Official Introduce Yourself Thread

[Talonp]

Thanks for the welcome guys

I do remember a lot of those BBSes, I worked with Crystal Quill, Adult Bliss, Adult Fantasy, The DeadEnd BBS and a few others in Northern VA and MD and I've also started collecting software and equipment...mostly after software and backups but some equipment is nice to have...there was a few BBS in Fredericksburg, VA years ago, I think one was named 1BigRed they were a home grown ISP running out of the house using majorbbs.

I am looking forward to seeing where this will all go and I am sure its going to be a fun ride

Again thanks for the welcome.

[dspain]

Thanks for the welcome guys

I do remember a lot of those BBSes, I worked with Crystal Quill, Adult Bliss, Adult Fantasy, The DeadEnd BBS and a few others in Northern VA and MD and I've also started collecting software and equipment...mostly after software and backups but some equipment is nice to have...there was a few BBS in Fredericksburg, VA years ago, I think one was named 1BigRed they were a home grown ISP running out of the house using majorbbs.

I am looking forward to seeing where this will all go and I am sure its going to be a fun ride

Again thanks for the welcome.

there is still a large one in fredricksburg, its a members only underground secene-oriented server that just contracted me to write them a globals package,ip tracing program, and file tracker module.
there were a couple smaller ones back in 2000 still in operation 1 in fredricksburg and one in stafford.

[Talonp]

Thanks for the welcome guys

I do remember a lot of those BBSes, I worked with Crystal Quill, Adult Bliss, Adult Fantasy, The DeadEnd BBS and a few others in Northern VA and MD and I've also started collecting software and equipment...mostly after software and backups but some equipment is nice to have...there was a few BBS in Fredericksburg, VA years ago, I think one was named 1BigRed they were a home grown ISP running out of the house using majorbbs.

I am looking forward to seeing where this will all go and I am sure its going to be a fun ride

Again thanks for the welcome.

there is still a large one in fredricksburg, its a members only underground secene-oriented server that just contracted me to write them a globals package,ip tracing program, and file tracker module.
there were a couple smaller ones back in 2000 still in operation 1 in fredricksburg and one in stafford.

Yeah I ran into a system like that last year, a friend called me because he knew I had worked with the MajorBBS about a system in Baltimore Maryland run by a group of Russians that he knew. It too was a members only club thing. Had no problem paying the bill so I was happy

But there is a lot of systems out there that are not open that need good products and support...we just have to find them thats all.

[dspain]

Thanks for the welcome guys

I do remember a lot of those BBSes, I worked with Crystal Quill, Adult Bliss, Adult Fantasy, The DeadEnd BBS and a few others in Northern VA and MD and I've also started collecting software and equipment...mostly after software and backups but some equipment is nice to have...there was a few BBS in Fredericksburg, VA years ago, I think one was named 1BigRed they were a home grown ISP running out of the house using majorbbs.

I am looking forward to seeing where this will all go and I am sure its going to be a fun ride

Again thanks for the welcome.

there is still a large one in fredricksburg, its a members only underground secene-oriented server that just contracted me to write them a globals package,ip tracing program, and file tracker module.
there were a couple smaller ones back in 2000 still in operation 1 in fredricksburg and one in stafford.

Yeah I ran into a system like that last year, a friend called me because he knew I had worked with the MajorBBS about a system in Baltimore Maryland run by a group of Russians that he knew. It too was a members only club thing. Had no problem paying the bill so I was happy

But there is a lot of systems out there that are not open that need good products and support...we just have to find them thats all.

i know thew russian system there flagship product is an ultima online server, they run out of montgomery county and PG county.
im in the process of working out a module that will load majorbbs modules under nt.
so far i got it working the only problem is it requires a new wgserver.exe and my DLL.
if all goes well maybe i can convince rick to bundle it.

[Talonp]

there is still a large one in fredricksburg, its a members only underground secene-oriented server that just contracted me to write them a globals package,ip tracing program, and file tracker module.
there were a couple smaller ones back in 2000 still in operation 1 in fredricksburg and one in stafford.

Yeah I ran into a system like that last year, a friend called me because he knew I had worked with the MajorBBS about a system in Baltimore Maryland run by a group of Russians that he knew. It too was a members only club thing. Had no problem paying the bill so I was happy

But there is a lot of systems out there that are not open that need good products and support...we just have to find them thats all.

i know thew russian system there flagship product is an ultima online server, they run out of montgomery county and PG county.
im in the process of working out a module that will load majorbbs modules under nt.
so far i got it working the only problem is it requires a new wgserver.exe and my DLL.
if all goes well maybe i can convince rick to bundle it.

That would be awesome .... now this is the MajorBBS or Worldgroup for Dos modules? just asking because it sounds great.

[dspain]

Yeah I ran into a system like that last year, a friend called me because he knew I had worked with the MajorBBS about a system in Baltimore Maryland run by a group of Russians that he knew. It too was a members only club thing. Had no problem paying the bill so I was happy

But there is a lot of systems out there that are not open that need good products and support...we just have to find them thats all.

i know thew russian system there flagship product is an ultima online server, they run out of montgomery county and PG county.
im in the process of working out a module that will load majorbbs modules under nt.
so far i got it working the only problem is it requires a new wgserver.exe and my DLL.
if all goes well maybe i can convince rick to bundle it.

That would be awesome .... now this is the MajorBBS or Worldgroup for Dos modules? just asking because it sounds great.

wg3dos and nt use the same file formats, majorbbs and wg1/wg2 use a different schema.

[Trekkie]

Greetings all,

It's funny...I haven't used this handle in over a decade and it's funny to actually register somewhere with it

Anyway, my story...I remember like it was yesterday! Back in 1990 I was at a college classmate's house and after we were done studying, she fired up her computer, turned on a modem and logged in to a BBS. I was fascinated by the idea that she was typing in real time with other people! I was hooked...scraped together every spare penny and bought a 2400 baud modem the very next day.

The board she logged in to was GeniSys, a 20+ line MajorBBS in Philadelphia, run by Rob Malerman. In a matter of months I became a sysop. LOVED it! Not only did I love the sigs and the teleconference, I was a huge Infinity Complex addict and would spend hours online every day. Bell at the time had a $25 "unlimited local call" plan, which was a huge amount of money to me as a poor college student but worth every penny

I made a lot of friends there, some that I keep in touch with to this day. We were an extremely tight group and had weekly get togethers and parties all the time. Of course there was drama but I think that goes with any online community. I was also a pretty active member of many other Philadelphia boards under various handles, especially Macintosh communities and a bunch of adult sites (they were almost all WWIV or Wildcat). Other MajorBBS boards I belonged to pretty actively in Philly were Onix and Cheers in NJ.

