GEnie
Encyclopedia
GEnie was an online service
created by a General Electric
business - GEIS (now GXS) that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around 350,000 users. Peak simultaneous usage was around 10,000 users. It was one of the pioneering services in the field, though eventually replaced by the Internet and graphics-based services, most notably AOL
.
text-based service by GE's Information Services division in October 1985, and received attention as the first serious commercial competition to CompuServe
. Louden was originally CompuServe's product manager for Computing, Community (forums), Games, ecommerce, and email product lines. Louden purchased DECWAR
source code and had MegaWars
developed, one of the earliest multi-player online games (or MMOG), in 1982.
The service was run by General Electric
Information Services (GEIS, now GXS) based in Rockville, Maryland
. GEIS served a diverse set of large-scale, international, commercial network-based custom application needs, including banking, Electronic Data Interchange
and e-mail
services to companies worldwide, but was able to run GEnie on their many GE Mark III time-sharing
mainframe
computers that otherwise would have been underutilized after normal U.S. business hours. This orientation was part of GEnie's downfall. Although it became very popular and a national force in the on-line marketplace, GEnie was not allowed to grow. GEIS executives steadfastly refused to view the service as anything but "fill in" load and would not expand the network by a single phone line, let alone expand mainframe capacity, to accommodate GEnie's growing user base. (Later, however, GE did consent to make the service available through the SprintNet time-sharing network, which had its own dial-up points of presence.)
The initial price for connection, at both 300 bits per second
and the then-high-speed 1200 bits per second, was $5–$6 per hour during "non-prime-time" hours (evenings and weekends) and $36 an hour (to discourage daytime use) otherwise, later adjusted to $6 per hour and $18 per hour, respectively. 2400 bit/s was also available at a premium. Later, GEnie developed the Star*Services package, soon renamed Genie*Basic after Prodigy
threatened a trademark lawsuit over the use of the word "Star". It offered a set of "unlimited use" features for $4.95/month. Other services cost extra, mirroring the tiered service model popular at the time.
GEnie's forums were called RoundTables (RTs), and each, as well as other internal services, had a page number associated with it, akin to a Web address today; typing "m 1335", for instance, would bring you to the GemStone III
game page. The service included RTs, games, mail and shopping. For some time, GEnie published a bimonthly print magazine, LiveWire. GEnie's early chat room was called the LiveWire CB Simulator, after the Citizens' band radio
s popular at the time.
s but often massively multiplayer
. Also, there were graphical games using then-state-of-the-art non-textured 3D graphics on PCs with VGA displays. Top titles included:
Other major titles included:
"), a chatroom ("RealTime Conference" or RTC) and a Library for permanent files. They were part of an online community
culture that predated the Internet's emergence as a mass medium, which also included such separate entities as CompuServe
forums, Usenet
newsgroups and email mailing lists.
Most RoundTables were actually operated not by GEnie employees but by independent contractors working from home, which was standard practice for online services at the time. The contractors received royalties on time spent in their forums. In the most popular forums, this revenue stream was often substantial enough to hire one or two part-time or full-time staffers. Many RoundTables also had a number of unpaid assistants, working for a "free flag" (which granted them free access to that RoundTable) or an "internal account" (which granted free access to all of the service).
RoundTables available on GEnie included:
and America Online produced graphics-based online services that drew the masses. Programs such as Aladdin, which had been developed earlier by an independent developer and eventually supported by GEnie, helped many of the newcomers who came to GEnie from Prodigy and AOL adjust; these were the equivalent of modern-day email programs and newsreaders, incorporating a more user-friendly interface which automated message and mail downloading and posting.
In addition, GEnie took its time developing an Internet e-mail gateway, which opened on July 1, 1993.
GE sold GEnie in 1996 to Yovelle, which was later taken over by IDT Corp.
IDT attempted to transition Genie (now without the all-uppercase "GE") to an internet service provider
, but ultimately failed. IDT also funded the development of a GUI
for the text-based service; this client was actually released, but the service did not survive long enough for it to become popular.
