The Monterey Gaming System
by Andrew Kennedy
a.k.a Marquis de Fromage (1078)

The Monterey Gaming System (MGS) was an electronic bulletin board system (BBS). It ran from from 1992 - 1996 and had a dramatic impact on the Monterey Bay community. In its heyday, there were over 5000 registered users with 200-400 people actively using the system on a daily basis. Although some of these people were calling long-distance, this was still a pretty significant user base in a community of 330,000 people.

A short history of BBSs: Before the Internet was widely accessible, BBSs were the primary form of computer-based communication. They were dial-up systems--you called another person's computer which acted as a server. These systems enabled real-time chat, file sharing, message boards, and multiplayer games. There were many single-line BBSs around Monterey and Salinas; the some a couple of lines. At its peak, MGS had 32 lines. Having a chat room with 32 people nowadays is nothing; back then it was really something. Most BBSs only had 1 line, and while all had message boards, there was no capability for realtime chat with anyone other than the System Operator (Sysop).

BBSs were community-centric. Because of long-distance charges, very few BBSs had users outside of their area. This meant users on the BBS were your neighbors in the physical as well as the cyber realm. If you wanted to meet someone you met through a BBS, you didn't have to fly halfway around the world. In fact, many BBSs had regular gatherings of their users. MGS had gatherings which attracted 50-100 people.

People who normally would be in the social shadows came out to play because of MGS. People who would normally have nothing to do with computers got online because of MGS. People got married because of MGS. People got divorced because of MGS. After it got rolling, MGS became a huge, real-life soap opera.

I was the Marquis de Fromage, Account 1078--at least when my account wasn't suspended. Accounts started at 1000 (SysAdmin David) and, by the time it was shutdown, the accounts were up to 12000. Granted, user accounts were deleted if they weren't used in a while, which is why I estimate there was a maximum of 5000 accounts at any given time. Still, at the time an average BBS in Monterey had only 300 registered users.

I caused much grief. Though I was not the only offender, and certainly not one of the worst, I frequently found myself in chat sessions with SysAdmin David, having to explain away my latest mischief. One famous email from SysAdmin David labeled myself, Feral (3023), and Coyote (1713) as the worst troublemakers on MGS. It is an erstwhile point of pride I was the only one of the three who never had his account completely deleted. In any case, our antics paled in comparison to those later undertaken by Reaper and Young Feral, among others. [To make a full confession would take volumes, but I do want to say that I also caused trouble on other BBSs, particularly those in Salinas. In one case, on HogsLog, I created an account as "Satan" and made a whole bunch of ludicrously belligerant posts--this was at a time when people were expected to use their real names. Then I created an account as "Jesus" and responded to Satan's belligerance with even more ridiculous messages. It was pretty funny to see people make comments like "Whoever is 'Jesus' is not really helping out and is probably making things worse."]

Sometimes, I felt like I needed to move on, that MGS was holding me back from some inchoate goal. MGS was pretty wild and open in 1992, but by 1995 it had become very commercial and stifling. 1993-1994 was the best time: Coming into a chat room and seeing everyone yell "MdF!" on the screen felt just like the guys saying "Norm!" at Cheers. More often than not, late-night sessions would move to Denny's or turn into a gathering at someone's house or the wharf or wherver. When I first started using the Internet in 1994, the difference was palpable--the people from Finland and Taiwan and Michigan would never be getting together for coffee later in the evening.

MGS shutdown on December 4, 1995 following the divorce of SysAdmin David (1000) and SysAdmin Lisa (1001). At the time it was shutdown, MGS was still incredibly popular, even though the Internet was quickly overcoming BBSs. MGS was briefly reincarnated as Monterey Connections Online (MCO) on April 1, 1996, with some changes but using the exact same software. But the damage had already been done: After a over 3 months of no answers, people stopped trying to call. Moreover, the shutdown of MGS was so abrupt that people didn't have a chance to plan. Many people didn't have phone numbers or Internet email addresses for their online friends. MCO was just a shadow of its former self, and was shutdown for good after only a month or two.

Other BBSs I Used - Salinas

Dragon's Byte (Ric Vittum)
Bitstream (Dale Meisenheimer)
Secret Garden (Kathy Landy)
Free 4 All (Gary Vincent)
Xenomorph (David Preller)
VRS (Dikran Garabedian)
Peanut Gallery (?)
HogsLog (?)
Spectra (Bob)
Das Boot (Joseph Morrison)
Color Bright (Craig Snyder)
Harbor Lights (Brian Shanek)

Other BBSs I Used - Monterey

Ed's (Ed Gause? Gauch? Gross? Goss?)
Visionsoft (I was "Cord" in Vision MUD)
WWWA
Jedi
Kumquat Church
Cricket

There were a number of other BBSs in Monterey. There was a tendency. particularly with the military personnel stationed at Ft. Ord, to put up a BBS for just a short while. There was also an short-lived trend for "call voice first" BBSs--part time enterprises that required you to call the person to have them set-up their system to answer calls.

Contact

Join the Monterey Gaming System group on Facebook. Just search for "Monterey Gaming System" under Groups.

If you know me from MGS or another BBS, drop me a line - cheetah@fertechnology.com.

There is also a dormant page for the Monterey Gaming Systems on BBSMates. The last posting was in 2007.

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