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I've been feeling so nostalgic, in fact, that I decided to ask my fellow writers who their first MMO character was. Or, at least, the first one they could remember. In doing so, I have discovered two things: First, we're all a bunch of mid-2000s kids. This much should not surprise you.

Secondly: It's amazing how many details we can drum up about these games, especially from 20+ years ago. You always remember your first—and if you feel the warm rose-tinted fuzzies, I encourage you to share your own first MMO character in the comments down below.

Harvey Randall, Staff Writer

Harvey Randall, Staff Writer

Game: World of Warcraft

My first ever character was in World of Warcraft, after—as my bio states—I pretty much begged my parents to give me a WoW subscription, and was rewarded for my articulation with a proper WoW account and a life-changingly debilitating enthusiasm for videogames. And while I did technically have a Runescape character before this, I can't remember 'em, so Leetman is here.

I was not a good rogue. In my defense, I was 10 years old—but I didn't level my poisons, I didn't reach level cap, and the height of my career was spent futzing around Un'Goro Crater. I did, however, manage to get the gold for a mount, which made me feel pretty swanky. That was a big deal back in the day.

Leetman would eventually be traded out for the troll shaman Earthborn when The Burning Crusade rolled around, but I shall remember him fondly. Perhaps his reticence to use poison was merely a question of honour—but he's deleted, now, so we shall never know.

Joshua Wolens, News Writer

Joshua Wolens, News Writer

Game: EverQuest

Karokan's is a simple tale. When I was six years old, I saw my dad having a good time in a then-new release called EverQuest. Obviously, I wanted in on that, and badgered pops into helping me make a character.

My dad played a gnome magician, but I was revulsed by the idea of being as short in the game as I then was in real life. Also, magicianry sounded complicated. I settled on a half-elf whose class I no longer remember, and came up with a basically random series of syllables to serve as a name.

And then! I went nowhere. I was terrified. I wasn't so much scared of dying (though I was a bit scared of dying) but of getting lost. EverQuest felt impossibly vast, and I knew for sure that the second I stepped out of Freeport I'd never be able to find my way back. So I spent Karokan's life just outside the city gates, fighting orcs and rats, and never venturing further. It was a simple life, but a happy one.

Steve Haines, Community Manager

Steve Haines, Community Manager

Game: World of Warcraft

After a friend bought me a video game bundle that included Diablo 2 and WoW, I jumped into Diablo and thought the Druid seemed like the coolest thing I’d ever seen. When I made the jump to paying a monthly sub for WoW, I was ecstatic to find I could also roll a shape-shifting Druid, so Ovidlords was born.

I was a Druid tank at a time when absolutely no one wanted that. I managed to MT Gruul in the Burning Crusade when I was told that was impossible. He also eventually ended up getting our server-first Ashes of Al’ar when we beat Kael-thas.

The account has since been deleted, but I’ll absolutely always remember my bear-y first MMO character.

Lincoln Carpenter, News Writer

Lincoln Carpenter, News Writer

Game: World of Warcraft

Technically, my very first MMO characters were in a RuneScape account (that was later hacked during years of inactivity) and a Trandoshan force-sensitive in Star Wars Galaxies, that I only played long enough to realize the New Game Enhancements were bad.

After enough hours of watching cinematic raid clear videos on WarcraftMovies.com and daydreaming about the legendary weapon names I saw after Googling my way to Thottbot, I convinced my parents to foot the bill for a WoW subscription. My intention was to make an Orc hunter.

I misclicked. I only realized I was playing a warrior after noticing my new character didn't have a bow.

But I rolled with it, and Maldirr remained my WoW main for years, Mortal Striking his way through casual Arms DPS rotations across somewhere in the neighborhood of four expansions. Eventually, however, the thrill of big Execute numbers gave way to other curiosities, and I started putting more time into my Worgen rogue. Then my undead mage. Then my dwarf shaman, who gets the most attention during the couple times a year I pay for a month of subscription time.

When I get those resurgent bouts of the WoW bug, I still try to put a few levels into Maldirr for old times' sake. At some point, I changed his hair color from brown to gray—but he's still wearing the same old Stone Guard tabard I'd earned from too many hours in Alterac Valley, when there was nowhere I'd rather be spending my time.

Fraser Brown, Online Editor

Fraser Brown, Online Editor

Game: World of Warcraft

Zarwulf was not my first MMO character, but I'm far too addled to remember anything about playing Ultima Online in 1998, or pretty much anything about my childhood. I do remember a wee bit about what I was doing at university, though, and that was mostly playing World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies and Guild Wars.

My buddy Zarwulf had a big sword, an impressive grimace, and probably a pet wolf. And he still exists, frozen in time—a situation I'm not going to remedy by playing him again. Better to leave the past in the past. In a way, he lives on in Guild Wars 2, where I sometimes muck around as a Daredevil with the same name.

