Well, yes, you could argue the internet was like "harvard", a proper secret society club, where only wealthy and approved were invited, but still, even in '99 the internet was freely available at unis and I remember we had a whole plethora of weirdos.

The other weird artifact of that era were "gaming caffes" - much like internet caffes, but before the internet was widely available and people were often bringing their own PCs to play starcraft or quake on LAN.

I play competitive games online to this day and I really miss these days. Today's online scene is extremely toxic. I still remember my den which was often frequented by local gopniks, outmost disgusting creatures, but when we played the game there was a strong sense of chivalry and sportsmanship that's nowhere to be find in today's online games.