Welcome, and for your benefit, I will pre-warn you of the phases of Illarion addiction
Step 1 - Account and first character approved! Giddy and elated, you log in, shivering from excitement.
Step 2 - WTF? These are the
graphics?!
Step 3 - I can't believe
these are the f@%*ing graphics!
Step 4 - Become familiar with your client and the mechanics of gameplay - unfortunately, the only way to do this properly is to ask all questions in character, thus making your character seem effectively retarded. ("Excuse me, but I seem to have forgotten how to open my bag", etc.)
Step 5 - Your first roleplaying experience - "WOW! Illarion is the best! It's so addictive! Like, I can't believe this trip is LEGAL, man!"
Step 6 - Quit your job
Step 7 - Become president/king/leader of several guilds, crime rings, governments, and/or OOC hidden boards.
Step 8 - Complain about all the n00bs asking how to open their bags.
Step 9 - Start to become vaguely dissatisfied by Illarion's apparent downhill descent due to noob infestation.
Step 10 - Announce that Illarion is for losers and you now have a life (after all, you
are the Assistant Treasurer's Vice-Secretary of the Junior Chess League, and you're way too cool to spend all your time on some online
game.)
Step 11 - Haunt the forums under a hidden account and post every once in awhile, using an 'anonymous' board account, about how much Illarion sucks.
Step 12 - Once everyone figures out who you are (which, with the metagaming skills of Illarion's players, takes all of three seconds, as they all sit at home and squint at their screens, trying to determine if your two accounts follow the same punctuation patterns), you ignore their repeated statements that, if you hate Illarion, you don't need to read the forum religiously.
And finally -
Step 13 - Log in, "just this once", just for the hell of it. Repeat steps 5-13.