GHOSTINGPEN'S HISTORY OF THE INTERNET

* i started using the internet around 2002, when nick (jr)/cartoon network/disney channel games and educational games on CD were my main source of entertainment.

* a few years later, i discovered neopets, and it started a whole new obsession with virtual pet games, life sim games and the whole fad of virtual world games hosted on websites in general. i remember the days where i'd constantly spend time on sites like neopets, webkinz, marapets, millsberry - the era of websites targeted only to children is constantly missed.

* then came my early obsession with video games. pokemon firered was my very first videogame outside of educational games, and it led to me searching for it on the internet and getting fansites in 2004. this was my first exposure to forums! because of this, i eventually discovered animal crossing: wild world around 2008. this led to me finding several animal crossing forums on the internet, which led me to discover... roleplay forums!

* the era of roleplay forums was some of the most fun experiences i've ever had on the internet. between 2008-2010, i roleplayed vocaloid, shugo chara, soul eater, pokemon... aaah!! those years probably had the most OC's i've ever created, and a lot of it is lost to me now. this era is what birthed my incredible love for creative writing. making my own original characters in an awesome kick-ass setting was just so much fun, and as an undiagnosed autistic kid, i thought it totally normal to spend my entire free time as a kid writing and roleplaying and drawing your OC's.

* this eventually extended to writing fanfiction, which then extended to me moving on to livejournal in 2010! back then, it was common to join livejournal communities dedicated to specfic fandoms and even specfic ships, and you'd advertise your own fics there while relying on those communities to give you good fic to read! livejournal was more mellowed-out of an experience compared to the roleplay forums, and definitely a different beast compared to how archive of our own is now. livejournal was probably my first formal introduction to html/css because it was common to code your 'blog' to have its own pretty theme! it was like tumblr, where communities advertising pretty livejournal themes was common!

* after writing fanfiction for a while, i was re-introduced back to roleplaying with livejournal communities in 2011! though the livejournal format for roleplaying was incredibly limited, so i tried to search for alternatives.

* this allowed me to stumble into tumblr in 2011. roleplay communities there encouraged the use of celebrities' faces to create practically original characters. it allowed more than just roleplaying as the person as they would be in real life. with the new change of using a public figure's face instead of crude drawings or stock anime art, i returned to the joy of roleplaying original stories in fantastical universes, thinking up of new personalities and backstories and motives.

* that is probably the end point of my link to the old web, as i existed in that era until 2016.