So Ken and I have been playing this game for the last few weeks. I must say it's very entertaining so far. There is no combat only crafting/building/trials but you can play games against other players, like Tug of War or Reflection.

Here's my favorite things so far:
First--Offline chores -It's nice to not have penalties for sleeping and/or working. While offline you can select options to:
------GATHER NAVIGATION TIME (to use in exchange of running while you're in game) while you are offline.

You can also set yourself to do the following but only if you've met the requirements, such as you need to grow 500 onions manually to be able to gather them offline.
------GATHER WOOD (used to make boards, make bonfires, grill fish or veggies)
------GATHER GRASS (used to make straw which is a major component in brick making and feed for camels)
------GATHER CARROTS (used to make ashes or feed rabbits)
------GATHER ONIONS (used as offerings to the gods or to feed sheep)
------GATHER BARLEY (I haven't found a use for this yet :p)

Second--The Schools and Universities- There is 1 school and 1 university for each disipline (Body, Conflict, Art & Music, Leadership, Archetecture, Worship and Thought) in each of the 11 regions of Egypt that you can travel to by Chariots (Karnak, Nile Delta, Valley of the Kings, Lower Nubia, Upper Nubia, Cradle of the Sun, Red Sea Oasis, Desert of Shades, Pharaohs Bay, Sanai and Fools Paradise. I'll explain the Chariots next)
------Schools offer to teach you skills such as Fishing, Ritual Item Construction, Clothwork, Carpentry, Pottery.. etc. in exchange for specific resources.
------Universities offer to teach you skills for free once the region has completed the research by donating tons of specific resources to the school. For example: The University of Archetecture offered the Blacksmithing skill once 10,000 Firebricks, 2,500 Water Jugs and 20 Anvil Beds were donated. Anyone in the game can come to the Karnak U of Arch and learn blacksmithing for free, even if the U of Arch in other regions have not finished researching it yet.
------Universities also offer Initiation Tests and Continuing Trial Tests. They are often complex and require a few days to complete but then you can advance in that school.

Third--Chariots: You can run to the chariot stop (1 per region) and you'll see a list of connecting regions. Usually 2 or 3. While you can use your navigation time that you gathered offline to zip to another region, it's usually not a long wait until the next free trip. The longest wait I've had so far was 10 minutes.
------But there's usually something you can do right at the chariot stop while you wait. The ever popular "acro'ing" with someone who's also waiting. "Acro" is short for acrobatics, and is the second trial of the University of Body. You find a partner, move away from other people a bit and teach each other facets of moves you know. Such as Jumping Jacks, Crunches, Push-ups.. there are 22 different acro's you can learn each with 7 facets. You learn your first one completly for free when you start the trial, but the trick is that there are levels of teachers. Master, Great, Good, Last Resort and Blur. If I am teaching someone and they tell me I am a Great Teacher to them, the next person I see I may be a blur to. These rankings signify the percentage chance of the other person learning from you. Some of the moves are very cool graphically!
------If you haven't reached the "acro" test yet, while you wait for the chariot you could pick grass, plant veggies, vote on the laws at the voting booth. The Pharaoh, otherwise known as Teppy the game developer, gathers the tally every few days and the petitions with the most votes become consideration for laws. Almost everyone you see running around has one or more petitions on them that you can read and sign.
------If you aren't into either of those options, you can wander around voting on sculptures or make one of your own. Chariot stops are popular places to make them because the Initiation Test for the U of Art & Music requires you to build a sculpture that recieves 20 or more votes of "interesting".. and chariot stops are often populated. You can vote "interesting" or "eyesore". Some of the sculptures are quite impressive and it gives you a good idea of the materials needed to shape your own sculpture ideas. You are only able to use 24 items. I made a fairy :) using 4 cactus sap, 3 bales of grass for the dress, 4 bales of straw for the arms and legs, a ball of twine for the head, a grain mortar for a hat, 2 tadpole (fish bowls) and some wood for a magic looking effect.

Fourth--Compounds: There are like 8 initial styles of compounds (small pyramids that you store your machines, materials.. etc. in) you can build. You can construct one anywhere you want. No random luck, no elite areas.. Each place is as good as the next, based on your preferences. You can expand and redesign your compound, making it bigger, smaller, change the walls, change the color, the floor, the trim, the roof decorations.. everything.. For a resource price. The area I'm currently in is getting kinda crowded and I'm running out of room to expand but I like my compound the way it is so for now I'll stay where I am.

Fifth--Guilds: These aren't like in other games. You can join as many guilds as you want. Some require a donation for admittance, but once you are in you have a designated chat channel for that guild, you can use guild owned machines and buildings. To make a guild you figure out how many people you want to be allowed in your guild and that sets the resource requirements to build your Guild Office. The Guild Office lets you accept admissions, write public messages, it can also store an unlimited number of boards and bricks which is especially useful since you can move your guild office around using the utility tool. Ken and I have our own guild, set for 2 people so we can use each others compounds and machines. Very handy since I seem to be good at making cloth and he's better at making charcoal and iron :)