At the urging of a friend, I first tried SS13 over 11 years ago, back when Goon was king and two years before Paradise existed. I don't remember much about the time except:
The lag was fucking awful, and a framerate in the teens (or lower!) was commonplace
The community was much rougher around the edges, probably due to all of us being immature teens
I couldn't stomach the sluggish gameplay and awful controls (much worse than modern hotkey mode, for sure), so I disappointed my friend by dropping the game.
As years went by, I'd occasionally see Youtube videos of people playing SS13 and having great fun, and pop back in, only to become alienated again. Most times, I'd pop into whatever server was at the top of the browser, fumble about, punch myself, break light fixtures with a toolbox, then quit out of boredom. It was only around 2019 that something finally clicked, and I was able to play out full rounds without losing interest. I mostly played on Fulp for 2019 and a chunk of 2020 before migrating to Paradise, which has been my main server ever since.