Jacob Ridley, Managing Editor

Jacob Ridley, Managing Editor

Game: RuneScape

My memories from this time are hazy at best. If this is all bollocks to a seasoned RuneScape player, this is at least what I thought was happening at the time. I was very young, but I think I remember a few things.

I got really good at fishing. Like, really good. I was top level or something like that. Fishing and cooking. I used my skills to trade cooked fish with higher level players, and they'd give me good armour. I always wanted the black armour with golden highlights, whatever that was, and I got it by becoming a virtual fishmonger. I also got a red face mask and a black halberd. It was wicked.

One day, I just stopped playing. You don't realise it's the last time you'll play, but it was—at least for a very long time. I always kept my account details, though. Not too long ago, in 2025, I decided to log back in after God knows how many years. I'm 34 now, but I was 33 then. I must've been 10 or under when I was playing RuneScape.

I was banned. My account had been banned for years. Some clown had stolen it and used it to do nefarious things in my name. I don't know why, but I felt a real sadness for losing that account, even despite not logging in for years. So I sent Jagex an email. It read:

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Hi, I’ve had my RuneScape account for many many years and occasionally return to play. This time it looks like I’ve been permanently banned for botting in 2020! I’ve not logged in for many years so I’m very surprised. I was just giving the iPad version a go.

Is there any way I can get my old account back? I’ve had it since I was a kid and I’m now 33!

Would be much appreciated and I promise to turn on 2FA if it is returned. For the record I’m in the UK, in case there’s any way to see where the player was in 2020 that got me banned.

Thanks for your help,

Jacob

And, wouldn't you know, someone at Jagex un-banned me. So I'd like to take this moment to say thank you to 'Mod Frenzy' at Jagex support. I don't know if that's a specific mod or just some collective name for the support team at the bottom of every email. Either way, they saved probably my longest running character in any videogame from near-certain banishment. Legend.

Andrea Shearon, Evergreen Writer

Andrea Shearon, Evergreen Writer

Game: Priston Tale

I spent time poking around in RuneScape and Graal Online as a kid, but they didn't stick. It wasn't until my failed campaign to persuade my mom into giving me her credit card for Final Fantasy 11 that I found my true MMO gateway: Priston Tale.

The western release was in beta for years, and I spent most of that time lagging to death on a 4MB integrated GPU as the game's worst archer. I have fond memories of arguing with grown adults twice my age about winning strategies in Survive or Die—the game's big arena brawl against waves of monsters—and distinctly remember a thread on an old fan forum dedicated to complaining about me. I was a menace.

I made multiple characters before Priston Tale eventually died out and was sold to Suba Games, where I'm fairly certain it remains active. I'm sure Rennyfuu is long gone by now, but sometimes I toy with the idea of going back for a visit.

Jessica Kinghorn, Hardware Writer

Jessica Kinghorn, Hardware Writer

Game: RuneScape

As a child who was not willing to try to convince their parents to send money to a strange company on a monthly basis, I had resigned myself to looking at MMOs like Final Fantasy XI longingly from afar. After being introduced by my best friend, the browser-based RuneScape was it for me…well, at least until we got a bit older and began devoting all of our time to Gaia Online.

My recollection is hazy, but I distinctly remember selecting flowing golden locks for my avatar, sticking her in a pink polygonal crop top, and setting out on a quest for cuter clothes. A rando gave me a ring and asked if I'd like to be their internet girlfriend. After that, I saw off randos by pretending I didn't speak English (if memory serves, I was obsessed with Final Fantasy X at the time and 'Suteki Da Ne?' was my go-to conversation-killing phrase—it was incredibly effective).

Somehow, some way I ventured into either a high-level area or player versus player zone and promptly lost everything. Many such cases—but perhaps it's time I pay a visit to the ol' RuneScape account.

Mollie Taylor, Features Producer

Mollie Taylor, Features Producer

Game: Toontown Online

I wasn't cool enough to be playing World of Warcraft or RuneScape. No, instead I was throwing pies and squirting gag flowers across the blindingly bright, Disney-themed streets of Toontown Online.

It was the House of Mouse's stab at an MMO for children. Ironically, one all about defeating giant, greedy corporations and rescuing small businesses from the "cogs" that would take over and turn their colourful storefronts into lifeless grey towers.

I don't recall much from back then, but I do remember joining roughly around the same time as a Halloween event that offered a limited-time black colour for any cat toons. Even back then I think I had the raging emo gene, so of course I wanted to parade around as a delightful Salem-esque feline. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, I never ended up getting the black colour. Instead, I forever remained as a dark brown cat, which isn't quite as goff.

Unfortunately she's gone now, lost to the servers shutting down in 2013. But she lives on in the form of a lilac-coloured cat called Coconut in Toontown Rewritten, one of the many private servers that continue to keep the spirit of the MMO alive.

Note: My young memory is despicably hazy, which means there's also a small chance that one other MMO character predates this one—one whose name I cannot remember, but was from the game Puzzle Pirates. I played the hell outta that one.

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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.