Visitors to Genie dropped with the growth of other online services and fell dramatically following a very sudden change in the fee structure in 1996. The users were notified with only 12 hours notice that all Basic (flat-rate) services would cease to exist, while prices of the other services would rise dramatically. By the final year, insiders reported fewer than 10,000 total users.
On December 4, 1999, it was announced that Genie would close for good on December 27 due to Y2K issues. Remaining users gathered in chat areas
of the few RoundTables remaining to say goodbye. But Genie did not close for four more days, and a dwindling number watched at the close of each day. The RoundTables and all areas of Genie, except the Top page, became unavailable slightly before midnight on December 30, 1999.
television show, created by J. Michael Straczynski
, which was first announced publicly in GEnie's Science Fiction RoundTables. The SFRTs served as the show's first online "home" and were the source of many in-jokes and references throughout its run.
Bill Louden, the original creator of GEnie, formed a group of investors to buy the Delphi online service
from News Corp, where he led the transition of the service from text-only to the Web (and from a pay-per-hour to an advertising-supported revenue model).
Other well-known science fiction authors who were frequent visitors to the SFRT included Dafydd ab Hugh
, John Barnes
, Steven Brust
, Michael A. Burstein
, Debra Doyle
, Neil Gaiman
, Joe Haldeman
, Katharine Kerr
, Michael Kube-McDowell, Paul Levinson
, George R.R. Martin, Rich Normandie, Mike Resnick
, Robert J. Sawyer
, J. Neil Schulman
, Josepha Sherman
, Susan Shwartz
, Martha Soukup
, Judith Tarr
, Harry Turtledove
, Lawrence Watt-Evans
, Leslie What
, and Jane Yolen
. Occasional but less frequent visitors included K. W. Jeter
and Ken Grimwood
.
Science fiction editors Gardner Dozois
, Scott Edelman
, Peter Heck
, Tappan King
, Beth Meacham
, Patrick Nielsen Hayden
, Teresa Nielsen Hayden
, and Dean Wesley Smith
were also frequent participants.
Online service provider
An online service provider can for example be an internet service provider, email provider, news provider , entertainment provider , search, e-shopping site , e-finance or e-banking site, e-health site, e-government site, Wikipedia, Usenet...
created by a General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
business - GEIS (now GXS) that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around 350,000 users. Peak simultaneous usage was around 10,000 users. It was one of the pioneering services in the field, though eventually replaced by the Internet and graphics-based services, most notably AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
.
Early history
GEnie was founded by Bill Louden on October 1, 1985 and was launched as an ASCIIASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
text-based service by GE's Information Services division in October 1985, and received attention as the first serious commercial competition to CompuServe
CompuServe
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
. Louden was originally CompuServe's product manager for Computing, Community (forums), Games, ecommerce, and email product lines. Louden purchased DECWAR
Decwar
DECWAR is a multiplayer computer game first written in 1978 at the University of Texas at Austin for the PDP-10. It was developed from an earlier two-player version, WAR, adding multi-terminal support for between one and eighteen players. WAR and DECWAR are essentially multiplayer versions of the...
source code and had MegaWars
MegaWars
MegaWars was a series of real-time online multiplayer space empire building games which were hosted on CompuServe in the 1980s and lasted well into the 1990s. The original MegaWars I was a port of Decwar, originally developed at the University of Texas at Austin...
developed, one of the earliest multi-player online games (or MMOG), in 1982.
The service was run by General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
Information Services (GEIS, now GXS) based in Rockville, Maryland
Rockville, Maryland
Rockville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a major incorporated city in the central part of Montgomery County and forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The 2010 U.S...
