What did you guys do before the internet?

[Easy Mac]

Seriously, when you were in college, what did you do before the internet?

Within about 15 seconds, I could download an album, order a pizza, look at porn and cuss out a person on a messageboard. If I could have alcohol delivered, it would be twice the fun. What did you do when there were no parties going on? And don't say study.

[bbor]

Jerked off....ALOT......hey wait...i still do that...ALOT

[Fonzie]

I played a lot of Nintendo, watched a lot of movies, and read quite a bit. 'Twas a simpler existence, back then.

[Ksyrup]

I can't remember that far back.

Seriously, most of the time we would go out somewhere, catch a late movie, head off-campus to drink alcohol (OK, I went while everyone else drank), or hang out and listen to music/watch movies. Or, when a special game was calling us - like SimCity - we'd stay up all night playing.

I don't exactly remember when I got the internet, but I'm fairly certain it was around 1993, which was the start of law school for me. I clearly remember finding out that Kurt Cobain had died on the internet, which might be the first "significant" news event I recall finding out about via the net, and that was April 1994, as I recall. So, I completely missed the internet phenomenon while in college. And even if I could have gotten it, it was too expensive back then. I think I remember having Compuserve and getting 5 minutes of "free" time a month, with anything over 5 minutes or outside of their "basic" content (which was pretty much everything) costing $2 a minute.

[timmae]

no parties going on?!?!? Is there such a time in college life??

[Easy Mac]

well for us commoners, if you're not in a fraternity or pledging, you don't go to parties for around the next month unless its a lowkey party.

[Fonzie]

Also - I spent a fair amount of my last 2 years in college playing Civilization. Wow, what a game.

[GoSeahawks]

I think I remember having Compuserve and getting 5 minutes of "free" time a month, with anything over 5 minutes or outside of their "basic" content (which was pretty much everything) costing $2 a minute.
Ahh the good old days:cool: I remember the hour/half hour free trials of AOL. I dialed up, clicked on a couple pages and my free trial was up. Then AOL would refuse to stop charging my parents credit card. Some things never change.

[JW]

Nothing really special. Just played spades, hearts, or pool in the student union while listening to Maggie Mae over and over on the juke box. Then went to a nightclub (we called them 'discos' but they didn't play disco music) and danced to ACTUAL MUSIC rather than either rap or something played with the bass so loud you couldn't hear the melody. Then went to the dorms and made 'free love' with a variety of willing women who weren't corrupted with feminism or political correctness or STDs. Then went back to the student union and played spades, hearts, or pool while listening to Maggie Mae over and over on the juke box.

[Dutch]

Jerked off....ALOT......hey wait...i still do that...ALOT

But.....to what???? :confused:

[Groundhog]

BBS's baby!

LORD...LORD 2...Planets.... ahh, door games... those were the days....

[randal7]

Also - I spent a fair amount of my last 2 years in college playing Civilization. Wow, what a game.

Hey, another geezer who remembers Civ on a 286. That and Empire dropped my GPA for a couple semesters. And Ultima 6. I bought my first computer just to play Ultima 6. A 386SX 16 mhz 4 MB RAM.

[JeeberD]

Jerked off....ALOT......


Dammit, you stole my answer... :(

[SackAttack]

Nothing really special. Just played spades, hearts, or pool in the student union while listening to Maggie Mae over and over on the juke box. Then went to a nightclub (we called them 'discos' but they didn't play disco music) and danced to ACTUAL MUSIC rather than either rap or something played with the bass so loud you couldn't hear the melody. Then went to the dorms and made 'free love' with a variety of willing women who weren't corrupted with feminism or political correctness or STDs. Then went back to the student union and played spades, hearts, or pool while listening to Maggie Mae over and over on the juke box.

I just got the strangest urge to read "Hearts In Atlantis" again...

[bbor]

Dammit, you stole my answer... :(

I'm frightened ;)

[sabotai]

BBS's baby!

LORD...LORD 2...Planets.... ahh, door games... those were the days....
Don't forget Tradewars!

The days of the BBS were great.

[JeeberD]

I'm frightened ;)

At leat I did it to pictures of hot women and not pictures of Taco Bell food items, unlike someone else...

