Oh balls... When did Gaia-online make the switch from Go-Gaia? I joined the site shortly after that url switch, must of been late 2004 at least.
I was a home schooled kid who lied about their age to join the site at the time, my parent's didn't give a damn as to what I did with my own computer in my bedroom.. It went highly unchecked, I had no friends and my home life was an utter shit show, I found the wonderful worlds of RPing through that site. It was my only comfort from it all.
Kinda depressing, I know. Like I said, My entire life has been a shit show. My badge for surviving it all is mental illness and a life of therapy and medication.
Ps. No, RPing isn't a trigger for me. If anything it's another way of coping.