. GEIS served a diverse set of large-scale, international, commercial network-based custom application needs, including banking, Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic data interchange is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e...
and e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
services to companies worldwide, but was able to run GEnie on their many GE Mark III time-sharing
Time-sharing
Time-sharing is the sharing of a computing resource among many users by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking. Its introduction in the 1960s, and emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s, represents a major technological shift in the history of computing.By allowing a large...
mainframe
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
computers that otherwise would have been underutilized after normal U.S. business hours. This orientation was part of GEnie's downfall. Although it became very popular and a national force in the on-line marketplace, GEnie was not allowed to grow. GEIS executives steadfastly refused to view the service as anything but "fill in" load and would not expand the network by a single phone line, let alone expand mainframe capacity, to accommodate GEnie's growing user base. (Later, however, GE did consent to make the service available through the SprintNet time-sharing network, which had its own dial-up points of presence.)
The initial price for connection, at both 300 bits per second
Bit rate
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....
and the then-high-speed 1200 bits per second, was $5–$6 per hour during "non-prime-time" hours (evenings and weekends) and $36 an hour (to discourage daytime use) otherwise, later adjusted to $6 per hour and $18 per hour, respectively. 2400 bit/s was also available at a premium. Later, GEnie developed the Star*Services package, soon renamed Genie*Basic after Prodigy
Prodigy (ISP)
Prodigy Communications Corporation was an online service that offered its subscribers access to a broad range of networked services, including news, weather, shopping, bulletin boards, games, polls, expert columns, banking, stocks, travel, and a variety of other features.Initially subscribers...
threatened a trademark lawsuit over the use of the word "Star". It offered a set of "unlimited use" features for $4.95/month. Other services cost extra, mirroring the tiered service model popular at the time.
GEnie's forums were called RoundTables (RTs), and each, as well as other internal services, had a page number associated with it, akin to a Web address today; typing "m 1335", for instance, would bring you to the GemStone III
GemStone IV
GemStone IV is a multiplayer text-based online role-playing game produced by Simutronics. Players control characters in a High Fantasy game world named "Elanthia". The first playable version of the game was known as GemStone ][ and was launched in April 1988 on GEnie...
game page. The service included RTs, games, mail and shopping. For some time, GEnie published a bimonthly print magazine, LiveWire. GEnie's early chat room was called the LiveWire CB Simulator, after the Citizens' band radio
Citizens' band radio
Citizens' Band radio is, in many countries, a system of short-distance radio communications between individuals on a selection of 40 channels within the 27-MHz band. Citizens' Band is distinct from the FRS, GMRS, MURS and amateur radio...
s popular at the time.
Games
GEnie had a reputation for being the home of excellent online text games, similar to the “doorway” games on bulletin board systemBulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
s but often massively multiplayer
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
. Also, there were graphical games using then-state-of-the-art non-textured 3D graphics on PCs with VGA displays. Top titles included:
- KesmaiKesmaiKesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim Air Warrior on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphical MMOGs, launched in 1987...
’s Air WarriorAir WarriorAir Warrior was an early multiplayer on-line air-combat simulator. A player is able to fly a simulated World War II aircraft, fighting with and against other players, each flying his own simulated aircraft. It was introduced in 1986 by Kelton Flinn and his company Kesmai. At this time the internet...
(3D graphics) - SimutronicsSimutronicsSimutronics is an American online games company whose products include GemStone IV and DragonRealms. It was founded in 1987 by David Whatley, with husband and wife Tom & Susan Zelinski...
’s GemStone, later GemStone IIIGemStone IVGemStone IV is a multiplayer text-based online role-playing game produced by Simutronics. Players control characters in a High Fantasy game world named "Elanthia". The first playable version of the game was known as GemStone ][ and was launched in April 1988 on GEnie... - AUSI’s Dragon's GateDragon's GateDragon's Gate was an interactive, real time, text-based multi user online fantasy role-playing game, sometimes referred to as a MUD. It was one of the longest running pay-for-play online games in the world, it opened to the public in the spring of 1990 on GEnie. In the summer of 1996 the game was...
- Simutronics’s CyberStrikeCyberStrikeCyberStrike is a futuristic 3D combat online game by Simutronics Corporation, involving team combat between customizable mechs, each of which is controlled by a different player....