[bbor]

At leat I did it to pictures of hot women and not pictures of Taco Bell food items, unlike someone else...


Heaven is pumping the rough insides of a taco shell :D

[Fonzie]

Hey, another geezer who remembers Civ on a 286. That and Empire dropped my GPA for a couple semesters. And Ultima 6. I bought my first computer just to play Ultima 6. A 386SX 16 mhz 4 MB RAM.

EGA graphics all the way, baby!

[Fonzie]

Don't forget Tradewars!

The days of the BBS were great.

Tradwars was amazing. And I was amazingly sucky at it. ;)

[JeeberD]

Heaven is pumping the rough insides of a taco shell :D

Who needs sour cream when you have your own home-made cream sauce... :D

[Coffee Warlord]

Hey, I *ran* a BBS. Not only could I play Trade Wars / LORD / Etc...I could cheat at them if I wanted!

[Draft Dodger]

well, I paid for my porn and music back then, for one thing.

I can't remember what I did with my free time in college...except wish I had more of it. I do remember reading the updated version of The Stand in about a week. Finals week. (guess how I did on my finals)

[Vince]

I can order alcohol to be delivered. Isla Vista is amazing :)

[Tasan]

Hey, another geezer who remembers Civ on a 286. That and Empire dropped my GPA for a couple semesters. And Ultima 6. I bought my first computer just to play Ultima 6. A 386SX 16 mhz 4 MB RAM.
Good lord. This was me.

[sabotai]

I owned it up in Tradewars. One game I remember it came down to me and someone else. Everyone else (who wasn't on either side) stopped playing because our corps got so powerful. A long seven month battle dragged on until my corp finally overpowered his. It was great!

[Philliesfan980]

I ran a BBS too back in the mid 90's. It was pretty successful in its day (even had FIDONET!!!). I threw the idea out there of setting up a telnet bbs with just some classic doors on it for us FOFCers to play, but it really didn't get much attention.

[ice4277]

well for us commoners, if you're not in a fraternity or pledging, you don't go to parties for around the next month unless its a lowkey party.
Why is that?

[Subby]

I went to school so long ago ('89-'93) that we didn't even have phones in our rooms Freshman year. I never had a computer and always had to go to one of the computer labs to type a paper.

Everything we did was centered around having fun - sure there was alcohol involved, but that was usually just Thursday though Monday nights and a few weekend days per month. There was lots of coffee. During the summer there was lots of beer golf and hacky sack and outdoor concerts and just laying around in the sun. If you ever saw the movie Slacker, that pretty much describes my college experience. Enjoy the company of your friends and eschew responsibility and common sense.

I am really glad that the Internet didn't hit until after I graduated. My college experience would have sucked had I sequestered myself from civilization while spending 8 hours per day on the computer...

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac
well for us commoners, if you're not in a fraternity or pledging, you don't go to parties for around the next month unless its a lowkey party. Why is that?

Exactly...when were there no parties. Sun, Mon and Tues were a big dose of Ninetedo, tv, pizza, basketball or sleeping. Wed on -- game on...

[Honolulu Blue]

Not in any particular order:

* Party!
* Read
* Play euchre
* Study/do homework
* Play video games
* Play computer games
* Play board games
* Socialize

I still do most of those things, but when I first got Internet access in January '95, that changed the way I do things considerably. It's hard to imagine life without it now.

[sachmo71]

Your wife?

[Raiders Army]

no parties going on?!?!? Is there such a time in college life??

If you go to West Point, yes, there is such a time...it's for four years. I studied, read, wrote home to my girlfriend (now wife) a lot.

[Maple Leafs]

Back in college we spent a lot of times playing video games. Mostly the EA sports titles and Tecmo. We'd have leagues and even, in some case, draft the players. Imagine doing all the trades it took to get a drafted league gong in NHL 95 and you have some idea how much spare time we had.

Then we'd play out the schedule while eating pizza and getting drunk at 3:00 in the morning, occasionally sneaking out to "visit" a ladyfriend, watch Jerry Springer or, in rare cases, study.

P.S. We did have the technology to order pizza back then, though.

[Kevin]

Beer
Watch MNF (Cosell)
Risk (the board game)
VCRs came out my senior year.

