Help for New FurryMUCKers

The MUF Guild/Helpstaff General Help File

 Last Updated: 8/12/93

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OVERVIEW

 The MUF Guild and Helpstaff consist of a group of MUF programmers and other players who have expressed interest in helping out new MUCKers who have problems concerning setting up, building, programming, using existing programs, or MUCKing in general. As one step to accomplish this goal, the following is a list of information meant to help newcomers to the MUCK get situated with their new characters.

Suggestions are welcome on how this file can be clarified, expanded or otherwise altered to better serve newcomers. Please send email to Greywolf at: peacoct6503@iscsvax.uni.edu.

In the following sections, the following conventions will be used: A line starting with > indicates something which you are to type. Pay attention to whether the text is in upper or lower case. Items in italics indicate either comments or else something that is to be substituted -- Don't type in the word in italics itself. For example, if you are told to: 

>connect yourcharactername yourpassword
And if, say, your character name is "Joe_Schmoe" and your password is "friday", you would actually type: 
connect Joe_Schmoe friday
Note: passwords are caps-sensitive. If your password is "friday", the server will reject if you type in "Friday". Various characters are acceptable to use in your password, including numbers, punctuation, and so forth.

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WHAT IS A MUCK?

 A MUCK is a variation on what is known as a "MUD" -- a Multi-User Database. MUDs are run like huge text adventure games (along the lines of Infocom's ZORK series or the old Scott Adams adventures) that are capable of running in realtime and of handling a multitude (sometimes hundreds) of players at one time. In many of these games, you are given a character, with which you can explore the MUD environment, fight monsters, get treasure, buy better equipment, and so forth.

MUCKs are a variation on this, in that the phenomenon of being able to have several players online at once, interacting in realtime, can be valuable for social purposes. MUCKs essentially drop the gaming environment in favor of open "roleplaying" and social interaction between "players". FurryMUCK is a particular MUCK that has been set up to cater towards members of "furry fandom" -- i.e. people who happen to enjoy cartoons, comics, etc. that feature "anthropomorphized animals". (Examples of popular "furry" or "morph" characters might include Bugs Bunny, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Usagi Yojimbo ... essentially animal characters that, in one way or another, have human attributes.)

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HOW TO GET ON FURRYMUCK

 If you have telnet access, you can connect with the FurryMUCK site by typing: 
>telnet 138.74.0.10 8888
On some VMS systems, you may have to type: 
>telnet 138.74.0.10 /port=8888
or some variation thereof.

Note -- At this writing, this is a recent change of address.

Once you are connected, you should see the "title screen", and you will be asked to enter your character name and password. Since you do not yet have a character, you would type: 

>connect guest guest
This allows you to use the "guest" character so you can get a chance to explore a bit.

One problem about telnetting is that, since this is in realtime, what you are typing on the screen may apparently be "interrupted" by incoming data from the MUCK. This can be rather distracting and frustrating. What you will need (to preserve sanity) is a client program. For more information on how to go about acquiring one, see the section on "Getting a Client Program".