(3D graphics — later spun off and expanded into the stand-alone CyberStrike 2, with textured 3D graphics, lighting effects, etc.) - Kesmai’s Multiplayer BattleTech: EGAMultiplayer BattleTech: EGAMultiplayer BattleTech was a PC MMORPG BattleTech game developed by Kesmai and featured on the now defunct GEnie online gaming network. It featured a text-based chat component for roleplaying, team development and battle planning and a 3D battle simulator component. The game engine was based on a...
Other major titles included:
- AUSI’s Galaxy II
- NTN Trivia
- Kesmai’s Stellar Warrior — GEnie’s first multiplayer online game
- Kesmai's Stellar Emperor — The GEnie version of Kesmai’s CompuserveCompuServeCompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
game MegaWars IIIMegaWars IIIMegaWars III was a massively multiplayer empire building game written by Kesmai and run continuously on CompuServe between 1984 and 1999. It was one of CompuServe's most popular games throughout its lifetime, and was only shut down because they switched to their web-based "CompuServe 2000"... - J. Weaver Jr.’s RSCARDS
- Jim DunniganJim DunniganJames F. Dunnigan is an author, military-political analyst, Defense and State Department consultant, and wargame designer currently living in New York City, notable for his matter-of-fact approach to military analysis.-Career:...
’s Hundred Years’ War - Simutronics’s DragonRealmsDragonRealmsDragonRealms is a medieval fantasy game set in the world of Elanthia. One of the oldest and most popular examples of the MUD genre, it was developed from 1992-1995 and released in February 1996. It was originally intended for an online service planned by the Ziff-Davis company...
- Simutronic's Orb Wars
- Federation II
- Simutronics’s Modus OperandiModus operandiModus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning...
- A-Maze-ing
- Diplomacy Online
- Bob Maples’s Castle Quest
RoundTables
A RoundTable on GEnie was a discussion area containing a message board ("BBSBulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
"), a chatroom ("RealTime Conference" or RTC) and a Library for permanent files. They were part of an online community
Online community
An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted...
culture that predated the Internet's emergence as a mass medium, which also included such separate entities as CompuServe
CompuServe
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
forums, Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroups and email mailing lists.
Most RoundTables were actually operated not by GEnie employees but by independent contractors working from home, which was standard practice for online services at the time. The contractors received royalties on time spent in their forums. In the most popular forums, this revenue stream was often substantial enough to hire one or two part-time or full-time staffers. Many RoundTables also had a number of unpaid assistants, working for a "free flag" (which granted them free access to that RoundTable) or an "internal account" (which granted free access to all of the service).
RoundTables available on GEnie included:
- The 911 / Emergency RoundTable for discussion of emergency preparedness...and a forum set up for quick mobilization during emergencies
- The A2 RoundTable for discussion of Apple IIApple IIThe Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
computers, an early home of Apple devotees - The Astrology RoundTable
- The Atari ST RoundTable
- The Automotive RoundTable (sysops J.J. Gertler & Greg Amy)
- The Aviation Roundtable (sysops Roy Barkas, Dick Flanagan, Bill Moulas and Linda Pendleton)
- The Comics and Animation RoundTable (originally part of the SFRT).
- The CP/M RoundTable
- The Design to Print RoundTable - a community of designers, printers, and desktop publishers. (sysops Tim Piazza and Rodney Sigmon)
- The Deutschland/European Roundtable (sysops Walter Koenig & Jim Van)
- The Education RoundTable, which included a separate area for younger, school-aged GEnie users
- The Forth RoundTable, a popular discussion board for the Forth programming language
- The Game Design RoundTable
- Gardening RoundTable -Sysop Jody McFadden
- Hobby RoundTable -Sysop Jody McFadden
- The Health RoundTable
- The IBM PC RoundTable - Sysops Charlie Strom and Rick Ruhl
- The Japan RoundTable, including "Japanimation Online", an early animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
forum - The Left Coast RoundTable (initially The California RoundTable, later The American West RoundTable)
- The Macintosh RoundTable, one of the largest RTs on the service and one of the first public gathering places for Apple Macintosh devotees.
