For me its:
-
Ultima Online
-
Final Fantasy XI
-
Ragnarok Online
UO was a game I just recently discovered and it's fantastic, best sandbox experience I've ever had in a game.
FFXI was another recent discovery. It took the formula from Everquest and made it better. The game is even less grindy today with the QOL changes.
RO was a big part of my teenage years. I love the look of the game, it reminds me of Final Fantasy Tactics. It's a great casual game to just pop into and grind out some levels or explore.
TIL South Korea was really pumping out the mmos in the aughts, sadly most of them turned out to be poop.
Yeah it was a great time for a young teenager to play free games. I use to search for free MMORPGs all the time and there were new games like every week lol.
R.O.S.E, Flyff, lineage 2, etc etc