Too old to remember clearly lol
I started in the late 90s (98 or 99?) randomly looking for "Zelda Online" with my crappy 3rd world dial up internet.
I remember a while later it was a big deal when pay servers/accounts came out cause it was said that we will never have to pay.
I became FAQ on Graal 2001 when it was released and later became FAQ Chief and Developer (gfx + ganis)
Graal 2002/Kingdoms came out and a while later I Dev'd there too and became King of Forest.
Afterwards, I got addicted to helping and making those lil animations so I eventually climbed to Global GFX Admin, PWA, Forum mod, support center rep.
Quit after a few years when life got busy, when my best friend on the game quit as well (Lance), and a combination of poor management + "politicking" made the game as lively as it is today
From a young age, it somewhat simulates the type of people you come across in the real world in terms of work, trading, and socializing as well as introduced me to a culture that was different to where I grew up. (Of course today there are many other MMO communities that probably provide a better representative sample...but this was my 1st).
I now randomly check up to see the community and hope that one day Graal can shine again. I would kill to simply play "old Classic", even if it was deserted...I miss the old quests and nutty items :P
Edit: Wow @ people playing at 8 and 9 years old lol