I also started playing in school =). I remember a new friend I made in grade 9 named Mike showed me the game. He went by the name "Hondo" in DP. Don't think he played to much after that, but he sure got me into it.
This thread brings up a good point though. I think we are getting to the point where everyone has a decent enough computer to be able to use the high resolution textures. Maybe it is time to start including at least a small HR4 pack with the game download and have it enabled by default. Probably 90% of the players don't know there are better textures available.
I don't think anyone would mind the small addition to the download size. 25 MB takes less than 30 seconds to download for most people these days.