Mine is a bit complicated as to how I started playing MMOs, because I wasn't able to due to financial reasons, relaying on pocket money as income from my grandmother, no PC, No Internet until my guardian was able to afford it after seeing an advertisement for it in 2007 but the PCs were way too expensive until I got a really low end one from spare parts, once in his room then I had a computer in the laundry room until I was able to afford one when I first got a job for my own bedroom.
I never knew MMOs existed, I was pretty out of touch and was a console gamer. Even when I first used the internet at high school, I still had no idea. I was more interested in looking at Google Images and YouTube during class.

And please know, my mindset at the time was extremely naïve, gullible and Delusional optimism until I got more grounded. I was extremely casual and had a very poor understanding of reality like limitations, people. I felt the worlds were bigger than it was and I could be a legend or discover something nobody found.

The MMO story started when my friend told me we could attend a IT room and do whatever was reasonable at the cost of having no lunch. He showed me a game in 2006, played from a web browser...

• Runescape - It completely blew my mind at the time. I was astonished being in a world that was bigger than anything I played before, and the people running around Lumbridge were real players. Spamming text, chatting, killing goblins, wood cutting, making fires. It was just incredible, I became addicted to play. I played it almost exclusively at school, I remember when we had to move to another school temporally, Jagex made Runescape HD (High Detail) was a massive change. I really enjoyed the game, even had membership which was incredible, kept getting free membership cards from gaming magazines which my granny helped a lot. Eventually I lost interest in the game even my friends, who played some other web browser game which was 3D. Can't remember it though, I wasn't impressed with it. I play OSRS occasionally.

• World of Warcraft - The first time I heard about it, is difficult to accurately pinpoint because there were multiple factors. I'd like to think it was when my friend said he was playing a game called World of Warcraft back in 2006/7 and the way he described it to me was fascinating. It sounded like a game of grander significance than RuneScape. He told me stories of him questing, helping a player who almost died to Spider mobs without the playing knowing. Or when he and his friends played female Nelfs and danced on the tables which got the players fired up lol.
  I started to see screenshots of the game in magazines like 'Previews' which they always recommended the game, I saw one of the images with a snowman. This was crazy to me, because it celebrated Christmas. Then I found YouTube videos like , , and only fuelled my hype.
  But the problem again, was no internet or a good PC to play, however, I was able to find an internet cafe that advertised games including WoW. I went up and asked about it, the guy said it wasn't installed but if I were coming regularly he'd install it and make an account with the free trial. So I did, he mentioned he spent all night installing it lol. When I started to play it, my god, it was like pure magic. I couldn't believe I was in the game, seeing all the players, a fully explorable 3D world, voices, quests, mounts, music...it felt like the greatest moment ever. And I kept coming back until the place shut down.
  I wasn't able to play the game until about 2008/9. I kept seeing a big copy of World of WarCraft which I still have from my local store when they used to sell PC games. I kept looking at the inside of the box and wishing I was returning. I did this for over a month, even a staff member too notice. Eventually I asked my grandmother if I could have it, and she reluctantly did. I showed it to my guardian, and he was pissed at me for asking her to buy it. Shouting we didn't a good enough PC to run it.
  But a few months down the line, he actually offered to install it for me using his email since he was my guardian. He said he took all night to install manual updates even in the morning. He got so mad seeing the updates he stormed out and told me to do it. Eventually it was updated and started to play. Again, like magic, I couldn't believe I was playing the game again, where I lived. It was awesome, even he started to play it but wasn't overly impressed with the game, expecting more from it.
  But I stopped playing when I realised I had to keep paying for it, my guardian asked when I was going to play it again. When I said I wasn't he got mad because he didn't forget the updates lmao.
  But in 2010, I started to play the game again under my own email and account because I could play for free until level 20. I always went Human Warrior. I really enjoyed my time more than I thought, even though I was NOT good at the game. I loved the world, characters and lore. When I was able to pay for a sub, I asked my Uncle to buy me a the battlechest, and WotLK+Cata. I had a great time until I had to quit because my guardian wasn't happy WoW was taking all the bandwidth, I asked how long should I play if it was causing issues, which he said "Never." I lost motivation, Which I did through Mists until Draenor.
  I remember playing Draenor, I was trying to do a quest in an area which I kept dying to. I tried to be smart and swim around until I stopped, paused and said to myself "Wtf am I doing? This isn't fun, I'm done and I didn't play the game until again. Even deleted my Blizz account until I returned in Shadowlands. I accomplished more than I ever did on the old account.
  Now and then I play a bit of retail and classic but never to a serious level. I have a screenshot of my 3rd account with my character from Cata

• DC Universe - This was an MMO I got extremely hyped for because it was announced for PS3 which I recently got at the time and was able to play a free trial of the game. I love the DC Universe and always wanted another Hero MMO because Champions Online fuelled my hunger. But it didn't have the polish and quality of WoW at the time so I stopped but play now and then.

• Guild Wars 2 - An MMO that was supposed to be the next WoW and the hype around this game was insane, it really was a legitimate contender against WoW and the no sub was a massive selling point for me. I truly love this game for the visuals, lore and gameplay but something inside of me wasn't connecting the more I played. WoW had a spark that I kept coming back to, and it was a world that invited me which was Elwynn Forrest.

• Final Fantasy XIV - This game always interested me, I actually wanted to play the previous MMO Final Fantasy XI for Xbox 360, which was also being sold in my store at the time but never did. I remember when this game was a surprise announce at Sony's E3 2009 Press Conference soon after they shown Final Fantasy Versus XIII, both games were speculated to come out in the same year...well...they never did lol.
  Unless you know, the original FFXIV was a complete and utter disaster for Square Enix, it was so incredibly bad that the company actually apologised for the state of the release and admitted it damaged the brand. Now, some say it should've shut down but a problem happened, this was a mainline FF game, they couldn't cancel unless things were dire. But it was the most massive financial crisis Square had ever faced.
  Here's a nutshell
  The PS3 version was delayed indefinitely until they managed to save the game with A Realm Reborn, but I wasn't convinced so I forgot about it until a former friend made a FFXIV 'Guild' if we wanted to join, I didn't. I even tried a year before but I didn't like the pacing of the game. But with the thought of playing with friends, I joined but needed to join an NA server. And had a great Free Company with awesome members for years.
  Honestly, it was an incredible time I returned. I seriously enjoyed the game not really for the MMO experience but for the incredible story and characters, the dungeons and some raids were incredible. For me, it got better with the patches and expansions. But Shadowbringers to me, was the greatest MMO expansion and 'game' I ever played. If the menu screen didn't showcased its greatest, the campaign did and the amazing dungeons and raids. It only elevated when I played the patch content. I eventually played Endwalker and only finished the patches 2-3 years ago. But then I lost interest in MMOS in general. It didn't feel fun and the story of FFXIV, for me, was complete and near perfect. I plan to try and return sometime but will be sticking with WoW Forever for the time being

Of course, I did play other MMOs like WildStar which I was actually a beta tester for. Sad it didn't continue because it could've been special. I was a beta tester for Secret World and really loved the concept of an urban dark fantasy game. It was fun and unique until it got ruined with Legends.

What's your story?