From: st1v4@jane.uh.edu (Reed, David E.)
Subject: Re: [rec.games.mud]: FAQ #1/3: MUDs and MUDding
Followup-To: rec.games.mud.misc
Summary: basic info on muds
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Keywords: muds aber lp tiny muck mush moo uber unter diku smug muse
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 20:19:00 GMT

In article <faq_muds_716623203@math.okstate.edu>, jds@math.okstate.edu writes...
>Archive-name: mud-faq/part1
>Version: $Id: faq.muds,v 2.10 92/08/28 11:16:05 jds Exp $
> 
>FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:  Basic Information about MUDs and MUDding
> 
>This is part 1 in a 3 part series of FAQs.
> 
>Disclaimer: The authors and sources of this document are generally
>            biased towards TinyMUDs and their ilk, since we play
>            them more.  An attempt is being made to fairly cover
>            all available muds.
> 
>Welcome to the world of MUDding!
> 
> "What is a MUD?"
> 
>  A MUD (Multiple User Dimension, Multiple User Dungeon, or Multiple User
>  Dialogue) is a computer program which users can log into and explore.
>  Each user takes control of a computerized persona/avatar/incarnation/
>  character.  You can walk around, chat with other characters, explore
>  dangerous monster-infested areas, solve puzzles, and even create your
>  very own rooms, descriptions and items.  You can also get lost or confused
>  if you jump right in, so be sure to read this document before starting.
> 
>"Up there you said 'TinyMUD'...what does that mean?"
> 
>  You're pretty quick!  TinyMUD is one kind of MUD program.  There are very
>  many kinds of MUD programs out there -- probably as many as there are
>  computers that run them.  The Tiny- and Teeny- family of MUDs are usually
>  more 'social' in orientation; the players on those MUDs gather, chat,
>  meet friends, make jokes, and discuss things.  The LP- family of MUDs
>  are based on roleplaying adventure games.  In these, your character runs
>  around killing monsters, finding money, and making experience in the
>  quest to become a wizard.  DikuMUDs and AberMUDs are a bit like LPMUDs,
>  except that LPMUD wizards have access to a very powerful programming
>  language with which they can add more sections to the database.
>  There are still other programs, called MUCKs or MUSHes, that extend the 
>  TinyMUD programs by including a usable programming language. MOOs
>  have an object-oriented programming language, and are more 'social'
>  in nature.  UnterMUDs can connect to each other directly, and have both
>  a scripting language and a programming language.  BSXMUDs are LPMUDs
>  with simple graphics.  We suggest that you experiment around to see what
>  you find is the most interesting.  If there's one thing MUDdom has, 
>  it's variety.
> 
>"Great!  So where are MUDs located?"
> 
>  Watch the USENET newsgroup rec.games.mud.announce.  Every Friday a quite 
>  complete listing of MUDs is posted.  If you can't wait till Friday, you can
>  email mudlist@glia.biostr.washington.edu and ask for one, or they're
>  available for FTP from caisr2.caisr.cwru.edu(129.22.24.22) in /pub/mud. 
> 
>  MUDs are run on many fine computers across the world.  To play, all you
>  have to do is telnet to the MUD's Internet Protocol Port, and you're in
>  business.  Some MUDs have a policy called "registration" to cut down on
>  abuse of privileges; you might have to send mail to the God/Wizard of the MUD
>  in order to obtain a character.  It's important to note that MUDs are *not*
>  a right, and your access is granted out of trust.  People usually have to
>  pay to use processing time on the large, expensive computers which MUDs
>  often run on, and you're being given a special deal.  Which brings us to
>  another point: MUDs can't really be run on anything less than a largish
>  workstation (currently), so they're usually on academic or corporate
>  workhorse machines.
> 
>"But I paid money for my account!  MUDding is a right, isn't it?"
> 
>  Don't believe that for a second.  When you paid money to your school's
>  computer department for an account, you entered into a contract with
>  that department.  Most schools have a well written Computer Policy
>  document, that will detail exactly what you have rights to.  Most
>  schools classify MUD as a game, and games as non-essentials.  Therefore,
>  if your school decides to shut off all games, or disallow you to telnet
>  out to play muds, you're stuck.  Don't try to get around it; they'll
>  find you.  Instead, try to talk to the Powers That Be, and see why they
>  did what they did.  They may have very good reasons for it (such as
>  limited resource that really need to be dedicated to schoolwork). 
> 
>"What do I do to connect up to a MUD?"
> 
>  There are several ways to hook yourself up to a MUD's internet port.  First,
>  you can use 'telnet' once you find out the MUD's network address and port 
>  number.  If, for instance, we knew that ChupsMUD was at the network address
>  'pickle.cs.umsst.edu' at port 4201, we could type:
>       (on most UNIX systems)
>       telnet pickle.cs.umsst.edu 4201
>       (or, on some VMS systems)
>       telnet pickle.cs.ummst.edu/port=4201
>  and we'd be ready for action.  If we get back an error saying something like
>  "host unknown", we'd want to do the same thing, only using the machine's
>  internet number address, like this: telnet 127.0.0.1 4201.  If you're using
>  straight telnet on a VMS system, you might have to make sure that your
>  terminal has "newlines" turned on.  If it doesn't, the mud's output will get
>  spewed across the screen in a most ugly fashion.
