I joined in V8. My first server was "Cityz" hosted by... Altanore? Anyway, I built a spammy round table pizza there, and it was basically a city rpg. Back in the day. there was no need for mods. People RP'd anyhow. I also remember the JVS bricks. Touch them to open them up. I was dissapointed when the doorbell sound was removed in later versions, however.
My first server was this whacky hotel RP. It was fun back then, but I don't see how, now :c
Then later on I made a citybuild, which used the spammy hotel. It had a long damn road to a "Western City" and I remember my first admin, "Dragonyox" and my third admin, "Jack Carver" (Now _Sarge_). I haven't seen Dragonyox around at all, but I do see Sarge quite often.
V8 had more mature people. There was no need for anything. It was simple, people understood the server concept and didn't mess around, launch random projectiles everywhere. They stayed on the subject. There also wasn't anyone who was really picky, and tried to find errors, and holes, and all that.
Conclusion; V8 was a great time. And should be remembered. I was thinking about hosting a "V8 Styled Building Contest" but honestly, I'd rather keep V8 has a treasured memory rather than try to bring it back.
P.S. Remember those graphic tearing glitches?