items on pre-positioned hooks. Lord of the Rings Online uses the same concept, unfortunately.

Groups of humans have existed in cooperative family/tribal groups for far more of human history (even if you don't take into account pre-history) than humanity has been worshipping at the shrine of individuality. These social groups gave greater weight to the good of the group than they did to the good of the individual (dare I say socialism) simply because it made survival far easier.

So the OP is partly right. Humans did evolve a social structure that worked for a long period of time. It wasn't necessarily the golden age civilisation that he inferred, but it did work and got us to where we are today, and it's where we'll end back up if civilisation ever does collapse completely.