As a non-social kid it let me interact with people in a way I hadn't before. I learned to work as a team and my place in a raid (3rd tank, not very glorious). I learned that I didn't have to be the best but to be sufficient.
I left EQ for WoW and ended up starting my own guild after several splits from other guilds and led a raid force of 40 (66 active members) to top 3 spot worldwide for just under 2 years. While doing this I learned what leadership and organization were important to have a successful cohesive unit. I learned what it means to do the right thing despite popularity and politics.
To this day I credit my time in <Primus Exodus> on Veeshan as a catalyst to my professional development. I learned a lot from those people and a lot from the subsequent steps I took in WoW to develop a leadership skill set. Today my position reflects those skills and I can say confidently that I am the youngest person at my company with the level of authority and influence that I command - and I would attribute that to my roots in EQ from when I was a shy, fat, bookworm.
I DID almost lose some scholarships to WoW, but, that's hardly here or there (I recovered and kept my GPA up).