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GETTING AROUND

 As the Guest, your use of commands is rather limited, but you still have the use of some rather important commands that will allow you to communicate with other online players. An important note is that the MUCK is case-sensitive, so it *does* matter whether or not you capitalize. First off, in order to see what other characters are currently online, type: 
>WHO     Note -- all caps
Also, there are certain "players" online known as "wizards". These are essentially the "dungeon-masters" for FurryMUCK, and are capable of getting you a new character. In order to see what wizards are online, type: 
>wizzes
In order to contact someone who is online, you may use the "page" command. For example, if you happen to spot the character Greywolf on the WHO list, you could greet him by typing: 
>page Greywolf=Hi there!
If you saw that Riss (a wizard) was online on the wizzes list, you could contact him about getting a new character by typing something like: 
>page Riss=Hi there!  I'm new here, and would like to get a character.  What do
   I do next?
You may also try to get one of the wizzes to transport the Guest out of the "Guest Room", so you can roam around a bit. Although you are restricted from performing some commands, the following are some basic commands to help you get started:
>help
One of the most important commands. Type "help" for some basic help on commands and such.
>look object
Allows you to get the description of a room, character, object or exit. Typing "look" alone will give you the description of the room that you are in. "here" always means the room that you are in, and "me" is your character.
>examine object
Gives you technical information on a character or object, if you are the owner of that item. If not, it will tell you who owns that item. For example, you could type 
>ex me
This would allow you to examine yourself, and show you various statistics about your character's setup. direction
Most of the compass directions (north, south, east, west, northeast, etc.) or their abbreviations (n, s, e, w, ne, etc.) can be used, as well as up or down (u or d, respectively) to move around. In some areas, other exit names may apply (such as in, enter, out, exit, leave). If you are in a room with a "stepdisc", it is usually possible to take a "shortcut" down a street by typing nn, ss, ee or ww. Also, sometimes the name of an exit leading somewhere may be somewhat special -- For example, to get into the taxi from West Corner of the Park, you type "taxi". Inside the taxi, there is a sign showing possible destinations, and you type in the name of a destination (such as "library") to get there.
>get object
Allows you to pick up an object.
>drop object
Allows you to drop an object.
>inventory
Shows your list of possessions. Abbreviation: "inv"
>smell item
Yes, you can try *smelling* something (or someone) to see if there's any scent!
>say text
Allows you to speak. For example, if you are Joe_Schmoe, and you type: 
>say Hi there!
Everyone in the room will see: 
Joe_Schmoe says, "Hi there!"
You can abbreviate with the " character. Example: 
"Hi there!
>pose text
Everyone else will see your character's name followed by text For example, if Joe_Schmoe types: 
pose waves.
Everyone in the room will see: 
Joe_Schmoe waves.
This can be abbreviated with the : character.
>hug character
An amusing "global" command.
>whisper character=text
Allows you to send a message to another character in the same room, without others hearing.
>page #mail character=text
This may not be done when using the Guest character, but it allows you to leave "mail" for another character. In order to check your own mail, simply type "page #mail" alone.
>hand item to character
Allows you to "hand" an item to another player.
>home
A last resort if you are lost. Typing this will send you to your "home", and all items in your possession back to their prospective "homes". If you are the Guest, this will send you back to the Guest Room.
>read
If you are in a room with a "bulletin board" (such as West Corner of the Park), typing this command will show a listing of all the postings currently on the bulletin board in the room. To read a particular entry, type: 
>read entry#
To see a listing of all the new entries, type: 
>read new
>whospe
Shows a listing of all the characters in the room, whether they are "awake" or not, and what gender and species applies to them. May be abbreviated "ws".
>staff
Lists any online members of the FurryMUCK Help Staff. These people have expressed their interest in helping out newcomers to the MUCK, so if you are stumped, you might try paging one of these people.
>map
In certain areas of FurryMUCK, typing 'map' will call up an ASCII graphics display of your location marked by an 'X' on the map.

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ETIQUETTE

 An important thing to keep in mind is etiquette when dealing with others. The following are some suggested tips for avoiding getting on bad terms with other players.

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GETTING STARTED

 Once you get your own character, there are a number of things that should be set in order to get you started. There are several special commands preceded by a "@" that can be used to customize your character (and, later, your "home".) The following are a number of commands to type in to get you started. 
>@set me=!k
This turns off the "k" or "kill_ok" flag so that you can't be "killed". 
>@set me=j
Sets you "jump_ok", allowing you to utilize certain programs that require this bit to be set. 
>hand #ok
This is required in order for players to be able to hand objects to you. 
>@desc me=description
This sets the description that others will see if they look at you. For instructions on more detailed descriptions, see the section on "The @6800 Program". 
>@set me=gender:gender
Either set yourself "male", "female" or "neuter". 
>@set me=sex:gender
Identical, but some programs will check for your 'sex' property rather than 'gender', so both should be set. 
>@set me=species:your species
For use with the whospe command. i.e. you might be a cat, wolf, dog, ferret, dragon... It's merely informative. 
>@set me=_scent:text
This allows you to set your "scent" in case others smell you. Objects and even rooms may have scents as well. 
>@lock me=me
This prevents others from "robbing" pennies from you.