Some of the weirder memories I have:

- One user was repeatedly "killed" by another user in Infinity Complex. He got so pissed off that he logged off, got into his car, drove across the city (a good 30 miles) and physically beat up the other player

(BTW, IC was a ridiculously simple game but FUN...this little story still warms my heart and it was on my board and in my time...I knew all these guys: http://philae.sas.upenn.edu/music/matrix/infinity.html)

- That same user played IC and Trade Wars so intently he had a heart attack while playing (he had anger issues)

- I got a phone call at 1am from a frantic parent who logged in as her 13-year old daughter and discovered a 30-something man was trying to meet up with her. I had the unpleasant job of calling him to explain why I was kicking him off the board (and the mother to explain why I kicked the daughter off the board because she was underage) and had to deal with personal and legal threats over the situation (from both sides). Not cool and I can see some things don't change (a la Dateline NBC).

I was a sysop on GeniSys from 1990-1992. When I moved to Lancaster PA I was also a sysop on "2001 A Communcations Odyssey", a 15-18 line board in Lancaster, PA from 1991-1994. At the time we used to hook up boards what I think was called TeleLink or BBSLink...I don't remember the exact name of the service. Some of the boards you have posted here I believe we hooked up with...I know we linked with big boards in Florida, Texas and California on a fairly regular basis.

Anyway, it was during one of those hookups that I met a guy from New Jersey. We hit it off immediately and I guess it really was "love at first sight". We married in 1994 and are still together today. I imagine it is probably one of the earlier "BBS marriages" in the community.

I remember talking with Rob about the future of boards...he had done some early experiments in MMROPGs with a "Star Trek" type program, and we used to speculate about how big the online communities would become. I remember him talking about the idea of boards holding over 2000 people, and the idea of 2+ million people eventually being online. How different it is today!

I wasn't a programmer but I was what you would call an "applications specialist" -- I had a knack for installing and configuring software and had worked pretty extensively with MajorBBS in the years I was a sysop. When I married and moved to NJ I stayed in the technical domain, working at a corporate help desk and eventually becoming a programmer and architect for Lucent. I became a specialist in corporate enterprise portals (in a way, our BBSs were the early progenitors of "portal" communities!) and developed portals for a number of large corporations. I've been a private consultant for several years now, and in many ways I still draw on my experiences "back in the day" to solve the technical and social issues around online communities. At the very least, being able to type 150 words a minute (from hours chatting online) speeds up my work!

It may sound so cliche to say that BBSing changed my life, but it did! It was a fundamental shift in the way I saw the world, interacted with it, and it completely changed the direction of my career and my personal life. It was one of the most exciting times of my life and I treasure the memories and the friendships and the partnerships that were a result.

This community project is awesome and it has been great reading all of the stories and experiences here!

Esther aka "Trekkie"

P.S. Anyone know a telnet board that still runs Infinity Complex?

[Talonp]

Welcome Trekkie glad to see you here...I am sure there is a BBS out there still running IC, I will see what I can find for you

Talonp

[Toyduck]

Greetings all,

P.S. Anyone know a telnet board that still runs Infinity Complex?

Welcome Trekkie, I dont' offer IC on my system, but I'm sure there will be others popping up and telling you how to access their boards.

TD

[Questman]

Elwynor BBS - telnet to bbs.elwynor.com - is the home site of Infinity complex!

Welcome to all the new posters!

[Gary Martin]

Hello folks, my name is Gary Martin. Many years ago (longer than I'd care to remember) I wrote a BBS door game called Trade Wars 2002. It got quite a bit of use in the single line BBS world and eventually I teamed up with High Velocity Software to produce a Major BBS version.

At the same time I created a MajorBBS called Metropolis. I grew that system over a few years until it was getting fairly unwieldy!

Around 1994 I saw the writing on the wall, what with the Internet coming and got out of the business. I sold off Metropolis to a company in Kansas City called "Multiservice". They primarily just handled credit card transaction processing, but wanted to branch into online entertainment. I worked with them for two years building up Metropolis until we had direct dial lines in so many cities that I lost track of em all. We built the ClubMet system, the Big 10/12 college systems and I spent waaay too much time keeping all those remote PoPs running. *ugh*

Well time passed, I sold off my interest in Trade Wars 2002 to John Pritchet who I had met at Multiservice and who had been doing the maintenance programming on the DOS version.

So what's the current State of the Union? Is it fairly easy to get a WorldGroup or whatever they're calling it this week back up on the Internet? I'm looking for a basic system, a very good teleconference and maybe putting TW2002 up as well.

[Talonp]

Hey Gary long time no see...I'm sure you don't remember me but thats ok

From what I know John Pritchett has the rights to TradeWars2002 and you can reach him at the new company Epic Interactive Strategy. his email is jpritch@eisonline.com

The game is currently available in two formats; DOS 16 bit and Windows 32 bit. The latest version for DOS is v3.09 which was released in 1998 by Martech Software and requires a BBS to run. The current version, which is still being updated, is the Windows version that runs under TWGS (TradeWars Game Server).

As for the MajorBBS version talk to Questman he may have the rights now not sure but he would know the answer to that question.

Good to see you online and if I can help you in anyway just let me know.

Talonp

[Questman]

Welcome, Gary! I'll PM you with the information about the Major BBS / High Velocity port. It's been handled professionally as far as I know.

[Toyduck]

Hello folks, my name is Gary Martin. Many years ago (longer than I'd care to remember) I wrote a BBS door game called Trade Wars 2002. It got quite a bit of use in the single line BBS world and eventually I teamed up with High Velocity Software to produce a Major BBS version.

At the same time I created a MajorBBS called Metropolis. I grew that system over a few years until it was getting fairly unwieldy!

Around 1994 I saw the writing on the wall, what with the Internet coming and got out of the business. I sold off Metropolis to a company in Kansas City called "Multiservice". They primarily just handled credit card transaction processing, but wanted to branch into online entertainment. I worked with them for two years building up Metropolis until we had direct dial lines in so many cities that I lost track of em all. We built the ClubMet system, the Big 10/12 college systems and I spent waaay too much time keeping all those remote PoPs running. *ugh*

Well time passed, I sold off my interest in the Dos Trade Wars 2002 to John Pritchet who I had met at Multiservice and who had been doing the maintenance programming on the DOS version. I eventually lost contact with Jeff at High Velocity too and that brings me to why I'm checking in here with you good folks!

As odd as it may sound, I have completely lost contact with whoever has the rights now to Trade Wars2002 MBBS version! I think after it passed hands a few times this was intentional as the royalties stopped coming even though I know it was still being sold. *grin* That's not what I'm after though, I'd just like to know where it ended up, if it's been orphaned, who has it, etc?

At the same time I have a ton of my old users from Metropolis that still chat on BBSMates. They're interested in a place online where they can get together and socialize again so I'm strongly considering putting something free together for them.

So what's the current State of the Union? Is it fairly easy to get a WorldGroup or whatever they're calling it this week back up on the Internet? I'm looking for a basic system, a very good teleconference and maybe putting TW2002 up as well.

Hi Gary, welcome. I remember Metropolis. If you need anything, ask.

TD

[Kalthanas]

Hello, everyone. I'm not sure how active this forum is, but I recently regained an interest in developing games, and I recalled with fondness some of the games from my BBS days. Within a few minutes of opening my browser and doing some Google searches, I found this site.

