Life Before the Internet

[IamElectro]

Originally posted by: Sysadmin

Originally posted by: aircooled

Originally posted by: DurocShark
BBS!!!

Yep. I used a Commodore 64 and dialed into BBS's with my 1200 baud rate modem (started with a 300 baud rate modem)

That brings back the memories.

Sysadmin

Man those were the days. I remember it taking forever to download stuff off a bbs with a 300 baud modem. My friends though it was insane when I got a 1200 baud because it was just so fast.

 

[SunnyD]

I have too few braincells left to remember.

 

[phonemonkey]

I remember when downloading the newsgroup headers took like 2 hours on my old 2400 baud modem. Now, when it takes longer than 3 minutes, I start to get impatient.

 

I can't remember how I killed time without the internet.

You desperately need one of the following ;

Job

Hobby

Girfriend

A life

Never kill time, life is way to short for that.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Sysadmin

Originally posted by: aircooled

Originally posted by: DurocShark
BBS!!!

Yep. I used a Commodore 64 and dialed into BBS's with my 1200 baud rate modem (started with a 300 baud rate modem)

That brings back the memories.

Sysadmin

Man those were the days. I remember it taking forever to download stuff off a bbs with a 300 baud modem. My friends though it was insane when I got a 1200 baud because it was just so fast.

I've been downloading some c64 rom games lately and I saw the coolest thing when loading one up.

CRACKED BY ATC. Anyone else remember those great little splash screens with pulsing lights, scrolling text, and music as awesome as midi music can be? It was definately a blast from the past. I think the game was Neuromancer.

 

[ShawnD1]

Life before internet sucked ass. If my friends were not home, I had absolutely nothing to do. Do you know how much daytime TV on a saturday sucks?

 

[Fingolfin269]

Daytime TV on Saturday?

I'll tell ya what. Life before the Internet was great. We were actually having this discussion the other day here at work and it involved wondering why kids are so much fatter these days. We didn't have the internet. We didn't have the Xbox or Playstation. We had a bunch of neighborhood kids and a football.

 

[ShawnD1]

That's not really a fair connection to make. Gaming was just as big in the late 80s as it is today, but kids weren't fat in the late 80s. Gaming with C64, Atari, and Nintendo were just as popular as today's XBox and PS2.

 

[Modeps]

Before the Internet was really around for consumer use, I spent much time playing Ultima VII, hanging out on 3 line BBS's, and of course, playing outside with my friends.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
That's not really a fair connection to make. Gaming was just as big in the late 80s as it is today, but kids weren't fat in the late 80s. Gaming with C64, Atari, and Nintendo were just as popular as today's XBox and PS2.

Uhh no. I knew ONE person who had a Nintendo out of all of my friends. I was the only one who had a C64. And I'm talking about 100 kids probably. Do you think the guy who had the NES was going to let 100 kids play his NES? Do you think that kid wanted to play NES when 15 of us showed up at his house wanting him to play football? Hell no, he dropped the controller and off we went.

 

[911paramedic]

Stretch Armstrong.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
That's not really a fair connection to make. Gaming was just as big in the late 80s as it is today, but kids weren't fat in the late 80s. Gaming with C64, Atari, and Nintendo were just as popular as today's XBox and PS2.

Uhh no. I knew ONE person who had a Nintendo out of all of my friends. I was the only one who had a C64. And I'm talking about 100 kids probably. Do you think the guy who had the NES was going to let 100 kids play his NES? Do you think that kid wanted to play NES when 15 of us showed up at his house wanting him to play football? Hell no, he dropped the controller and off we went.

Wow, were you in the projects or something? I was like one of the last people to get a NES in my neighborhood, everyone had one... and that's why we all played outside, just because you could only play so much Nintendo.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
That's not really a fair connection to make. Gaming was just as big in the late 80s as it is today, but kids weren't fat in the late 80s. Gaming with C64, Atari, and Nintendo were just as popular as today's XBox and PS2.

Uhh no. I knew ONE person who had a Nintendo out of all of my friends.

