(GEnie was the online service that “started it all” for multiplayer gaming back in the late 1980′s. It was slow and expensive and about as customer friendly as an IRS audit. But it was all there was and we played Air Warrior with a fervor that bordered on addiction. I sent the message below to the newsgroups when GEnie finally died.)

Date: Mon, 01 Apr 1996 22:41:07 -0800
From: emob-zfzvyyre {at} jbeyq.fgq(.)pbz-78">msmiller {at} world.std(.)com-78'); var linkNode = document.createElement('a'); linkNode.setAttribute('href', "mailto:%6D%73%6D%69%6C%6C%65%72%40%77%6F%72%6C%64%2E%73%74%64%2E%63%6F%6D"); tNode = document.createTextNode("msmiller {at} world.std(.)com"); linkNode.appendChild(tNode); linkNode.setAttribute('id', "emob-zfzvyyre {at} jbeyq.fgq(.)pbz-78"); mailNode.parentNode.replaceChild(linkNode, mailNode); (Mark S. Miller)
Subject: Spring Hate-Cleaning
Newsgroups: alt.games.air-warrior
Organization: GonZo Engineering

Today a chapter in my life has ended.

I cancelled my accounts on GEnie. All of ‘em. I have ripped that vile, rotting corpse from my backyard – dug it up with a backhoe, and flung it out on the interstate for the crows and rats to feed on. Then let the acid rain take care of what’s left.

To paraphrase Chief Joseph: “I will pay no more forever.”

Like a small handful of Survivors, I signed on to GEnie in 1987 … to play AirWarrior. Nine years later, I anxiously

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