- The MIDI/WorldMusic RoundTable, an early MIDI discussion forum hosted by Robert Moore
- The NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Online RoundTable - The New Age RoundTable
- NeedleArts RoundTable -Sysop Jody McFadden
- PetNet - all things animal, run by Kerry Clair
- The Public Forum*Non-Profit Connection RoundTable was the place to discuss current events and politics, and also assisted non-profits to use online resources to further their mission - Sysop Tom Sherman then John McGing
- Remote Control RoundTable -Sysop Jody McFadden
- RubberStamping RoundTable -Sysop Jody McFadden
- The Radio and Electronics RoundTable, run by Glen Johnson
- The Religion and Philosophy RoundTable
- The four Science Fiction RoundTables (the SFRT), the official online home of the Horror Writers AssociationHorror Writers AssociationThe Horror Writers Association is a worldwide non-profit organization of professional writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting the interests of Horror and Dark Fantasy writers. It was formed in the 1980s with the help of many of the field's greats, including Joe Lansdale, Robert...
and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
before the Internet became popular (SFWA members, who were all published authors, received free access to the SF RoundTables) {J. Michael StraczynskiJ. Michael StraczynskiJoseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...
developed the show Babylon 5Babylon 5Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
while on the SFRT and maintained his e-mail presence throughout the run of the show.} - The Jerry PournelleJerry PournelleJerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
RoundTable - Scorpia's Games RoundTable, dedicated to games of all types, including GEnie's hosted online games
- The Scuba RoundTable - the first non-computing related RT on GEnie, founded by Tracy Kornfeld
- The ShowBiz RoundTable, created by film critic Bill WarrenBill WarrenWilliam Bond Warren , better known as Bill Warren, is an American film historian and critic generally regarded as one of the leading authorities on science fiction, horror and fantasy films....
in 1989, and still active today on the online service DelphiDelphi online serviceDelphi was an early U.S. online service provider that started as a nationwide dialup service in 1983.- History :The company that became Delphi was founded by Wes Kussmaul as Kussmaul Encyclopedia in 1981, featured ASCII-based encyclopedia, E-mail, and a primitive chat... - The Space and Science RoundTable
- The Spaceport RoundTable, oriented around engineering projects that could be carried out in space.
- The Sports RoundTable, run by Glen Johnson, who also operated GEnie's online football pool.
- The *StarShip* AmigaAmigaThe Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, run by deb! Christensen. - The TeleJoke RoundTable, which was managed by Brad TempletonBrad TempletonBrad Templeton is a software architect, civil rights advocate and entrepreneur. He graduated from the University of Waterloo....
and cross-linked with the UsenetUsenetUsenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroup rec.humor.funny - TI-99/4A and Geneve RoundTable
- The TSR Online RoundTable
- The White House RoundTable for making available press releases and other hard to find administration materials and for partisan discussions on actions of the Bill Clinton administrationPresidency of Bill ClintonThe United States Presidency of Bill Clinton, also known as the Clinton Administration, was the executive branch of the federal government of the United States from January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001. Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second full term...
- Sysop John McGing - The Windows RoundTable - Sysops Rick Ruhl and Charlie Strom
- The Writers' Ink RoundTable
Rise and fall
Although GEnie for years was second as a service provider only to CompuServe, the service failed to keep up when ProdigyProdigy (ISP)
Prodigy Communications Corporation was an online service that offered its subscribers access to a broad range of networked services, including news, weather, shopping, bulletin boards, games, polls, expert columns, banking, stocks, travel, and a variety of other features.Initially subscribers...
and America Online produced graphics-based online services that drew the masses. Programs such as Aladdin, which had been developed earlier by an independent developer and eventually supported by GEnie, helped many of the newcomers who came to GEnie from Prodigy and AOL adjust; these were the equivalent of modern-day email programs and newsreaders, incorporating a more user-friendly interface which automated message and mail downloading and posting.
In addition, GEnie took its time developing an Internet e-mail gateway, which opened on July 1, 1993.
GE sold GEnie in 1996 to Yovelle, which was later taken over by IDT Corp.
