Same, I was old enough anyways, but was still a bit strange at the time.

This is the law in question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children'..._Protection_Act

Basically, there are several rules for getting permission if the kid is under 13, so in several cases it's easier to not accept those under that age. This was basically to protect kids from unscrupulous marketers.

(Kids under 12 get a lot more marketing than we used to have. When I was young it was just cereal, fast/junk food, and toys. Now you have kids being turned into fashionista's before they're 8!)

Actually, it might have been this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children'..._Protection_Act

Sorry, It's not clear...

You just reminded me that Bratz exist.

Well, I'm an oldtimer at 41 Bratz?!! Back then we used to just have Barbie, and you'd never see the black ones on TV outside of store ads. (Boy, times have changed--happy they finally desegregated the dolls!).

I remember even when G.I. Joe was a half-foot tall clean-Hippie-like soldier, when TV shows didn't tie into toys, and even a time before Star Wars.

Oh, and Phoebus, I wasn't talking about doll fashions, I'm talking about kids caring about what brands they wore. Back in my day the only thing people cared about was wearing their favorite character or costume, not having Nike shoes or Gucci pants or whatnot.

It's not just doll fashion, man. That stuff carries over. My neighbor's kids dress like Bratz dolls, and they're 8 and 11. It freaks me out.

There was a contest for players to create their own maps when the game opened. That's how we got around (and that's one rare honours line that will never be given again! hehe) That, and just memorizing every room and entrance/exit. *flex hippocampus*

EDIT: And at that time Exarius was the king of maps, not Caffrey, though both were really good
EDIT EDIT: omg I can't believe my pathetic Oleanvir map is still up there

I miss Elryn's Aetherspace Maps. Has anybody updated any of those?

Wiki has good ones on it. I haven't checked for 100% of updates but they look good at a glance.

Nobody's taken over maintaining them (or even that page), but most of aetherspace is still like it was when they were updated last (right after godrealms).

I've been around since day one. I pretty clearly remember, too, because I was a freshman in college and told a friend that had been into Achaea for years... I guess that ruined his mind, because he gave up on Lusternia after about 2 hours. Anyway, yea. Started out as a Viscanti Nihilist, though I dropped out (of Lusternia) when I dropped out (of college).

(Serenwilde): Somenoob says, "Target at mother?"
(Serenwilde): Furry says, "*romp* *lick*"
(Serenwilde): Someothernoob says, "VISAERIS CUTTING TREES! GROUP AT ME!"
Someothernoob has been slain by the might of Astral Priest, Visaeris Maeloch.

Thank the Lady for TELEPORT NEXUS. "Target at?" spam is always freaking annoying.

Yeah, that was one of my favourite changes.

That part was already being quashed on the very first day, actually.

The quashing was very effective.

Anyone else remember the Nexus client before it was actually called the Nexus client? When it was the unruly Java client that I remember so fondly, that got me into programming? Ahh, those were the good ol' Achaea days...

Wow.... I started sometime in September in 2003..... thank you all for making me feel old as dirt.

Think you mean 04

I can remember playing on the first day of beta, then deciding it was too crowded and hopping back to Achaea.

I kinda wish I'd stayed so I could be super old too

Pretty sure its 2003... oldest character is 3/18/04 and I remember starting in September