This game effected me deeply for a lifetime
Let's see here rolled up my only character in January 1996, decided I didn't like being human and re-rolled into an Elothean on my birthday February 1996. I went from shy teen girl to obssessive compulsive chatter with thousands of friends in game. :D For a time I knew everyone, and everyone knew me :) I had some interesting encounters with other players that formed my character into the craziest, most dramatic, benevolently helpful, and assuredly ego-tistical at times. But it was all in good fun, and I found many friends, comradrie, reassurance and confidence in my life that was otherwise greatly lacking. Many of those close friends I had, have moved onward in life to other great things, and once every year or so we send messages and life-updates to each other.
One of the many things that really influenced me was their many crafting systems, I'd always wanted to learn leatherworking, origami, etc. But hadn't had much courage to try and join a group that was teaching it. DragonRealms crafting systems gave me an idea of what to expect, and in real life now when I read a book on Origami or Leathercraft I keep going Ooh! That's what I was doing in game! It turns over like this, or I bend and fold it this way and it'll work out.
The most fun and interesting things I've encountered are those other players, particularly the newer ones that think they know First Festival happened last year or those who don't know me and butcher the hell out of my character's name, and then ask me why my name is broken, why my dragon can talk back or move like that, and report me in game as a code hacker, or waste DM time insisting that they've played for many years and know my character really does need repairs, and ask me how I got 12 ranks in Empathy and can teach it. (not an empath) To questions like this, my character smiles and tells the curious, "I've spent a lot of time out in the world adventuring."
One of the interesting things I realized while playing, was on my dog's first birthday. She spent every day at my feet gazing up at me as I played, then one day I found a replica of her as a festival doll. I played with the doll in game for a bit, but then looking at how much the real one wanted to play, I realized I was giving up real opportunities and allowing my life and youth slip away in a fantasy world. DragonRealms is a good game for those that need it, but to spend the best years of your life when you could be out there learning to make your own cloaks, medieval clothing, leather bracers, pet shoulder dragons, and spend that time with your real dog. Many old characters I had known and loved had left the realms at that point, while I've slipped away as a player, that doesn't mean I don't check in from time to time to make sure things are running smoothly. I had to have a talk with Solomon a few years back because so many of the Bard toys, quests, and goodies had broken and nobody had cared enough to realize this and affect necessary repairs. I ended up walking around everywhere and testing everything I knew about to make certain it was working.
If I could change one thing about how Simutronics does DragonRealms I would say they need to make a DVD or CD Master Key backup of everything new that's been added each year. They could start this year. I don't mean just backing up the current game code, I mean preserving it, and also having emergency backup files from all DM's and the code scripts they used to build parts of the world out of code. That is what I would change, because features get over-written, lost, and broken too easily in that game.
Happily Celebrating Year 13 of having one character in the DragonRealms.