IDT Corp.
IDT Corporation is a telecommunications and energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.-History:IDT was founded by entrepreneur Howard Jonas in August 1990...
IDT attempted to transition Genie (now without the all-uppercase "GE") to an internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
, but ultimately failed. IDT also funded the development of a GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
for the text-based service; this client was actually released, but the service did not survive long enough for it to become popular.
Visitors to Genie dropped with the growth of other online services and fell dramatically following a very sudden change in the fee structure in 1996. The users were notified with only 12 hours notice that all Basic (flat-rate) services would cease to exist, while prices of the other services would rise dramatically. By the final year, insiders reported fewer than 10,000 total users.
On December 4, 1999, it was announced that Genie would close for good on December 27 due to Y2K issues. Remaining users gathered in chat areas
Online chat
Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet, that offers an instantaneous transmission of text-based messages from sender to receiver, hence the delay for visual access to the sent message shall not hamper the flow of communications in any of the directions...
of the few RoundTables remaining to say goodbye. But Genie did not close for four more days, and a dwindling number watched at the close of each day. The RoundTables and all areas of Genie, except the Top page, became unavailable slightly before midnight on December 30, 1999.
Legacy
Several books, TV shows, films and other projects had their genesis and inspiration on GEnie. One example is the Babylon 5Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
television show, created by J. Michael Straczynski
J. Michael Straczynski
Joseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...
, which was first announced publicly in GEnie's Science Fiction RoundTables. The SFRTs served as the show's first online "home" and were the source of many in-jokes and references throughout its run.
Bill Louden, the original creator of GEnie, formed a group of investors to buy the Delphi online service
Delphi online service
Delphi was an early U.S. online service provider that started as a nationwide dialup service in 1983.- History :The company that became Delphi was founded by Wes Kussmaul as Kussmaul Encyclopedia in 1981, featured ASCII-based encyclopedia, E-mail, and a primitive chat...
from News Corp, where he led the transition of the service from text-only to the Web (and from a pay-per-hour to an advertising-supported revenue model).
Notable users
Many well-known personalities were early adopters of the online medium, and were a prominent presence on GEnie, either active in one of its RoundTables, or frequent public participants in GEnie’s CB Chat.- Tom ClancyTom ClancyThomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
, author, participated in the chat area and he played games such as GemStone IIGemStone IVGemStone IV is a multiplayer text-based online role-playing game produced by Simutronics. Players control characters in a High Fantasy game world named "Elanthia". The first playable version of the game was known as GemStone ][ and was launched in April 1988 on GEnie...
with his children. - Peter DavidPeter DavidPeter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
, self-styled “writer of stuff,” such as comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s, television and film novelizations, screenwritingScreenwriterScreenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and many original novels and short stories - Cory DoctorowCory DoctorowCory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
, co-author of the Boing BoingBoing BoingBoing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
blog and science fiction novelist, was active on GEnie’s Science Fiction RoundTable - Damon KnightDamon KnightDamon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...
, author, founder of Science Fiction Writers of America, SFWA Grand Master - Wayne KnightWayne KnightWayne Eliot Knight is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor perhaps best known for his role as Newman in the TV sitcom Seinfeld...
, actor (SeinfeldSeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, Jurassic ParkJurassic Park (film)Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
), was an occasional visitor to the ShowBiz RT - Michael OkudaMichael Okuda- Work in Star Trek :In the mid-1980s, he designed the look of animated computer displays for the Enterprise-A bridge in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. This led to a staff position on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 as a scenic artist, adding detail to set designs and props...
, Star Trek graphics designer frequented the SFRT - Richard Pini, husband of Wendy Pini, and editor/publisher of her cult favorite fantasy (with SF elements) comic book series ElfQuestElfquestElfquest is a cult hit comic book property created by Wendy and Richard Pini in 1978. It is a fantasy story about a community of elves and other fictional species who struggle to survive and coexist on a primitive Earth-like planet with two moons. Several published volumes of prose fiction also...
