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Thread: AOL Games

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    Peach (Level 3) HappehLemons's Avatar
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    Default AOL Games

    Anyone remember way back when AOL had a download section of free games, some were demos while others were freeware games created solely for that section. Sadly some of the games that were in this section were lost forever, such as Blinky 1 and 2 (Am I the only one who remembers blinky?) and some others.
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    Red (Level 21) Jorpho's Avatar
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    I think Blinky is probably the only game from there that is still sought after.

    Believe it or not, Jeremy Lamar has officially changed his name to Otto Germain. His Megazeux games were probably much more popular - Bernard the Bard remains one of the finest gaming experiences I can recall.

    I think the last I saw of Blinky was in these two threads:
    http://www.dosgames.com/forum/about5901-0-asc-15.html
    http://www.dosgames.com/forum/about6074-0-asc-15.html
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    all I remember about AOL games was neverwinter nights...

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    ServBot (Level 11) exit's Avatar
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    I remember playing Gemstone III and Modest Operandi on Prodigy/AOL, Modus Operandi was probably my favorite out of the two since it was a pretty damn good detective MUD. Of course now they charge for both of the games and I haven't touched any of them since.

    Also, anyone remember the whole World Games (I think that was the name of the "feature") fiasco? There were a few good games on there, but none were worth the ridiculous hourly charge they started.
    Last edited by exit; 09-27-2009 at 10:24 PM.

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    id love to play some of these, i never have (didnt explore AOL much, even though i had it for years).

    were they online games?

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    The original Neverwinter Nights was indeed an online game in the style of the Gold Box games. You can find it available for download in a few places, and apparently it's even playable, but you can't save.

    However, I think the OP was merely referring to the downloadable games section and not the online offerings.
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    Peach (Level 3) HappehLemons's Avatar
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    It's where I played Castle of the Winds for the first time too.
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    Quote Originally Posted by exit View Post
    I remember playing Gemstone III and Modest Operandi on Prodigy/AOL, Modus Operandi was probably my favorite out of the two since it was a pretty damn good detective MUD. Of course now they charge for both of the games and I haven't touched any of them since.
    Dragonrealms, which was made by the same company as Gemstone III, was the first text-based MUD I ever played, but it was through some sort of Java-based web portal, not AOL. I thought that $10 a month was pretty steep for a text game, even for the time (1997), as by then there were a number of graphical MMOs available, like Ultima Online and Meridian 59.

    So I did the 30-day "free trial" and quit after that. I thought it was interesting, but not 10 bucks a month interesting. Also near the end of the trial I discovered that there were thousands of other text-based MUDs available that didn't cost a penny.

    I just checked and apparently both games (Gemstone and Dragonrealms) are still going. They're still text games, only now they cost 15 bucks a month. Or $40 for a "Premium" account. Or $50 (a month) for a "Platinum" account. They must have a loyal following.

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    I was all about the Mad Maze. Incidentially, I was reading an essay written by the author of the program awhile back (who is a somewhat famous pen-and-paper RPG writer, whose name escapes me at the moment), who said that he hates it.
    "I am a cipher, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce."

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    Quote Originally Posted by Berserker View Post
    I just checked and apparently both games (Gemstone and Dragonrealms) are still going. They're still text games, only now they cost 15 bucks a month. Or $40 for a "Premium" account. Or $50 (a month) for a "Platinum" account. They must have a loyal following.
    Good $deity, that's nuts.

    You just know SOE is going to get away with the same thing fifteen years from now with Everquest 1, though.
    "There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)

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