Here's my story.

I am from Michigan, and I originally started using BBS's when I was an adolescent of 12 or 13, when I had a Commodore 64. Originally I called C-Net and TAG boards, but eventually I ran across a site called AMUSERS that allowed over a dozen people to connect to the same BBS! Oh my! I became good friends with lots of the members there.

When that site unfortunately shut down, I got involved with a new site called Somewhere OnLine. We called it SOL, and it was lengthened to become "Somewhere OnLine Amusement Recreation Information Service" AKA SOLARIS, years before Sun came up with the Solaris operating system.

"Kalthanas" is a handle I haven't used in years. It was what I used to use back then.

I became involved in that site, met lots of people from there, and eventually started helping out. I helped create Actions for the CB (Teleconference; but it was always CB for us.) The original owners sold or gave the system to another person.

I became much more involved and started doing programming and systems work for the BBS. Profitability went down and this new owner eventually gave up and gave the system to me and my girlfriend at the time. We ran it for a while out of our house, shutting down more and more lines until we eventually pulled the plug. It was an expensive operation that never really paid for itself.

We had a lot of add-ons. I remember Galactic Empire, Kyrandia (where I won a ton of credits by being the first winner on Amusers), and InFiNiTy CoMpLeX. They were all fun, and all had their own players. I remember I had a Procomm script that would collect gems from Kyrandia. Or perhaps it was Telemate?

Once the internet became popular, the MajorBBS just couldn't compete, obviously. Its only real attraction nowadays is for nostalgia and a few idle moments here and there.

We had originally been a MajorBBS v5 (I believe -- whatever came before 6), and upgraded to v6, so we had source code for quite a few modules. Unfortunately, I've moved 5 times since then, and MajorBBS periphenalia was not a priority. I've lost every single bit of documentation, and the floppy disk boxes (both 5.25" and 3.5") that had all of the code.

I actually had Scott Brinker's business card until recently. I had it in some old knickknacks that I had kicking around. I used to know my BBS ID number by heart; but no more.

I was working on some custom mods for the MajorBBS, including a Euchre card game. It was coming along pretty well until we just couldn't afford to run it anymore.

I wouldn't mind reinstalling all of it to fool around with, but it seems like such a pain to deal with the licensing and etc. I guess many of the modules have to be "hacked" to run, since the original companies no longer exist, there's no way to obtain the activation keys and or look up our purchase records?

I downloaded something called "MBBS4EVER" but I'm leery of running it, even though I could disable the modules we never legally owned.

Oh well... it might have been fun for a while.

[Kalthanas]

I am Rob Michnick, my wife Debi and I founded and ran ProStar Plus. ProStar started out as a 1 line system in 1983 and grew to a monster 256 liner with over 5,000 paying members at it's peak. We had licenses to almost everything out there.

...

Wow, I remember ProStar! Weren't you a software reseller too? I'm pretty sure we had purchased something from you.

[icedragon]

Originally the sysop of Empire of The Dragon BBS in Colorado (EOTD BBS), 1992-1996.

And yes, Kalthanas, we ran MBBS 5.31 to start

Currently in the process of bringing it back online, even though everyone says I'm crazy to do that. Dialup even.

Also used to be regular and friend of HighWaterMark BBS, of HighWaterMark ISV fame. Knew Reed, and many of the other folks involved in HWM.

Sorely miss the BBS scene. Have moved onto other 'bigger' things, and most of the EOTD crew has moved to IRC, but I hope to get the BBS up and running in a meaningful way.

Just ordered WG 3.30, to upgrade from 3.00.

I have to wonder where that development will go, too.

[bsimser]

I thought I was registered here and had even left messages before. Guess not.

My name is Bil Simser and I'm a SysOp/Developer/ISV from yesteryear.

I ran BBSes out of Toronto starting with (I think) a C64 one. I ran a site called Occular Malice (you can still find me in some old fido lists). After running Malice on the C64 I moved it to my first PC, an XT I bought for $1000 running various BBS softwares (I think I tried them all) and writing doors.

Then I hooked up with Metropolis BBS out of Toronto (not to be confused with Metropolis who runs MajorMUD). I was SysOpy-type guy and general developer there for a few years. We started up Ewe-Nique Creations (Mike Opzoomer and myself) and wrote some games for MBBS (Trivia Party, Word Party, etc.) and released some beta games (Phantasia, Sceptre). I moved out to Calgary, Alberta and hooked up with Foundation BBS and continued to do development. I also created a MBBS version of LORD to get Seth started in MBBS development but his product was sold and High Velocity built their own version (I think it was HV, might have been someone else).

These days I'm a .NET architect/developer, SharePoint MVP, XNA developer, and guy-with-too-many-projects-on-the-go. Most of my goings on can be found here:
http://weblogs.asp.net/bsimser/

[dspain]

I thought I was registered here and had even left messages before. Guess not.

My name is Bil Simser and I'm a SysOp/Developer/ISV from yesteryear.

I ran BBSes out of Toronto starting with (I think) a C64 one. I ran a site called Occular Malice (you can still find me in some old fido lists). After running Malice on the C64 I moved it to my first PC, an XT I bought for $1000 running various BBS softwares (I think I tried them all) and writing doors.

Then I hooked up with Metropolis BBS out of Toronto (not to be confused with Metropolis who runs MajorMUD). I was SysOpy-type guy and general developer there for a few years. We started up Ewe-Nique Creations (Mike Opzoomer and myself) and wrote some games for MBBS (Trivia Party, Word Party, etc.) and released some beta games (Phantasia, Sceptre). I moved out to Calgary, Alberta and hooked up with Foundation BBS and continued to do development. I also created a MBBS version of LORD to get Seth started in MBBS development but his product was sold and High Velocity built their own version (I think it was HV, might have been someone else).

These days I'm a .NET architect/developer, SharePoint MVP, XNA developer, and guy-with-too-many-projects-on-the-go. Most of my goings on can be found here:
http://weblogs.asp.net/bsimser/

welcome aboard!

is it me or does it seem there was a metropolis bbs (if not a few) in each state during the 80's-90's

[Fawn]

Hi there,
Wow this place is a blast from the past. I am Fawn and I was the sysop of Glittering Star BBS located in Portland, OR. I was talking to a friend about it tonight and telling him about Mud, so he did a search on the net and found this place. I was blown away. Makes me miss the good old days!

[banjaxster]

Welcome to our forums,
Your invited to logon any of our boards,mine are CedarValley and CedarNet BBSes telnet://cedarvalleybbs.com or cedarnetbbs.com

[Vitoc]

I got my first computer as a graduation present shortly before I finished 8th grade (1991-1992). It was a hunk of junk but it had a 2400 baud modem which I quickly got myself into trouble with racking up high phone bills.

