As someone who went back and played UO on a large community server during a break from COH, I must confess I appreciate EA's lack of interest in quashing such efforts. It's not like they're hiding or anything. In fact, they point you to EA's site to download the client.
NCsoft could've benefited from following EA's example with the way to run a game worldwide--specifically by following thru with language localization efforts and by staggering server downtimes so you don't shut the door on all your Pac Rim customers around 8-11pm every week night (as was the case in the early days of COH).