[Franklinnoble]

Wow... I'm glad I'm not the only one around here that spent his college days dialing up to BBS's at 2400 (and later, 14.4 - woo hoo) bps and playing door games.

That, and trading the numbers for pirate BBS's with friends on campus - you know, boards that hosted warez that you could download, usually at like a 3 for 1 ratio or something along those lines...

[BishopMVP]

well for us commoners, if you're not in a fraternity or pledging, you don't go to parties for around the next month unless its a lowkey party.
You need to go to a state university. :eek:

[Eaglesfan27]

I used to play a lot of Frisbee Golf with friends. USC's campus really lent itself to this game. Also, I played a lot of "real" sports recreationally.

[sabotai]

I ran a BBS too back in the mid 90's. It was pretty successful in its day (even had FIDONET!!!). I threw the idea out there of setting up a telnet bbs with just some classic doors on it for us FOFCers to play, but it really didn't get much attention.
That would be cool to have an FOFC telnet BBS to play LORD, Usurper, MajorMud, Tradewars...

[Logan]

Here's the same question I posed to my brother and sister, who were at the U. of Maryland from maybe '94 to '99, when you combine their two college careers.

How the hell did you get in touch with your friends at night, regarding what your plans were? Let me explain...

I'm sure everyone else on the board who's currently in school will agree with me when I say that plans for the night are very flexible. You hear about things going on, and get in touch with all your buddies through AIM and cell phones. You might start out with a plan to go to party X, but then you get a call at 11:30 saying, "Come over to party Y, its a real good time." And then maybe you would call some other friends and let them know where you were heading. If one of your friends was late showing up, hit them up on the cell and find out where the hell they are.

Before the age of AIM and cell phones, how did you make plans? Did you call each other on your dorm phones, make a set plan, and hope everything works out? What happens if one of your buddies doesn't show? Do you hope you see him tomorrow, just to be sure he isn't dead?

I really don't understand how the full college experience was possible without AIM and cell phones, but hey maybe that's just me being the young guy. Let me hear your thoughts.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Before the internet I would play Madden 94 on The Sega Genesis and re running the seasons and hoping that a game would come out with a franchise mode ....

[sabotai]

Logan, easy. Back in the day, parties were not contained to one small local. They spanned dorm floors, apartment complexes...entire campuses. You didn't need a call from your friend to tell you to come to party Y, because if you were at party X, you were already at party Y. It was great....

[Honolulu Blue]

Before the age of AIM and cell phones, how did you make plans?

Jungle drums, smoke signals and ESP. :D

[Tekneek]

Spent a lot of time with my highschool sweetheart, which I mistakenly 'followed' off to college when I should have gone to one 6+ hours away from hers. When she decided she 'needed some time and space', I started drinking lots and lots of alcohol and doing shifts on the radio station. One night, one of the other DJs told me about the 'Internet' and I went and got a shell account the next morning... When the drinking got so bad that I was feeling pain in my kidney areas, I was either at the radio station or the computer lab (sad, really, I know - that was my life then). That was 1993... I was actually able to turn that interest in a decent paying job about 5 years later, even though I have yet to finish off my first college degree (yet).

[Tekneek]

Before the age of AIM and cell phones, how did you make plans?

If they were not in their room, and you could not find them at their 'usual places', then you had to do something without them. Back then I would (gasp) sometimes go days without hearing from or seeing some friends, even if they lived across the hall from me. Despite that, I managed to find more parties than I should have all the time. We made plans a lot further in advance though, than I think people do today.

[Logan]

If they were not in their room, and you could not find them at their 'usual places', then you had to do something without them. Back then I would (gasp) sometimes go days without hearing from or seeing some friends, even if they lived across the hall from me. Despite that, I managed to find more parties than I should have all the time. We made plans a lot further in advance though, than I think people do today.

Yeah, plans are defintely made on-the-fly.

Another great thing about the internet is how there is very little chance that you will lose touch with high school friends. People always said how this will happen once you go away to school, but it's so easy to keep in touch (again - with AIM and cell phones).

[tucker342]

I can order alcohol to be delivered. Isla Vista is amazing :)

:eek:

Guys, I think we've just found heaven