Found via: https://hackers.town/@CyberpunkLibrarian/112046696080448828
Okay, I found this on Reddit and I had to share it.
A guy shows up in r/bbs, a subreddit dedicated to classic and new computer bulletin board systems. I’m a big fan. Anyway, this guy shows up and says: Hey, does anyone remember the BBS game my dad wrote? It was called Buccaneer, and it was a pirate game you played on BBSes. Dad died six and a half years ago and I just wonder if anyone heard of his game?
Turns out… people have heard of Buccaneer.
One person has it running on their board. Another person was able to share the ZIP file for others to put it on their boards. Oh no! It was software you had to buy if you wanted the full version of it. But Dad is gone, and the kiddo has no idea how to open up the software to everyone.
No problem, someone posted a quick C programme that will generate keys for you. The kid might be crying because now even more people can play his dad’s game.
There’s some kinda lesson here in abandonware, but also in humanity. This kid may or may not own the copyrights to his dad’s stuff. Who knows? But one thing he certainly doesn’t have is the ability to make it work.
But because of a few folks on the Internet, running some old software, and someone who took a few minutes to write a keygen? Well, his dad is still out there somewhere, and he’s playing pirates.
https://www.reddit.com/r/bbs/comments/1b626zo/curious_if_anyone_remember_my_fathers_door_game/
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I feel like I have to add some historical context.
We know a lot because of Roman documents and people take it for granted but the amount we know is miniscule and a lot of it is archaeology and guesswork.
The documents we have are a tiny fraction of everything written. The books we have are often referencing other books that are lost, documents are mostly lost unless by some stroke of luck end up in a sterile dry environment.
The rest was copied. Not just once, over and over, spread over large geographical areas. This is how we still have the Strategicon from the Byzantines for example.
It has taken a lot of work and many lifetimes to preserve history. Now in the age of technology the people keeping the digital past alive are called pirates.
Be proud. Future generations will thank you for pirating an absolute garbage BBC sitcom that makes reference to the working class views on Margaret Thatcher since it’ll be one of the few things they’ll have to piece together the past.
This is so cool to see posted here! I’m the guy that broke my usual don’t-post-on-reddit rule to share a keygen for Buccaneer. It really is a fun game, too, even if it can be a bit brutal (this is the third day in a row my ship got sunk!).
There continues to be a thriving community of BBS users and sysops, there is a mix of new software and mods along with the old (there are CBBS systems operating - that is the original BBS software created in the late 1970s!). The fsxNet echomail network is great, linking a lot of active BBSes together and with good conversation and lots of help for retro-tech issues and projects.
If you’re interested in playing Buccaneer online, The Fool’s Quarter BBS has the game online. Another interesting BBS to check out is 20 For Beers reachable via telnet at 20forbeers.com:1337.
This post made my day. Thanks for sharing.
Let’s do one better, let’s get this kid’s dad’s game popular and create a page for it on Twitch! Send a message to the big publishers that there are enough people willing to resurrect an ancient game and that there are far bigger community building experiences to be had than a potential next live-service game from Ubisoft.
I’m gonna start looking into bulletin boards now and see what it takes to get involved with this community.
Some ‘getting started’ suggestions:
Telnet BBS Guide has over a thousand BBSes listed, most are accessible by telnet. Syncterm is a great terminal program for BBS use, with Linux/Mac/Windows versions available. Other telnet clients can be used, but many BBSes use ANSI and CP437 and not UTF8. (other BBSes use other standards like ATASCII or PETSCII, Syncterm supports many of these.)
There are a bunch of interesting BBSes, one I’d recommend is 20 For Beers, connect to it at 20forbeers.com:1337. Plenty of great ANSI art and active message areas and a huge file collection too. I also recommend checking out the fsxNet message areas, they are shared across many BBSes and have an active community.