After passing from BBS to BBS I ended up landing at Aussie's BBS and fell in love with TradeWars (played with TonyLM/JanetLM and Talon Hawk there). After a couple years Aussie's turned into Coffee Break and soon I noticed all the TradeWars peeps were playing this new game called MajorMUD. I jumped in head first and have been addicted ever since. Typical BBS gameop/sysop drama occurred over the next several years and I again started BBS-hopping (Emerald Isle, Inner Circle, The Rising Phoenix, and a few others) until I landed at Magicom where I stayed for what seems like forever.

I was the first on Coffee Break to adopt scripting writing my own scripts for Telemate. I think that's where my love for programming must have started. I ended up majoring in Computer Science and picked up the fundamentals of OO programming. Fast forward a few years, I started my own software company and planned on selling an ERM system I was developing, but during that time I grew frustrated with the handling (or perhaps I should say mishandling) of MajorMUD.

I set out on an ambitious project to recreate the look and feel of the game from scratch. I wrote my own telnet server, created a module that ran on top of it, and GreaterMUD was born. When it didn't gain any interest I let it sit for a year before DeathCow threw his hat into the ring and joined the project. I've been working on GMUD for the past few years in my spare time and the project is finally gaining momentum as we near completion. I'm trying to work with Metro on a deal that would benefit all parties involved, allowing me to sell copies of their content with my new engine (all for dirt cheap, $50 for the telnet server and GMUD combined), but it appears as though they're not willing to work with me so we're at a fork in the road.

Anyway, I hope to recapture the spirit of the old BBS days while drawing new interest by merging the telnet world with the web world (we have realtime leaderboards and other lists), and I believe we're off to a great start.

[SouthernCross]

I began mudding in the early 90's. I first hated majormud and WG, but initialy hated Majormud and WG. I always opted for linux ran muds, such as circle and smaug. I helped create and run beyondexiled.org, which is still running today. I am self taught in several mud codes and also Borland C++. I began looking at major because it was based on Borland and is easier to work with than Circle. Since than I been playing majormud. I first started out on pay boards, always hoping to see updates or something being released to keep my interest in the game. However, none of it ever came to light.

I began running my own board after almost 10 years of nothing coming out of the Metro camp.

Hated Reality started roughly over 3 years ago. Since than I been editing and doing my own code work into the game, trying to advance it to what I desire in majormud. I still do weekly updates as well as teach up and coming mud editors to learn the arcane ways and enjoyment of mudding.

The board also rung Tlord and Lunatix, which I also add Igms to, as well as several other WG games.

To me the Wg community is a dying community and those of us who still are doing work are fragmented and or let ego get in the way of a unified community. If we can get together and think about advancing and work on always creating new enhancements and games, we can help recreate the dying stigma behing running a BBS and a Mud.

So that is me
The Arcane MUdder
Southern/Empathy/Dave

http://empathy.exiledmud.org

hatedreality.homeunix.net

[frcorey]

I got my first computer as a graduation present shortly before I finished 8th grade (1991-1992). It was a hunk of junk but it had a 2400 baud modem which I quickly got myself into trouble with racking up high phone bills.

After passing from BBS to BBS I ended up landing at Aussie's BBS and fell in love with TradeWars (played with TonyLM/JanetLM and Talon Hawk there). After a couple years Aussie's turned into Coffee Break and soon I noticed all the TradeWars peeps were playing this new game called MajorMUD. I jumped in head first and have been addicted ever since. Typical BBS gameop/sysop drama occurred over the next several years and I again started BBS-hopping (Emerald Isle, Inner Circle, The Rising Phoenix, and a few others) until I landed at Magicom where I stayed for what seems like forever.

I was the first on Coffee Break to adopt scripting writing my own scripts for Telemate. I think that's where my love for programming must have started. I ended up majoring in Computer Science and picked up the fundamentals of OO programming. Fast forward a few years, I started my own software company and planned on selling an ERM system I was developing, but during that time I grew frustrated with the handling (or perhaps I should say mishandling) of MajorMUD.

I set out on an ambitious project to recreate the look and feel of the game from scratch. I wrote my own telnet server, created a module that ran on top of it, and GreaterMUD was born. When it didn't gain any interest I let it sit for a year before DeathCow threw his hat into the ring and joined the project. I've been working on GMUD for the past few years in my spare time and the project is finally gaining momentum as we near completion. I'm trying to work with Metro on a deal that would benefit all parties involved, allowing me to sell copies of their content with my new engine (all for dirt cheap, $50 for the telnet server and GMUD combined), but it appears as though they're not willing to work with me so we're at a fork in the road.

Anyway, I hope to recapture the spirit of the old BBS days while drawing new interest by merging the telnet world with the web world (we have realtime leaderboards and other lists), and I believe we're off to a great start.

I can see why thou, without the Majormud world,
it's just a lot of old butchered code.

[frcorey]

I began mudding in the early 90's. I first hated majormud and WG, but initialy hated Majormud and WG. I always opted for linux ran muds, such as circle and smaug. I helped create and run beyondexiled.org, which is still running today. I am self taught in several mud codes and also Borland C++. I began looking at major because it was based on Borland and is easier to work with than Circle. Since than I been playing majormud. I first started out on pay boards, always hoping to see updates or something being released to keep my interest in the game. However, none of it ever came to light.

I began running my own board after almost 10 years of nothing coming out of the Metro camp.

Hated Reality started roughly over 3 years ago. Since than I been editing and doing my own code work into the game, trying to advance it to what I desire in majormud. I still do weekly updates as well as teach up and coming mud editors to learn the arcane ways and enjoyment of mudding.

The board also rung Tlord and Lunatix, which I also add Igms to, as well as several other WG games.

To me the Wg community is a dying community and those of us who still are doing work are fragmented and or let ego get in the way of a unified community. If we can get together and think about advancing and work on always creating new enhancements and games, we can help recreate the dying stigma behing running a BBS and a Mud.

So that is me
The Arcane MUdder
Southern/Empathy/Dave

http://empathy.exiledmud.org

hatedreality.homeunix.net

Smaug?
I have a MSVC6 port of Smaug 1.4a which runs as a NT service.

[dspain]

I began mudding in the early 90's. I first hated majormud and WG, but initialy hated Majormud and WG. I always opted for linux ran muds, such as circle and smaug. I helped create and run beyondexiled.org, which is still running today. I am self taught in several mud codes and also Borland C++. I began looking at major because it was based on Borland and is easier to work with than Circle. Since than I been playing majormud. I first started out on pay boards, always hoping to see updates or something being released to keep my interest in the game. However, none of it ever came to light.

I began running my own board after almost 10 years of nothing coming out of the Metro camp.

Hated Reality started roughly over 3 years ago. Since than I been editing and doing my own code work into the game, trying to advance it to what I desire in majormud. I still do weekly updates as well as teach up and coming mud editors to learn the arcane ways and enjoyment of mudding.

The board also rung Tlord and Lunatix, which I also add Igms to, as well as several other WG games.

