A BBS or bulletin board system is a computer system that is running BBS software. BBS software can be many items. But mainly these websites will cater for the old time games. But not the type of colourful games that you would expect to play on a Commodore 64 but rather text based games that first arrived onto the scene with the first set of PC's. Allowing for sometimes a virtual world that was discovered and explored on your PC by running through miles and miles of text. Telling your character what to do, when to turn and what to pick up. It wasn't just games like this though there are some sport games that let you take a shot in basketball with just a text screen. Rather strange you may think but websites have heard what their customers want and they are simply providing. There not that much different from some of today's games except that today's games are more colourful and have a greater height of new graphical achievement and of course the new addition of online play. But you do still tell someone what to do, when to turn and what to pick up.
You are allowed to download the BBS software if you are a member of the website. Being a member of a BBS website will let you download these BBS software games free of charge. Some websites may want to incur a small fee but that shouldn't be too much of a problem unless if you have already paid to be a member then that may seem a bit unfair. However if you do pay for these games then there is a greater chance of being able to gain online support should you desperately need it. If you do not pay for the BBS software games then if you do encounter a problem with the game you can try and send a message in the forum and discuss the problem with the other gamers. But you may not get a reply from anyone that may be helpful and you may be left with the feeling that well I didn't pay for it so I guess these problems will happen to free items. I guess it was too good to be true. But on the other hand if you do pay for the game then any problems that you may encounter will be dealt with swiftly to see if there is a bug in the game or it is just a one off. You may get a refund for the game or you may get some technical help from the administrator who may fix the problem altogether and you can carry on playing these games.
The file transfer protocol or (FTP) allows people on the website or the websites members to upload files to the websites download section with ease. You can also use file transfer protocol to transfer files from one computer to another with different operating systems not being a problem. You can swap files from a Windows computer to an Apple computer with ease; you can transfer files from a Linux computer to a Windows or Apple computer with no problem at all. This file transfer protocols has become very handy in today's modern download market. There are people who can take advantage of file transfer protocols by downloading music illegally. This breaks copyright laws from the artists who made the song and also the music company who distributes the music product. This is also hitting the musician and the music companies hard in the pocket. By doing this the people who download the music do not need to buy the song or album and will not spend the money that the artists rightly deserve.
The file transfer protocol system being used on bulletin board systems does not violate any form of copyright laws. Which is good news for those people who need to play those old games just one last time.