Link The Home Shop machinist & Machinist's Workshop BBS - FAQ home shop machinist discussion...
These first online games used a bulletin board system, also known as a BBS.
One seeker posted an experience to a Dallas area BBS (the local BBS no longer exists) in the late 1980s that she'd spent a great deal of time in past life research because of her claustrophobia.
The Internet was just a series of BBS boards in those days, but soap opera fans particularly those on college campuses found ways to begin connecting to each other.
The leap from the BBS to America Online was the launching point for online fans everywhere to begin interacting.