To me the Wg community is a dying community and those of us who still are doing work are fragmented and or let ego get in the way of a unified community. If we can get together and think about advancing and work on always creating new enhancements and games, we can help recreate the dying stigma behing running a BBS and a Mud.

So that is me
The Arcane MUdder
Southern/Empathy/Dave

http://empathy.exiledmud.org

hatedreality.homeunix.net

Smaug?
I have a MSVC6 port of Smaug 1.4a which runs as a NT service.

yeah smaug is one of the easiest mud codebases i have ever worked with.

[Gary Martin]

is it me or does it seem there was a metropolis bbs (if not a few) in each state during the 80's-90's

The "Metropolis BBS" that I built in the early 90s was spread across all of the cities of the (then) Big 8 and Big 10 college conference. While it was originally housed in Lawrence Kansas (where I live) and then moved to Overland Park, KS when I sold it to Multiservice, it had POPs in all of those college towns, from Texas up to Ohio and many states in-between.

Man that was a mess to support but it did work pretty well.

[Toyduck]

is it me or does it seem there was a metropolis bbs (if not a few) in each state during the 80's-90's

The "Metropolis BBS" that I built in the early 90s was spread across all of the cities of the (then) Big 8 and Big 10 college conference. While it was originally housed in Lawrence Kansas (where I live) and then moved to Overland Park, KS when I sold it to Multiservice, it had POPs in all of those college towns, from Texas up to Ohio and many states in-between.

Man that was a mess to support but it did work pretty well.

Man, I had forgotten all about POPS. From the users end it always wasn't easy either avoiding long distance charges with xpacket networks and all...

[dream]

Hey Guys,

First, I`d like to introduce myself, I was a MajorBBS SysOP running a Student BBS in York, England called "YorkTalk", which was mainly used to introduce students to the 'new' world of email. Of course as the internet become more popular, we had to retire our MajorBBS 2x server and rolled out internet access campus wide. I still have all the original software disks and have quite a selection of doors and addons which we had also purchased, but alas, I no longer can find any of the product key information, so would probably have to resort to a crack or keymaker if I ever wanted to rebuild the BBS.

I thought for sure that MajorBBS/WG was out of business, however after lurking the forums for a while and reading about the whole debacle with NetVillage, notice that Questman is now the official rights holder for the software.

Questman - I applaud the work you have put in to this project and time and money you have spent and hope we can all help you to develop the product in to something commercially viable again!.

I will have a look through the few archive tapes I have and see if there is anything I can contribute and think I will also attempt to get the old BBS running again, though probably with Worldgroup 3x.

[Talonp]

Welcome Dream and thank you for the offering to contribute to the cause, any source code would be great. Also talk to Questman because if you have the license for your BBS he may be able to help you with the activation codes.

Again welcome to the community

[Questman]

Hey Guys,

First, I`d like to introduce myself, I was a MajorBBS SysOP running a Student BBS in York, England called "YorkTalk", which was mainly used to introduce students to the 'new' world of email. Of course as the internet become more popular, we had to retire our MajorBBS 2x server and rolled out internet access campus wide. I still have all the original software disks and have quite a selection of doors and addons which we had also purchased, but alas, I no longer can find any of the product key information, so would probably have to resort to a crack or keymaker if I ever wanted to rebuild the BBS.

I thought for sure that MajorBBS/WG was out of business, however after lurking the forums for a while and reading about the whole debacle with NetVillage, notice that Questman is now the official rights holder for the software.

Questman - I applaud the work you have put in to this project and time and money you have spent and hope we can all help you to develop the product in to something commercially viable again!.

I will have a look through the few archive tapes I have and see if there is anything I can contribute and think I will also attempt to get the old BBS running again, though probably with Worldgroup 3x.

Very cool! Welcome, mate! Chuffed to have you here!

All kidding aside - if you'd like to get codes for the latest version, e-mail me at questman at themajorbbs dot com, and I'll help you!

As for the project, I wish it was going faster, but at least we still have a community going. Hopefully as work relaxes a bit we can get moving again.

[dream]

Jolly good show ol'e boy, splendid! I`ll drop you an email shortly with the details.

[VeNoM]

Where to start....

How about..

Hi! I'm Nathan. Better known in the bbs community as VeNoM.

I picked up BBSing somewhat late in the game. But mainly because i was born too late. In the early 90's i got ahold of my first computer, connected to my first BBS in 1994 or so. A board called CyberSpace 7. A few games, TA, TW2002, a bunch of the standard games. A nice network of active users. All Dial-Up, and local. Met a lot of people, made a lot of friends. Once they got themselves on the 'net, i started to meet people from all over the globe. I was hooked. By the age of 15 or so, i had friends in Canada, and all across the US.

Around 1998 that board went away. The Op just got out of the game. His board got packed up in an old monitor box, and shoved in a closet in the back of his computer shop.

In 2002 or so, i contacted him. I still knew him from when the board was live. He still had the software, still in that monitor box. I made him an offer.

I wanted to see the board alive again. I wanted those old games and memories back.

After some work, i managed to get the board up and running, minus the dial-up access. It was 2002, who even has a dial-up modem anymore?

I've had the board up and running as The Underground ever since.

Click the link in my signature, the board's open to all, we're always happy to see new users.

I'm glad to see a forum that this community can use to get together and make BBS's what the once were. There a huge piece of history, these systems helped shape what the 'net is today, well, before it went to hell..

[racedog]

My name is Mike Herrera and I started my first bbs in August of 1981 in Los Angeles. It was named Access One and it ran on an Apple ][. We started out using a simple piece of software called Networks, it basically answered the phone and had one board on it. I had user who had a software company and he decided to personally write some better bbs software for me which was a complete universe above what I had started with. Another friend (who shortly thereafter went on to become one of MS's top software engineers) decided that we should make it a multi-user bbs and the way he did it was to stack (cloned) Apple boards each having their own modem and bbs software running. He linked those into a Covad hard drive and he wrote software that managed the data going into and out of the hard drive. It worked really well but had some obvious serious disadvantages.

I ran A1 for nine years until we moved to central Kansas. I decided to open up the bbs again here in Kansas and went looking for bbs software. The first thing I found was Wildcat and Access One went up as a Wildcat bbs but that only lasted for about a month when I discovered the MajorBBS. Wildcat went down and MajorBBS went up and we operated here strictly as a bbs for a few years. When the internet started becoming known to the general public my wife asked me why I didn't offer internet access to people. I told her I didn't think that there would be many people at all who would want that. She convinced me to give it a try and things took off. Over the next few years we still ran Access One, the bbs, but the real focus was in providing internet access and we positioned ourselves as an internet service provider and we still are today.

Somewhere between 2000 and about 2002 I took the bbs offline and hadn't really thought about it much except to occasionally think about all the great times before my hobby and turned into my business.

The original Apple based Access One started out as an unabashedly pirate bbs and we didn't care who knew. Because we ran off a hard drive we had tons of space (for that era) so we had download sections for Apple, Mac and PC pirated stuff. As time went on some of my users had become software writers, software engineers etc. so I took the bbs out of the pirating business (also software houses were beginning to play serious when they went after you) and it became a game, social bbs.

