Eventually, people realized how inefficient VampMode was, and decided to write a new program designed specifically to allow people to carry on interactive conversations. In about 1984, the ACM:CB program was made available. Since MTS account names typically made no sense, it allowed users to come up with their own "handles" or pseudonyms. There were a limited number of available channels, which people could allocate for specific discussions. This wasn't quite as expensive as running VampMode, but it still was a drain on MTS funds that could be used to do things like... homework.

Deacon Blues recalls "if you go back to CB, me and Scanner are probably the longest running users... I remember a night in the basement of the Greene Building when he and I were among the people helping Alan Auerbach (aka "Archbishop Al") test CB before it's release..." Maker also recalls testing CZSC:CB on MTS and that CZSC was Al's RPI-ACM account on MTS. (MTS accounts generally were four characters, and the ACM made accounts available for its members, in addition to accounts they might have gotten from the school or for classes.)
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