Oh what a lovely thread, just read through it all 
Perkunas, though GW is a very special place I am amazed you can be so specific about when you started.
I started because my eldest (who had her own pc from the age of 3) somehow became aware of it and wanted to play. We had played some games v each other on teh home LAN but never an online game before. So although she was far too young we allowed her to get the game and start playing but I had a character on her account just to keep an eye on her and make sure there were no inappropriate interactions with other people. I pretty soon became caught up in playing the game myself and had to get my own copy as I wanted to join a guild and add friends.
My daughter btw is not a gamer, she has no time or interest in games now so my bad parenting didnt seem to have a long lasting effect on her, though it did on me.
So I had my own game just after factions came out but I only had proph until several months after Nightfall when I bought teh other two.