. - Daniel PinkwaterDaniel PinkwaterDaniel Manus Pinkwater is an author of mostly children's books and is an occasional commentator on National Public Radio. He attended Bard College. Well-known books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange...
, frequent presence in Writer’s Ink - Jerry PournelleJerry PournelleJerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
, science fiction author and political commentator, had his own RoundTable. - J. Michael StraczynskiJ. Michael StraczynskiJoseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...
, television writer, producer and creator of Babylon 5Babylon 5Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262... - Wil WheatonWil WheatonRichard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...
, current “geek author” and actor (Wesley in Star Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
), was a frequent presence in the chat area, and often visited the Sports RoundTable.
Other well-known science fiction authors who were frequent visitors to the SFRT included Dafydd ab Hugh
Dafydd ab Hugh
Dafydd ab Hugh is a U.S. science fiction author.Ab Hugh is most noted for writing fiction in media franchises in the 1990's, including several novels for the Star Trek franchise. He also co-wrote four novels associated with the game Doom with fellow science fiction author Brad Linaweaver...
, John Barnes
John Barnes (author)
-Writing:Two of his novels, The Sky So Big and Black and The Duke of Uranium have been reviewed as having content appropriate for a young adult readership, comparing favorably to Robert A. Heinlein's "juvenile" novels...
, Steven Brust
Steven Brust
Steven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He was a member of the writers' group The Scribblies, which included Emma Bull, Pamela Dean, Will Shetterly, Nate Bucklin, Kara Dalkey, and Patricia Wrede; he also belongs to the Pre-Joycean...
, Michael A. Burstein
Michael A. Burstein
Michael A. Burstein is an American writer of science fiction. He was born in New York City, and grew up in the neighborhood of Forest Hills in the borough of Queens. He attended Hunter College High School in Manhattan...
, Debra Doyle
Debra Doyle
Dr. Debra Doyle is an American author writing in multiple related genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. Many of her stories are co-written with her husband, James D. Macdonald...
, Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
, Joe Haldeman
Joe Haldeman
Joe William Haldeman is an American science fiction author.-Life :Haldeman was born June 9, 1943 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His family traveled and he lived in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Bethesda, Maryland and Anchorage, Alaska as a child. Haldeman married Mary Gay Potter, known...
, Katharine Kerr
Katharine Kerr
Katharine Kerr is a science fiction and fantasy novelist, best known for her series of Celtic-influenced high fantasy novels set in the fictional land of Deverry.- Biography :...
, Michael Kube-McDowell, Paul Levinson
Paul Levinson
Paul Levinson is an American author and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York City. Levinson's novels, short fiction, and non-fiction works have been translated into twelve languages....
, George R.R. Martin, Rich Normandie, Mike Resnick
Mike Resnick
Michael Diamond Resnick , better known by his published name Mike Resnick, is an American science fiction author. He was executive editor of Jim Baen's Universe.-Biography:...
, Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 20 novels published, and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, Nature, and many anthologies. Sawyer has won over forty awards for his fiction, including the Nebula Award ,...
, J. Neil Schulman
J. Neil Schulman
Joseph Neil Schulman is a novelist who wrote Alongside Night and The Rainbow Cadenza which both received the Prometheus Award, a libertarian science fiction award....
, Josepha Sherman
Josepha Sherman
Josepha Sherman is an American author. In 1990 she won the Compton Crook Award for the novel The Shining Falcon.-Buffyverse:*Visitors *Deep Water ...
, Susan Shwartz
Susan Shwartz
Susan Shwartz is an American author.She received her B.A. in English from Mount Holyoke College in 1972 and a Ph.D. in English from Harvard University.-Novels:* The Woman of Flowers * Byzantium's Crown...
, Martha Soukup
Martha Soukup
Martha Soukup is a Nebula award-winning and Hugo award-nominated science fiction author, and playwright for the emerging playwrights group. In 2003, she won their annual commission....