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GETTING A HOME

 An important thing to do once you have your character set up is to get a home. >From West Corner of the Park, you can head west and then south to get to the Dancing Unicorn Inn, then west again. In order to set your "home" to this location, type: 
>@link me=here
In the future, if you manage to get a new home (most likely you will need to recruit the help of someone who already has some "property" that he/she/it would be willing to let you build off of), you can reset your home by entering that room and typing the same command.

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@6800 PROGRAM

 When describing your character, you may want to break up the description into smaller pieces, rather than typing it all at once. With the @6800 program, you can do that, making changes rather simple. In order to get more help on the @6800 program, type the following: 
>@view $desc
If you are using a client program, I would recommend turning on your log or capture file, as the instructions are rather lengthy. I have a file (Gen-Desc Help File) which lists some of the older and more basic features of Gen-Desc.

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RECYCLING

 One important note about construction on the MUCK is that space is rather limited. Although creating new objects and rooms is fun, please try to be efficient. It's rather common for newcomers to use the @create command to create a whole wardrobe of each piece of clothing they might care to wear, a button for every occasion, and a ton of accessories ... but this is very wasteful of db space. You can always put these "items" in your description. Objects, rooms, exits, etc. that you no longer need should be @recycled in order to free up space for others to use and to reduce database bloat. The command is used in the format of: 
>@recycle object
If you want to recycle a room, you must be in that room and type "@recycle here". Your character will be sent home after recycling the room. Don't worry, You can't recycle yourself.

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GETTING A CLIENT PROGRAM

 A file is also available (written by Mishael) detailing how to get "DINK" for VAX/VMS or another client program for UNIX. Client programs may be found via ftp at ftp.tcp.com in the /pub/mud/Clients directory.

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PLACES TO VISIT ON FURRYMUCK

 West Corner of the Park may be considered pretty much the "central" location, and directions are usually given with that location as a starting point. The following are some places that you may want to visit, which may help you get started:
Town Hall
From WCotP, go s, s, s, w. This area includes a "walk-through tutorial" which demonstrates some of the basics of building on the MUCK.
Bank
From WCotP, go s, s, s, s, w. Here, you can get more pennies (up to 500 per day) by typing: 
>withdrawal amount
Library
From WCotP, go w, s, e. This building has several "bulletin boards" set up in it, devoted to storing information of interest to MUCKers. In the main lobby is a board for the "MUF Guild", listing a few MUF programmers who may be able to help with programming problems. To the east is the Tugrik Wing, which houses information on programs. More programs are detailed downstairs. Downstairs from the main lobby is the "Gallery Addition", which contains some information on FurryMUCK-related gifs (digitized pictures) available at the Avatar (avatar.snc.edu) site.
Visitors' Center
From WCotP, go around (or "behind"). This area "behind the bulletin board" has several postings containing much of the basic information already contained here, plus it also contains more up-to-date information on other matters.
In both the Library and Visitors' Center is the "Help Bell", which can be rung if you are really in need of help. Any members of the "Help Staff" which are online will hear the bell and (hopefully) will drop by to see what you need.

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SETTING INFORMATION ON YOURSELF

 There are a few programs which are used to give further information about your character, and which you may want to set up.
Pinfo
For help, type "pinfo #help". The purpose of this program is so that you can store information about your character and/or player, such as address, email address, your "character profile", your personal interests, etc., for anyone who cares to look. Of course, if you don't want to set this information, you don't have to.
Whatis
For help, type "whatis #help". This program allows you to set a few "flags" on yourself to give someone using the "whatis" command a quick idea of what your character is.

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BEGINNERS' GLOSSARY

 The following are a few terms that should probably be defined for beginners, expanded as people ask about them:
dbref (or "db#")
This is the "Database Reference" number for an item. All items on the MUCK, whether they be players, rooms, exits/actions, things, or programs, are assigned a number. Any number refers to a specific item (whatever type it may be) in the database. Each item in the database is stored in much the same way regardless of type. Therefore, every item in the database has a location and is linked to something, but it means different things for different items. An exit's location means where it "opens up". An exit's link means where it leads to. An object's or player's location is where you can find it. Its link is its "home". A room's location is its "environment". A room's "link", if even set, is a spot where dropped objects go to (also known as a dropto). For this reason, commands such as @link may be used for different purposes based upon the context.