My first modem was 300 baud. You haven't lived until your mom ruined your 5 hour download of a sweet 300-500k game because she picked up the phone. Good times.
"Who were you talking to in Pennsylvania for four hours in the middle of the night for a week!?"
We also used keygens so we could play online games online for free with a burned disc (or to play over LAN).
Sure, I can play them now, but when dialing in to a BBS meant spending actual money on long distance calls, most people who played those games were pretty serious about it. Similar to how most DWANGO[2] players were also pretty solid and didn't mess around.
Another fond memory: finding a BBS list on one BBS, and then dialing into all of the new ones to see what they had to offer. Was a great way to spend the night while the parents were asleep.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Red_Dragon [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Wars [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DWANGO