I think I can finally say this...

I am finally over my addiction to the game of Ragnarok Online better known as RO for short.

I started playing a Private server in grade 12 in the year of 2005, in November. the server was known as Lightside Legend Ragnarok Online, (LLRO), now known as Legend RO.

I joined, because all my friends at school played it. I joined a guild known as Heaven's Swords, led by a man who I viewed at the time as a God, simply because to me, he could do no wrong. He was known as Ken Himura.

For the next 6 months, till the end June, I played seriously. I participated in something known as War of Emperium (WoE for short). I, literally lived, just to play that game. I played it to the point of getting a reborn class within 2 months of me starting it. The name of that character was known as unknown_entity (A champion). During that time, I got some equips that made me a somewhat feared person in both WoE and PvP. In those 6 months, Ken quit at least 3 times. After the 4th time, I decided that I myself should quit just before the start of school, seeing as I should focus on University.

At the end of May 2006, I had left Heaven's Swords, because, at that point, I just hated the instability of Heaven's Swords. I loved the people who were in that guild, because they were the first ones to accept me and laugh at the stupidity I was capable of producing and not insult me for it. They were my first RO family.

At the beginning of June, I was guildless, which didn't last long, seeing as a Sub leader of Heaven's Swords (HS) formed a new guild, known as Relentless Swords. There was only 12 of us at the time, so we agreed with another small guild known as Oniwaban Fenrir.

Together, we formed the guild known as Relentless Fenrir, Led by a new leader, Koenma. I never saw him in the same light as Ken, but I respected him just as much.
Here, I was respected as a decent leader, and capable of defending against most threats. They were my second family.

From June 2006 to August 2006, I had created a new character for myself, an assassin, and I was born again as Ethan Marquez. I made him as a result of admiring Arelas and Dan.

And then...I quit. From September 2006 to the beginning of November 2006, I did not played RO. I concentrated on school. I studied whenever I could. and...yeah.

Then, for some reason, I booted up the client for LLRO, and I began to play again, by the second week of November, I had joined a different guild, known then as Guild Name Goes Here, or GNGH for short led by Patmig, who I probably respect the most out of all of my guild leaders, because he was a great leader, and a great player, simply because, unlike my previous guild leaders, he required skill to get where he was. It was fun. It was different for me, but it was still fun. this began in November 2006.

During that time, my Cousin, Marie, also started playing, And thus, Lilah Marquez was born. We formed Team Marquez.

We had a plan to be the greatest old school assassins in the game, simply because we weren't able to get the money to get the equips to make us the best assassins in the game.

Assassins and their reborn class Assassin Crosses (SinX), were the best class to capture a castle. They were either obsolete, critical, or they had new equips, that allowed them to deal extremely high amounts of damage when there is more defense.

During the time that Lilah was playing, Pat decided that we were to small of a guild to be able to properly be at an advantage in WoE, and formed an alliance that would eventually form the guild known as The First Triumvite (TFT).

Just before TFT was formed, I left the guild. At that time, I was stressed, and I was mad at everything at that point. So I left, and went on to do my own thing. I joined other guilds, but then I quit, seeing as I didn't really care for them.

This was in February 2007? to April 2007. I didn't really remember how long I was on my own, but during that time, Marie begged for me to come back...but I refused. I would rejoin eventually, but I didn't know when...

While I was on my own, I realized how expensive and hard it was to maintain a SinX. and the amount of support I required. I nearly gave up and went back to my champ, but I stuck with it. Just as I was about to stop playing my SinX, I would do something amazing, like take a castle, on my own. I would also help Marie take her first castle, even though she wasn't at my level, and allowed for her to take the credit (I think eventually, she told people I helped, but eh....).

During that time as well, I also became one of the most hated characters to be on the server. I would have massive amounts of people attempting to kill me the moment I would walk into PvP. It was to the point that Marie was also subjected to this treatment.

At the end of April, I wasn't able to play, simply because of my addiction to RO led me to getting kicked out of University. Marie had quit about a month before me.

Then...In June 2007 I began playing again. I had rejoined TFT, out of respect for Marie. I came back on the day of WoE, and what a WoE it was. During that WoE, within 10 minutes of me playing, I took 3 castles on my own. This was unheard of, before I did it. Sure, some guilds took up to 5-6 castles at at time, but this was only as a result of the entire guild, not just one person.

The people in TFT were amazed, and insisted that I write a guild on SinXes. I was tempted to...but I knew that I wasn't the best, since I was completely old school. My time back with TFT was great...for about 2 weeks. Then it broke. I wasn't really in that guild for long to consider it my family...so I don't.

Right after that, I joined a new guild called Chronicles Reborn, with a new leader, Steve. They were the most amazing guild I ever had the pleasure of playing with, simply because they were amazing to talk to, and were just perverted as me (which was a problem with my previous guilds).

So, from mid June 2007 to end of November 2007, I was with CR. And I had amazing fun. I rebuilt my Champ, began playing him again. It was fun. Wasn't able to WoE much...but yeah...

I went back to school in September... I reapplied to another school, and got in, and I decided not to screw it up, again. This did not last long...

About a week afterwards, I joined Redemption, my last Family from RO.

Redemption...So many fun memories...

Anyways, I joined Redemption in the beginning of December. And There I met Shabbir, Evan, Doris, Judy, Cindy, Rikku, Cyris, Alex, Diego. The most amazing people I met. Shabbir, Alex, Diego, and Rikku I knew because we were in Heaven's Swords together. Evan Judy, and Cindy, were from CR. and Doris...was Doris? She was scary...

We were together from December 2007, to December 2008. During that time, I helped Redemption become one of the most respectable and feared guilds on the server. We were hated by most of course, but it happens. At the end of December 2008, 90% of the people I mentioned above decided to quit simultaneously. During that time, my computer was down and out for July to August.

During those two months...The server...died. There were an average of 1k players at any given time when I left.

When I came back, only 200 players remained.

I was astounded, but not surprised. The server owner went on a banning spree, banning many individuals for stupid reasons, and making updates that made somewhat overpowered individuals into individuals who couldn't be stopped. These people got to this point, by nonstop ass kissing. which really messed up the playing for us.

From January 2009 to September 2009, I played randomly, doing random things, just going to PvP, and killing random people.

Then, at the beginning of September 2009...I just stopped. No reason to play anymore.

I decided to write about the time I spent playing that game tonight. I don't know why. It was just a whim.

For a good 3.5 years, that game was a major part of my life. It made me realize things about myself that would have taken a long time for me to realize.

I did a lot of things while playing that game that I regret, but...When I look back on the time I spent playing, I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

Ethan.