The reason I'm here is because I'm reviving the software to be used for our local HAM radio club as a resource the members and the HAM community at large. I literally installed 3.3 last night and am now just beginning to go through the process of getting ready for use. I expect it will be used almost entirely via the web interface.

Its good to see some of the old names from Gcomm having posted earlier. I remember you guys and I remember Gcomm support spending so much time with me getting my first majorbbs package going when I was totally frustrated and tired. They didn't give up and I always appreciated that.

R

[dspain]

My name is Mike Herrera and I started my first bbs in August of 1981 in Los Angeles. It was named Access One and it ran on an Apple ][. We started out using a simple piece of software called Networks, it basically answered the phone and had one board on it. I had user who had a software company and he decided to personally write some better bbs software for me which was a complete universe above what I had started with. Another friend (who shortly thereafter went on to become one of MS's top software engineers) decided that we should make it a multi-user bbs and the way he did it was to stack (cloned) Apple boards each having their own modem and bbs software running. He linked those into a Covad hard drive and he wrote software that managed the data going into and out of the hard drive. It worked really well but had some obvious serious disadvantages.

I ran A1 for nine years until we moved to central Kansas. I decided to open up the bbs again here in Kansas and went looking for bbs software. The first thing I found was Wildcat and Access One went up as a Wildcat bbs but that only lasted for about a month when I discovered the MajorBBS. Wildcat went down and MajorBBS went up and we operated here strictly as a bbs for a few years. When the internet started becoming known to the general public my wife asked me why I didn't offer internet access to people. I told her I didn't think that there would be many people at all who would want that. She convinced me to give it a try and things took off. Over the next few years we still ran Access One, the bbs, but the real focus was in providing internet access and we positioned ourselves as an internet service provider and we still are today.

Somewhere between 2000 and about 2002 I took the bbs offline and hadn't really thought about it much except to occasionally think about all the great times before my hobby and turned into my business.

The original Apple based Access One started out as an unabashedly pirate bbs and we didn't care who knew. Because we ran off a hard drive we had tons of space (for that era) so we had download sections for Apple, Mac and PC pirated stuff. As time went on some of my users had become software writers, software engineers etc. so I took the bbs out of the pirating business (also software houses were beginning to play serious when they went after you) and it became a game, social bbs.

The reason I'm here is because I'm reviving the software to be used for our local HAM radio club as a resource the members and the HAM community at large. I literally installed 3.3 last night and am now just beginning to go through the process of getting ready for use. I expect it will be used almost entirely via the web interface.

Its good to see some of the old names from Gcomm having posted earlier. I remember you guys and I remember Gcomm support spending so much time with me getting my first majorbbs package going when I was totally frustrated and tired. They didn't give up and I always appreciated that.

R

welcome aboard!

[Micromancer]

My name is Christopher Conant. You might have known me on Realm of Legends, Emerald Palace, and for a short time on many other SoFL local BBSes. Handles would have been: Sarsippius the Infectiphibian, Boo, Lord Boo, Lampshade, LOOKOUT!! Stonewall, and Micromancer. I did some minor area design for Tele Arena and other than that, my only claim to fame was finding the Spy/Cash bug in Galactic Empire in ver 2.2g which funded my credits at RoL for months. Sorry Ron!

Anyway, I am mostly here because I am looking for people that are interested in Galactic Empire. When it was released to the GPL, I downloaded the files for it and got to work fixing various typos and then set about colorizing nearly everything. That was on an old machine that died and all I have now I think are the raw install files for GE and nothing else. I would have to begin work again.

I am quite interested in a do-over. If there is any interest, I'd like to keep the community here updated, and to share fixes/upgrades/additions across the project. I fear I am the only one working on it though.

Additionally, I would like to see about licensing WG 2.0 for 8 connections since I have two or three old school friends that might like to drop in for some Cybertron Holocaustification.

Minor Side Note: If anyone hears from or talks to Sean Ferrel, I haven't spoken to him since I left FL in '98 - please tell him I hope he is well, I have always missed hanging out with him.

[dspain]

My name is Christopher Conant. You might have known me on Realm of Legends, Emerald Palace, and for a short time on many other SoFL local BBSes. Handles would have been: Sarsippius the Infectiphibian, Boo, Lord Boo, Lampshade, LOOKOUT!! Stonewall, and Micromancer. I did some minor area design for Tele Arena and other than that, my only claim to fame was finding the Spy/Cash bug in Galactic Empire in ver 2.2g which funded my credits at RoL for months. Sorry Ron!

Anyway, I am mostly here because I am looking for people that are interested in Galactic Empire. When it was released to the GPL, I downloaded the files for it and got to work fixing various typos and then set about colorizing nearly everything. That was on an old machine that died and all I have now I think are the raw install files for GE and nothing else. I would have to begin work again.

I am quite interested in a do-over. If there is any interest, I'd like to keep the community here updated, and to share fixes/upgrades/additions across the project. I fear I am the only one working on it though.

Additionally, I would like to see about licensing WG 2.0 for 8 connections since I have two or three old school friends that might like to drop in for some Cybertron Holocaustification.

Minor Side Note: If anyone hears from or talks to Sean Ferrel, I haven't spoken to him since I left FL in '98 - please tell him I hope he is well, I have always missed hanging out with him.

welcome!

Elwynor Technologies owns tele-arena now and im about to release a totally new version all edits are done within the game now without rebooting required, converted all databasing elements to btrieve and eliminated all that buffering as well as added my own perks, new skills,etc....

as far as GE i have been playing with an NT build when you say do-over what are you meaning? a total rewrite or conversion from DOS?

[Micromancer]

welcome!

Elwynor Technologies owns tele-arena now and im about to release a totally new version all edits are done within the game now without rebooting required, converted all databasing elements to btrieve and eliminated all that buffering as well as added my own perks, new skills,etc....

as far as GE i have been playing with an NT build when you say do-over what are you meaning? a total rewrite or conversion from DOS?

Do you also own Battledroids? That was Sean's other game. I think I was the only other person that liked it, which is a shame because it was really cool. TA Editing in game is cool, but I wonder if you can convert merc2.2 MUD areas. Oh and a bunch of commands and design ideas we might be able to implement from the MUD I was involved with.

As far as GE goes - Im not a coder. Im an editor. I can read but not write code. There are several hundred typos and miscelaneous errors in the help files and documentation that I had fixed, as well as colorizing all the text you came in contact with in game. Made scanning the sector really easy to read. Since those edits were lost, I'd have to do them all over. Which I am starting on tonight.

[dspain]

welcome!

Elwynor Technologies owns tele-arena now and im about to release a totally new version all edits are done within the game now without rebooting required, converted all databasing elements to btrieve and eliminated all that buffering as well as added my own perks, new skills,etc....

as far as GE i have been playing with an NT build when you say do-over what are you meaning? a total rewrite or conversion from DOS?

