To paraphrase Chris Rock, no matter what a gamer tells you, role-playing is not intuitive. You have to learn how to do it; at least if you want to do it with other people and have them enjoy the experience (it’s kind of like sex in that respect, but that’s a subject for another column).

How To Connect:

Generally, folks connect by means of a client program. Since I’m only functionally literate when it comes to the inner workings of computers, I’m going to let the folks at the rec.muds.faq explain what a client program is:

“Clients are programs, usually written in C, that connect up to servers. Telnet is one such client program. Many clients written for MUDs have special added bonus features through which they filter the output; most, for instance, separate your input line from the output lines and wraps words after 80 columns. Some also have a macro- writing capability which allows the user to execute several commands with just a few keypresses. Some allow you to highlight output coming from certain players or suppress it altogether. Still other clients make the sometimes tedious task of building new areas a breeze.”

Telnet is sometimes referred to by MU*ers as ‘raw telnet’ since the average telnet program lacks most of the bells and whistles features of a client program like SimpleMU, TinyFugue or MUSHClient. “Raw telnet” allows you to connect to the game and communicate with your fellow players and that’s about the best that can be said for it in my extremely biased and unfair opinion. Telnet does not easily allow for things like long poses, backspacing or scrolling back over actions. Client programs make the entire MU*ing experience a whole lot prettier and a whole lot easier on the eyes. It also makes it easier to ‘multi-mu*” or to have several game ‘worlds’ open at the same time. (When the addiction fully sets in, you’ll see why this is important).

A web search for “MUD” and “Client” will bring up several links for individual client programs. Most are free or shareware, with registration fees running about 20-30 dollars US. Paying the registration fee (which most folks unfortunately don’t do), reimburses the creator for their time and energy and gets you a code that will, in some cases, unlock new features. Client programs exist for most operating systems, just add your OS du Jour to the search terms and you should find something.

When You First Log On:

When you first log onto a game, you will probably be logged into a “Guest” character. These are special characters set up to allow you to talk to people on channels and get an idea of what the game is about before you commit to creating a character. Guests generally are not allowed into the In Character sections of the game (since they generally don’t have stats or any description other than some variation of “This is a Guest, be nice to it”). Guests are, however, allowed to talk with players who are sitting in the Out Of Character lounge or who are hanging around on channels. Most games will let you know what command to use so that you can chat with your fellow players.

Ways to Talk:

There are several different ways to talk to your fellow players on a MU*. These can be used ICly and OOCly, but for now we’re going to focus on their OOC usage:

Channels: Channels allow you, as a player, to talk to other players across the MU*, even if you’re not all in the same room. OOCly, they’re used mainly for chatting with other folks. Some games have channels set aside for factions on the game, that can let players plot and plan as a group without fear of being eavesdropped on. Most games have a Newbie or Guest channel for newer players/guests to ask questions and chat with players. By and large, this channel will be turned on for you automatically and the commands for speaking on the channel should be posted in the first room you log on into.

Speak: This command allows two (or more) players to talk to each other when they’re in the same room. Most commonly, the command is “ or say followed by what the character is going to say. It will generally look like this:

“Hey, when does the charstaffer usually log on?

And will look like this to the room:

Guest1 says, “Hey, when does the charstaffer usually log on?”

Pose: What allows you to do something besides say things to other players. Pose commands are generally “:” or “;” and allow you to do things like “:wonders if you are accepting one-eyed dwarves?” or “;’s favorite alignment is Neutral-Hungry.’ Which would give you the respective poses of “Guest wonders if you are accepting one-eyed dwarves?” and “Guest’s favorite alignment is Neutral-Hungry.”

Page: page is a command that allows you to talk privately to another player, whether they’re in the same room as you or not. You can also page to several people at once.

Mail: Mail is a command that most guest characters won’t have access to largely because guest characters are used by all guests and the assignment of a guest character is pretty random. The person who is Guest2 today may be Guest4 tomorrow. But, some games allow you to create initial characters, who can send and receive mail. This allows you to send (or receive) a message in the game to a staffer or another player.

Sources of Information:

As a new player, you need all the input you can get. There are several in-game sources for information. These are a few of the most important.

Bboards: Short for bulletin board, these are on-game message boards that you should generally be able to read even as a guest, though chances are you won’t be able to post to them. You’ll be able to find in-game information about various areas as well as out of game information like announcements about rules changes, characters that the game is looking for and even ads for other games. Bboard information changes over time and posts do get deleted as they time out.

News Files: News Files are more permanent than bboards. They are also generally longer and contain more in-depth information on the game and how it works. The names of the individual files are going to vary from game to game but some common topics to keep an eye out for are: rules, combat, theme, character creation, applications, and anything related to a specific character race or class that you’re looking for.

Channels: Particularly the newbie/guest and public channels can be useful places to ask questions, not only of staffers but of players. Veteran players often know as much (and sometimes more) than the game’s staff do. Talking with current players can also give you something of a feel for a game.

Help Files: These files are generally related to a game’s code base. If you’re having trouble finding out how a piece of code works, try looking for help files. They are especially useful since many games will have the same basic command with different names or syntax.

There are also a few good off-game sources, depending on the type of game you’re playing on that can be helpful:

Websites: A lot of games maintain websites. Sometimes they duplicate their news files and applications there. Or have emanuals for the game. It can be a lot easier to print and/or read from a website than it is to try and read files and chat on the game at the same time.

The Source Material: For media-based games, those games based on some sort of outside source like a TV show, book, or RPG, the original source material can be a good source for background information. So can fan-sites. In some cases, the fan sites can supply more background than the original because fans are an obsessive and completist lot (not that I’m complaining, for the Transformers/GI Joe game I play on, fan sites are an essential).

Guesting Etiquette:

Use proper English: (or whatever language the game is conducted in since there are non-English MU*s out there). Okay, I mentioned this in my last column, but it’s something that bears repeating since it’s a common peeve among MU*ers. Make an effort to write in complete sentences, watch your spelling and your grammar. It goes a long way toward establishing you as someone people want to have around.

Be Polite: Keep in mind that you are, indeed, a guest on this game. Behave accordingly. Do not be rude to other players or staff. Don’t demand attention or answers, the newbie staffers (if any) might not be online and other staffers and/or players might not be able to answer all your questions. Remember: the staff of this game don’t have to let you play there. If you impress them as a rude and disruptive person as a guest, chances are pretty good they won’t let you come on as a player.

Be Patient: Whether you’re waiting for an answer to a question you just asked on channel or you’re waiting for your application to be approved, keep in mind that it may take time. In the case of an application, expect to wait up to a week to get a reply. MU* staffers are volunteers, they have to fit their game responsibilities in between work, school and other real-life hassles (just like you do). On the game, people may not answer you immediately because they’re thinking about their answer or they’ve stepped away from the keyboard (AFK) for a couple minutes. Also, computer problems have a way of striking when you least expect it.

Deciding if this is the game for you:

Once you’ve done all your reading and chatting with folks on the game, weigh it against whatever mental checklist you’ve come up with for what you’re looking for in a game. If the game measures up, great. Stick around, give it a go and good luck. If it doesn’t, move on to the next game. Don’t feel the need to tell the folks on the first game that you’re leaving because you don’t like “X” about their game. You’re not staying, so chances are pretty good your complaint will be written off as sour grapes (especially if your message is a variation on the theme of “You guys suck.”).

Remember, there’s lots of games out there and one of them will be right for you.

Until next time, when hopefully a 3-day weekend won’t blind-side me like it did this time. (It’s a pretty scary feeling when you realize at 9pm that your article that’s due the next morning is still in outline format…).

Kathy

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