I feel this in my very creaky bones! I, too, have fond memories of playing EverQuest on a 56k modem and thinking how cool it was that I could play with people from all over the country and world. At least until someone picked up the phone and got me killed mid-fight! Ted wasn't all that right with his choice of targets, but his assessment of our broken system back then was spot on, I agree. I wish technological improvements since those days didn't come with the side of techno-fascism that we see today.