In this special recap episode, Boss Mode revisits the best stories and insights from Season 1: The Roots of Chaos. From MUD pranksters and EverQuest corpse runs, to guild saboteurs, trade chat wars, roleplay scandals, and the psychology of trolling, this is a full-circle look at how MMO chaos began.

Inside this episode:

· The very first trolls of MUDs and Ultima Online.

· Infamous griefers and guild implosions that shaped early MMO culture.

· Trade chat battlegrounds and corpse-camping chaos.

· How design flaws and anonymity enabled trolls.

· Vigilante justice: blacklists, bounty guilds, and in-game trials.

· The strange balance of punishment and redemption in player-driven justice.

This is the story of where the madness began, and why trolls became legends in the worlds we loved.

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Got a grief story or redemption arc worth sharing? Email podcast@mmomadness.com your tale may end up in a future episode.

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"We’re going beyond the patch notes… and pulling the mask off the madness.”

Before the banhammers. Before Discord mods. Before GMs roamed the servers like digital sheriffs, MMO communities had to police themselves.

In this episode, Boss Mode takes you back to the Wild West of online gaming, when players built their own systems of justice: vigilante guilds, public blacklists, trade chat courts, even full-blown in-game trials. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it went hilariously wrong.

Inside this episode:

· Ultima Online’s Sheriff Guild and the first “walls of shame.”

· Kill-on-sight lists in MUDs and EverQuest vigilantes hunting griefers.

· WoW blacklists and RuneScape’s trade chat “courtrooms.”

· Vigilante guilds that became heroes… and others that became villains.

· Balmung’s infamous in-game trials and public executions.

· How community-driven justice shaped the moderation systems we use today.

Before there were mods, there was us, and the justice was as chaotic as the games we played.

Episode Sponsor:
Boss Mode Fashion, because even if your DPS is trash, your fit doesn’t have to be. Find your next respawn-ready outfit at bossmodefashion.com.

Got a grief story or redemption arc worth sharing? Email podcast@mmomadness.com your tale may end up in a future episode.

Send us a text

Support the show

"We’re going beyond the patch notes… and pulling the mask off the madness.”

Alts. Burners. Double lives.

In this extended episode, Boss Mode dives deep into the secret world of alternate characters and burner accounts, how they started as harmless side projects and evolved into weapons of chaos. From innocent experimentation to guild-destroying scandals, alts have shaped MMO culture in ways few players realize.

Inside this episode:

• The EverQuest healer who lived a double life as a rogue saboteur.
• Burners used for forum flamewars, Discord spying, and guild sabotage.
• Balmung’s infamous triple-romance scandal and Rust’s alt tribe betrayal.
• WoW guild bank robberies, Black Desert coups, and how alts implode entire communities.
• Redemption arcs where alts gave trolls a second chance to respec their reputation.

Whether you see alts as creative freedom or digital WMDs, one thing’s certain: the rise of alt accounts and burners left a permanent mark on MMO history.

Episode Sponsor:
Boss Mode Fashion — because even if your DPS is trash, your fit doesn’t have to be. Find your next respawn-ready outfit at bossmodefashion.com.

Got a grief story or redemption arc worth sharing? Email podcast@mmomadness.com — your tale may end up in a future episode.

Send us a text

Support the show

"We’re going beyond the patch notes… and pulling the mask off the madness.”