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It used to be $6/hour (adjust for inflation, would now be about $18/hr). How do I know this? Because as a teenager, my dad let me use his account to play a mult
by whyenot 2y ago
It used to be $6/hour (adjust for inflation, would now be about $18/hr). How do I know this? Because as a teenager, my dad let me use his account to play a multiplayer game called Island of Kesmai that was available through CompuServe, and I ended up putting hundreds of dollars on his credit card (and got in a lot of trouble). I worked as a page at my local public library in order to make enough money that I could pay him back, which itself led to a life-long love of books and reading. In the end, it was an important life lesson about moderation and personal responsibility.
Competitors to CompuServe were even more expensive. GEnie was $9/hr, and Byte Information Exchange (BIX) was $12, and I think at the start was even higher.
- SapporoChris 2y agoIf I recall correctly it was $6/hour during their off times. Which was after hours on weekdays, weekends and holidays. During the work day I think it was $30 dollars.
- ryanstewart 2y agoThanks for sharing this story. Similar situation, but I think Compuserve had moved to monthly billing at that point, so this was about dial-up access. We lived in Wyoming and there wasn't a local Compuserve number for us to dial into, so we had to use a 1-800 number that charged by the time you used it. The first month we had access, I would sneak downstairs most nights and dial in to play around. I don't remember what I had to do to work off the bill, but my parents were not happy. It helped start me on a path to a tech career, though.
- jghn 2y agoIt was possible to get a free account in that time period. However most of those games were blocked for free accounts.