, Judith Tarr
Judith Tarr
Judith Tarr is an American author, best known for her fantasy books. She received her B.A. in Latin and English from Mount Holyoke College in 1976, and has an M.A. in Classics from Cambridge University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale University...
, Harry Turtledove
Harry Turtledove
Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...
, Lawrence Watt-Evans
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Lawrence Watt-Evans is one of the pseudonyms of American science fiction and fantasy author Lawrence Watt Evans...
, Leslie What
Leslie What
Leslie What is a writer of fantasy and literary fiction and nonfiction. She grew up in Southern California and attended Santa Ana College, and earned a certificate in Vocational Nursing...
, and Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Jane Hyatt Yolen is an American author and editor of almost 300 books. These include folklore, fantasy, science fiction, and children's books...
. Occasional but less frequent visitors included K. W. Jeter
K. W. Jeter
Kevin Wayne Jeter is an American science fiction and horror author known for his literary writing style, dark themes, and paranoid, unsympathetic characters...
and Ken Grimwood
Ken Grimwood
Kenneth Milton Grimwood was an American author who was born in Dothan, Alabama. In his fantasy fiction Grimwood combined themes of life-affirmation and hope with metaphysical concepts, themes found in his best-known novel, the highly popular Replay...
.
Science fiction editors Gardner Dozois
Gardner Dozois
Gardner Raymond Dozois is an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004...
, Scott Edelman
Scott Edelman
Scott Edelman is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer and editor. He became the editor of SCI FI Magazine in 2002, and has edited the channel's online magazine Science Fiction Weekly since 2000.He was the founding and only editor of the science fiction magazine Science Fiction...
, Peter Heck
Peter Heck
Peter Jewell Heck is an American science fiction and mystery author. His books include the "Mark Twain Mysteries"—historical whodunits featuring the famous author as a detective—and four books in the "Phule's Company" series, in collaboration with Robert Asprin, best described as...
, Tappan King
Tappan Wright King
Tappan Wright King is an American editor and author in the field of fantasy fiction, best known for editing The Twilight Zone Magazine and its...
, Beth Meacham
Beth Meacham
Beth Meacham is an American writer and editor, best known as a longtime top editor with Tor Books.-Life, education and family:Meacham was born November 14, 1951 in Newark, Licking County, Ohio. She studied Communications in Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where she met her husband, Tappan...
, Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Patrick James Nielsen Hayden , is an American science fiction editor, fan, fanzine publisher, essayist, reviewer, anthologist, teacher and blogger. He is a World Fantasy Award and Hugo Award winner , and is an editor and the Manager of Science Fiction at Tor Books...
, Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Teresa Nielsen Hayden is an American science fiction editor, fanzine writer, essayist, and teacher. She is a consulting editor for Tor Books. She has also worked for Federated Media Publishing, where in 2007 she revived the comment section for the blog Boing Boing...
, and Dean Wesley Smith
Dean Wesley Smith
Dean Wesley Smith is a science fiction author, known primarily for his Star Trek novels, movie novelizations, and other novels of licensed properties such as Smallville, Spider-Man, X-Men, Aliens, Roswell, Men in Black, and Quantum Leap...
were also frequent participants.
External links
- I Dream of GEnie: forum discussion and memories of past GEnie members
- GEnie Commodore File Library
- [ftp://ftp.whtech.com/9640news/ GEnie TI-99/4A and Geneve File Library]
- MultiPlayer BattleTech: EGA Roundtable Archive
- Genie and the SFRTs are closed
- Last night of the SFRTs
- Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh: GEnie
- Review: GEnie
- Thinkquest Timeline of game history
- Simutronics timeline maintained by Simutronics' Elonka DuninElonka DuninElonka Dunin is an American game developer at Simutronics Corp. in St. Louis, Missouri, where she has worked since 1990. She is Chairperson Emerita and one of the founders of the International Game Developers Association's Online Games group, has contributed or been editor in chief on multiple...
- Tom Mostellor. "Genie and CompuServe Offer Die-Hard Adventure Fans Wide New On-line Worlds"
- Online Games White Paper, 2002, compiled by the IGDA Online Games Committee