I don't mean this as an insult, but did you grow up the ghetto or something?
I have a nintendo, my next door neighbor had a nintendo. My friend around the block had a nintendo. My other friend around the block had a nintendo. My friend one block over had a nintendo. My friend one block over in the other direction had a nintendo.
6 friends (including myself) and we each had a nintendo. I was the only one with a C64. None of us had Atari or Sega Master System.

 

[GasX]

the only real difference between now and then is that everything was in black and white...

 

[T2T III]

This must have been right before Al Gore invented the Internet. Well, at that time, I used to use BBS dial-ups to hit the various sites. Man, that was painful - when I look back on it.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
That's not really a fair connection to make. Gaming was just as big in the late 80s as it is today, but kids weren't fat in the late 80s. Gaming with C64, Atari, and Nintendo were just as popular as today's XBox and PS2.

Uhh no. I knew ONE person who had a Nintendo out of all of my friends.

I don't mean this as an insult, but did you grow up the ghetto or something?
I have a nintendo, my next door neighbor had a nintendo. My friend around the block had a nintendo. My other friend around the block had a nintendo. My friend one block over had a nintendo. My friend one block over in the other direction had a nintendo.
6 friends (including myself) and we each had a nintendo. I was the only one with a C64. None of us had Atari or Sega Master System.

We could be talking different years too. Gaming accelerated at an exponential rate. I'm talking around 1986-7.

And no, we did not live in the ghetto. Maybe you lived in a rich neighborhood? Technology did filter to the South a lot more slowly back then, so there's a good chance it just wasn't all that 'in' yet. Then again, we were all of the athlete kids and didn't really play many games really. Mainly the only ones of us who were interested in gaming were me (c64) and the guy with the nes.

 

[ShawnD1]

Another thing that sucked about pre-internet days was how it was so damn hard to find information. If you wanted to find information about anything, like holocaust stats or what the middle east situation is about, it was basically TS. Now, that information is easy to obtain. Reports for school used to be incredibly hard because it would mean spending HOURS in the library trying to sort through crap. Now, relevant material can be found without having to sort through entire books of garbage information.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
We could be talking different years too. Gaming accelerated at an exponential rate. I'm talking around 1986-7.

And no, we did not live in the ghetto. Maybe you lived in a rich neighborhood? Technology did filter to the South a lot more slowly back then, so there's a good chance it just wasn't all that 'in' yet. Then again, we were all of the athlete kids and didn't really play many games really. Mainly the only ones of us who were interested in gaming were me (c64) and the guy with the nes.

I dont think we're talking about different years really... the NES came out in 85... so it only makes sense that it accelerated in 86... which is when I got mine (at Christmas)

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
We could be talking different years too. Gaming accelerated at an exponential rate. I'm talking around 1986-7.

And no, we did not live in the ghetto. Maybe you lived in a rich neighborhood? Technology did filter to the South a lot more slowly back then, so there's a good chance it just wasn't all that 'in' yet. Then again, we were all of the athlete kids and didn't really play many games really. Mainly the only ones of us who were interested in gaming were me (c64) and the guy with the nes.

I dont think we're talking about different years really... the NES came out in 85... so it only makes sense that it accelerated in 86... which is when I got mine (at Christmas)

Well hell, maybe I did live in the ghetto then. I was 9 years old in 1986 so the term 'ghetto' wouldn't have meant anything to me. I wouldn't have known if I did or not.

 

[Ness]

That's when I went to that "outside" place. It scares me now.

Actually I just watched a TON of television back then. Now I barely watch TV. I'll usually have cartoon network on the background. The only time I change the channel is to play games or when I want to watch a specific show on another station.

 

[aircooled]

School House Rock

 

[sillymofo]

Wow.... I first plugged into teh intarweb with a 2400 bps modem... and I thought I were hella cool.... :Q

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
We could be talking different years too. Gaming accelerated at an exponential rate. I'm talking around 1986-7.

And no, we did not live in the ghetto. Maybe you lived in a rich neighborhood?

I'm thinking more around 1989-90. I was middle class.

Maybe today's kids just have a different view towards games. In my day, games were not really a priority. Cops and robbers was priority; followed by riding bikes, building stuff, and exploring stuff.
Maybe today's kids just think of games as first priority.

 

[MikePanic]

i do...

 

[Pliablemoose]

I used to spend 1/2 day every week or 2 @ the library.