Do you also own Battledroids? That was Sean's other game. I think I was the only other person that liked it, which is a shame because it was really cool. TA Editing in game is cool, but I wonder if you can convert merc2.2 MUD areas. Oh and a bunch of commands and design ideas we might be able to implement from the MUD I was involved with.

As far as GE goes - Im not a coder. Im an editor. I can read but not write code. There are several hundred typos and miscelaneous errors in the help files and documentation that I had fixed, as well as colorizing all the text you came in contact with in game. Made scanning the sector really easy to read. Since those edits were lost, I'd have to do them all over. Which I am starting on tonight.

im not Elwynor Technologies, thats Rick Hadsall, i own the ArcticZone Internet Solutions (ISVARC) and the Worldgroup Software Services (ISVWSS) line.

im writing Tele-arena from the ground up on my own accord under the licensing of elwynor technologies, totally redone and so much better.
any ideas you may have drop em in PM and ill add em to the public list i keep to see what the public is reccomending.

as far as converting from MERC i could do it by writing a simple winapi program to run that would open the database in its own native format and output a btrieve datafile, then my Ta engine could read it.

for GE send me any changes you wanna see i'll see to it they go in my NT release.

i cannot sell my GE revision cause of GPL standards so this is a slower project im working on whenever i have spare time.

[Micromancer]

im not Elwynor Technologies, thats Rick Hadsall, i own the ArcticZone Internet Solutions (ISVARC) and the Worldgroup Software Services (ISVWSS) line.

im writing Tele-arena from the ground up on my own accord under the licensing of elwynor technologies, totally redone and so much better.
any ideas you may have drop em in PM and ill add em to the public list i keep to see what the public is reccomending.

as far as converting from MERC i could do it by writing a simple winapi program to run that would open the database in its own native format and output a btrieve datafile, then my Ta engine could read it.

for GE send me any changes you wanna see i'll see to it they go in my NT release.

i cannot sell my GE revision cause of GPL standards so this is a slower project im working on whenever i have spare time.

Ahh well I'll see about running into him soon then. As far as GE goes, the only files I'll be fooling with will be MBMGESHP.MSG MBMGEHLP.MSG and MBMGEMSG.MSG. When I have revisions with enough notable changes to them ready, I'll find a way to get them to you. Probably via download from the BBS website.

First up is fixing those godawful dim codes that screw up everything until you get something that bleeds bright. Then colorizing in sector items, planets, ships and messages from the 'trons. I fix typos as I go that I find, and once those are complete I can move on to revamping the ship list.

I do not make insane ships, I prefer a balanced, progressive scale of fighter, u-haul, and scout ships. You are of course free to accept or deny anything you like.

[dspain]

im not Elwynor Technologies, thats Rick Hadsall, i own the ArcticZone Internet Solutions (ISVARC) and the Worldgroup Software Services (ISVWSS) line.

im writing Tele-arena from the ground up on my own accord under the licensing of elwynor technologies, totally redone and so much better.
any ideas you may have drop em in PM and ill add em to the public list i keep to see what the public is reccomending.

as far as converting from MERC i could do it by writing a simple winapi program to run that would open the database in its own native format and output a btrieve datafile, then my Ta engine could read it.

for GE send me any changes you wanna see i'll see to it they go in my NT release.

i cannot sell my GE revision cause of GPL standards so this is a slower project im working on whenever i have spare time.

Ahh well I'll see about running into him soon then. As far as GE goes, the only files I'll be fooling with will be MBMGESHP.MSG MBMGEHLP.MSG and MBMGEMSG.MSG. When I have revisions with enough notable changes to them ready, I'll find a way to get them to you. Probably via download from the BBS website.

First up is fixing those godawful dim codes that screw up everything until you get something that bleeds bright. Then colorizing in sector items, planets, ships and messages from the 'trons. I fix typos as I go that I find, and once those are complete I can move on to revamping the ship list.

I do not make insane ships, I prefer a balanced, progressive scale of fighter, u-haul, and scout ships. You are of course free to accept or deny anything you like.

ok whenever ya have something for me to replace i will do it.
basically i started from scratch added the init__ routine and slowly added the proto-types needed so i could slowly port the dos version paying attention to every minor detail.
the code is large and sometimes those database crach errors can nest in the tiniest places.
as you send me text block replacements and such ill drop em in.

[Questman]

GPL's a toughie - if you distribute, you have to distribute full source.

Welcome aboard Christopher! We do also own Battledroids.. nobody's ever asked for it, however

[dspain]

GPL's a toughie - if you distribute, you have to distribute full source.

Welcome aboard Christopher! We do also own Battledroids.. nobody's ever asked for it, however

yeah right now im just redoing it to get it "done" after that guess ill have to do whatever the license says.
was so hoping you attained that product so you could distro it, im a developer not much into marketing/distro, i can make it just dont wanna sell it.

[Micromancer]

GPL's a toughie - if you distribute, you have to distribute full source.

Welcome aboard Christopher! We do also own Battledroids.. nobody's ever asked for it, however

Told you I was the only one :/ that game is so cool too.

[Questman]

Well, if you want a copy, it can be arranged!

Send me a PM and let me know what version of the BBS you're running.

[Micromancer]

Well, if you want a copy, it can be arranged!

Send me a PM and let me know what version of the BBS you're running.

PM sent let me know what I need to do

[Rainman531]

Back in 93 my brothers and I started a BBS running MBBS 5.21 (I think?). We eventually were up to 16 lines and Worldgroup 1x. We were the first, and I think only, ones in our area to offer internet access besides AOL and Prodigy. We had a 56k frame relay to...someone out of Washington DC(DataXChange?).

We broke the mold early on and offered unlimited access for a flat fee, $20/mo. I can't remember all of the add ons we had. I know we had some from Logicomm, Mountain Rose, Tessier Tech and High Velocity.

Phone lines were always off the hook. We had two 8 port serial cards for the modems. Half were 14.4 and the other were 33.6k. Smokin' fast at the time, though I don't remember anyone ever connecting faster than 28.8. We were awaiting the release of the new 56k modems. All of this on a 286 with 16 meg of ram.

Then the bomb dropped...AOL went unlimited access for a flat monthly fee in October 96. We were maginalized within a few months and had to shut down. It was a bitter decision but could not be avoided. We tried to stay in business by shedding lines but users flocked to AOL like nobody's business. When were were down to 6 lines we called it quits.

None of us have touched a BBS since then.

The other day I ran into someone from "the old days" and we talked about the get togethers we used to have. It got me to thinking...

I am sure that we no longer have any disks or documentation. If I wanted to start up again does someone have the old customer database? Or would I have to purchase anew? if that's possible.

Raymond
Wildd Cardd Online

[dspain]

Back in 93 my brothers and I started a BBS running MBBS 5.21 (I think?). We eventually were up to 16 lines and Worldgroup 1x. We were the first, and I think only, ones in our area to offer internet access besides AOL and Prodigy. We had a 56k frame relay to...someone out of Washington DC(DataXChange?).

