There was a time where I stuck strictly to the manuals, but that only lasted a few years. I put all my LEGO into storage, condemning them to being boring. Then I needed to build something for a school project, and LEGO was the only way it would be plausible, so I broke out the LEGO out of storage and then built what I needed. Needless to say, I found it funner than sticking strictly to manuals, so began my interest in LEGO MOCs (since so far, every MOC I've made is more or less poopy [i tend to be a perfectionist, ruining all of my MOCs' chances of ever going anywhere outside of my computer's 'Failed MOCs' folder], I haven't posted any of them to the interwebs).