We broke the mold early on and offered unlimited access for a flat fee, $20/mo. I can't remember all of the add ons we had. I know we had some from Logicomm, Mountain Rose, Tessier Tech and High Velocity.

Phone lines were always off the hook. We had two 8 port serial cards for the modems. Half were 14.4 and the other were 33.6k. Smokin' fast at the time, though I don't remember anyone ever connecting faster than 28.8. We were awaiting the release of the new 56k modems. All of this on a 286 with 16 meg of ram.

Then the bomb dropped...AOL went unlimited access for a flat monthly fee in October 96. We were maginalized within a few months and had to shut down. It was a bitter decision but could not be avoided. We tried to stay in business by shedding lines but users flocked to AOL like nobody's business. When were were down to 6 lines we called it quits.

None of us have touched a BBS since then.

The other day I ran into someone from "the old days" and we talked about the get togethers we used to have. It got me to thinking...

I am sure that we no longer have any disks or documentation. If I wanted to start up again does someone have the old customer database? Or would I have to purchase anew? if that's possible.

Raymond
Wildd Cardd Online

yeah the customer database is salvaged, if you had then you still got now

[frcorey]

Back in 93 my brothers and I started a BBS running MBBS 5.21 (I think?). We eventually were up to 16 lines and Worldgroup 1x. We were the first, and I think only, ones in our area to offer internet access besides AOL and Prodigy. We had a 56k frame relay to...someone out of Washington DC(DataXChange?).

We broke the mold early on and offered unlimited access for a flat fee, $20/mo. I can't remember all of the add ons we had. I know we had some from Logicomm, Mountain Rose, Tessier Tech and High Velocity.

Phone lines were always off the hook. We had two 8 port serial cards for the modems. Half were 14.4 and the other were 33.6k. Smokin' fast at the time, though I don't remember anyone ever connecting faster than 28.8. We were awaiting the release of the new 56k modems. All of this on a 286 with 16 meg of ram.

Then the bomb dropped...AOL went unlimited access for a flat monthly fee in October 96. We were maginalized within a few months and had to shut down. It was a bitter decision but could not be avoided. We tried to stay in business by shedding lines but users flocked to AOL like nobody's business. When were were down to 6 lines we called it quits.

None of us have touched a BBS since then.

The other day I ran into someone from "the old days" and we talked about the get togethers we used to have. It got me to thinking...

I am sure that we no longer have any disks or documentation. If I wanted to start up again does someone have the old customer database? Or would I have to purchase anew? if that's possible.

Raymond
Wildd Cardd Online

email questman on here. he owns mbbs and wg and has a lot of the customer reg numbers and stuff. happy bbsing.

[Rigoletto]

Well where does one start? I've been lurking around here for a week or so and have noticed that the activity level has dropped off significantly since the website first went online. Still with that said, 'Here we go!'

I started the BBS'ing scene late in life by most standards, I was already the father of three and married for more than a decade before I bought my first computer. I was the 'Director of Driver Training' for a local taxicab company here in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. I borrowed a typewriter to start working on a manual for new drivers. I first started by doing a complete Hotel/Motel list that was 6 pages long. Within 3 weeks several entries had either closed or changed names. Over the course of the next 4 months I redid this list 4 times. When the fourth edition became inaccurate within days of my finishing it , I couldn't take it any longer and started looking for a laptop computer so that I could edit the list without having to start from scratch every time. I bought a Zenith 8088, w/640KB of RAM and two 720KB floppy drives. Within a year I bought a 80286 system and was given a 1200 baud modem from a friend. I still remember calling ChannelOne out in Boston to download files.

As I became more proficient with the modem I started calling local BBS'es, and there was lots to choose from with more than 100 listed in the local computer user newspaper. I settled on calling one in particular 'PC-Library BBS Telecom Systems' a MajorBBS v4.?. I went into Teleconference and saw users disappearing into this addon called Tele-Arena. From there on I was hooked. I watched Tele-Arena go from a chatroom addon to its own standalone program. Over the course of several years I became one of several Co-Sysops of the BBS and the Tele-Arena GameOp. I called Sean's BBS in Florida and received a few tips from one of his Co-Sysops. I dressed the game up by adding more colors to the MSG file.

BBS'ing became an addiction to me and Tele-Arena the fix. I would spend hours upon hours playing it. Going to the GT's was an added benefit, to put faces with the names of the players I lived with in the game. Then along came TW2002 and again I was hooked. My life's energy came from the respect and desire of other players in the games I played, for me to play with them. (I had a very unhappy childhood, with an abusive alcoholic father that told me how worthless I was and beat me with anything imagineable that was within reach. He committed suicide 3 days before my wedding day. ) All this pain and agony went away while playing online in the games.

Then I heard that the BBS was in trouble financially, and I started putting together a proposal to buy the BBS. The Sysop sold it the day before I got my financing finalized. It ended up that the BBS was running cracked copies of a lot of stuff. But the person that bought it was an ISP provider and just wanted to try to make money off the BBS and started charging $20 a month unlimited usage. Membership dropped like a rock, and there wasn't any other local MajorBBS boards that had Tele-Arena. Then I found Metropolis and WOW it was amazing to call a BBS in Kansas from the Twin Cities on a local call. I developed quite a friendship with the players in the Tele-Arena game on Big10, but having promoted several players on PC-Library I started experimenting with the PASCAL scripting language of Tele-Mate. Soon I had some amazing scripts that allowed me to grow my player while I was at work. I was amazed at this, though I enjoyed playing real-time more. However there was this one guy from Colorado that had about nine players in the game that made it his mission in life to kill my scripting player at all costs. But alas the local call to Big10 went away and PC-Library still had the exclusive rights to Tele-Arena for the Twin Cities.

So then I started playing Swords of Chaos developed by Mark Peterson right here in the Twin Cities. After getting the hang of Swords of Chaos, Tele-Arena just seemed to play to slow, and by Telnetting into a BBS, I wasn't able to use my helper program to play TW2002 any longer. So Swords has been my game of choice for the last decade plus, been the SoC-Op or setup the game parameters on many boards. I know several of you that post in here, including frcorey that I met in Las Vegas with my son a few years back. You can search this user-id on www.bbsmates.com and see the list of BBS'es all over North America that I have had an account on. If your BBS has a Swords of Chaos game on it, there a 95% chance I have a player in the game. There are 2 games I currently boycott.

I have just recently discussed with Questman the fact I have a valid copy of MBBS 6.25 2 line client. I have a spare P3 667MHz system I could put it on, Just not sure what operating system to use. Window 98 SE or Windows 2000 Professional. I would need to add two user six-packs at most as I would never plan on running MMUD. Then there is the question of should I stick with 6.25 or go up the chain a bit.

Anyways that was long winded, even though I could have gone into more detail on several items listed above. I want to be a hobby BBS operator someday soon. Maybe after Questman gets the rights to Swords from Gameport. I hope I did this right and it doesn't show up as its own topic. I hope to get the chance to know more of you better.

Steve