>  Your second option is to scout out the many fine client programs which
>  exist for the sole purpose of providing a friendly and useful front end 
>  to MUDs. (See 'client', below.)
> 
>"What's a client program?"
>  
>  Telnet is a rather ugly way to connect to most muds, since it doesn't
>  do any fancy text wrapping, and if someone says something while you're
>  typing out a line, it will make a mess out of your line, making it 
>  hard to see what you're typing and hard to keep track of what's going
>  on in the mud.  A client program is simply another program you use instead
>  of telnet to connect to a mud.  Clients also provide useful things such
>  as macros and the ability to gag or highlight certain mud output.  Clients
>  are available for anonymous ftp from several sites.  See the Frequently
>  Asked Questions posting #2 for more information about clients.
> 
>"I'm connected!  Now what do I do?"
> 
>  Once you connect, find out what the deal is with respect to you getting
>  a character.  Some MUDs allow you to create your own, and others require
>  you to send off for one via email.  If you have to send off for one, send
>  one e-mail request and cool your heels.  MUDding will be around forever,
>  no need to rush it.  But let's say you've now gotten a character, and you're
>  connected up, and things are starting to get interesting.  At this point,
>  you should do what is probably least intuitive: type 'help', read the
>  instructions and directions, and understand them.  Then, type 'news',
>  read the information, and understand it.  Then (yes, we know, we know...
>  it'll be fun, soon!) practice using the commands given to you until
>  you think you've got a good enough grip to be able to start in on 
>  exploring, questing, socializing, or whatever else tunes your engine.
> 
>"Why not just dive in?"
> 
>  Some people are easily annoyed when other people clearly have no idea what
>  they are doing, even if they were recently in that position themselves.
>  It'll be much easier for you to cope without some fella saying things
>  you don't understand to you and possibly killing you.  *However*, many
>  MUD players are helpful, and asking them, "excuse me, are you busy?  I'm
>  a brand new player, and I have a question," will often work just fine.
> 
>"What should I use as a password for my mud character?"
> 
>  You should pick a password just as you do for any computer account.  Use a
>  word, or better yet, a phrase or anagram, that isn't obvious.  Don't, for
>  instance, use the same name as your character, or your own first name, or
>  your girl/boyfriend's name.  And never never use the same password as the
>  one on your computer account.  Most MUDs prevent people from getting the 
>  passwords from within the mud, and most encrypt the password when it's
>  store in the database files.  However, there is nothing preventing the
>  MUD's owner from modifying the code to dump the passwords to a file, along
>  with other information such as the host you connected from.  Using this
>  information, an evil MUD admin could probably figure out your login name
>  and get into your account easily.  It's also not a good idea to use the
>  same password on different MUDs, since if your password gets out on one
>  MUD, all your MUD characters have been compromised.  This is ESPECIALLY
>  important for MUD Wizards and Gods.  Use the auto-login feature of your
>  client, if it has one, and protect the file containing the login information
>  against reading by others.
> 
>  This story comes from Alec Muffett, author of Crack and maintainer of the
>  alt.security FAQ.
> 
>       aem@aberystwyth.ac.uk: The best story I have is of a student 
>       friend of mine (call him Bob) who spent his industrial year at
>       a major computer manufacturing company.  In his holidays, Bob
>       would come back to college and play AberMUD on my system.
> 
>       Part of Bob's job at the company involved systems management, 
>       and the company was very hot on security, so all the passwords
>       were random strings of letters, with no sensible order.  It was
>       imperative that the passwords were secure (this involved writing
>       the random passwords down and locking them in big, heavy duty safes).
> 
>       One day, on a whim, I fed the MUD persona file passwords into 
>       Crack as a dictionary (the passwords were stored plaintext) 
>       and then ran Crack on our systems password file.  A few student
>       accounts came up, but nothing special.  I told the students
>       concerned to change their passwords - that was the end of it.
> 
>       Being the lazy guy I am, I forgot to remove the passwords from
>       the Crack dictionary, and when I posted the next version to
>       USENET, the words went too.  It went to the comp.sources.misc
>       moderator, came back over USENET, and eventually wound up at
>       Bob's company.  Round trip: ~10,000 miles.
> 
>       Being a cool kinda student sysadmin dude, Bob ran the new version
>       of Crack when it arrived.  When it immediately churned out the
>       root password on his machine, he damn near fainted...
> 
>       The moral of this story is: never use the same password in two
>       different places, and especially on untrusted systems (like MUDs).
> 
>"What's the easiest way to annoy a veteran MUD user?"
> 
>  Demand something.  Whine.  Follow them around.  Page or tell them over 
>  and over after they've asked you to stop.  In the combat MUDs, steal 
>  from corpses of things they just killed.
> 
>"What's the easiest way to be a mean veteran MUD user?"
> 
>  Don't give help to the new players.  Kill them, ignore them, shout
>  "get a description" at them.  These are the best ways to kill off MUDding
>  in general, actually.
> 
>"What should I NOT DO in terms of player interaction?"
> 
>  You shouldn't do anything that you wouldn't do in real life, even if the
>  world is a fantasy world.  The important thing to remember is that it's
>  the fantasy world of possibly hundreds of people, and not just yours in
>  particular.  There's a human being on the other side of each and every
>  wire!  Always remember that you may meet these other people some day,
>  and they may break your nose.  People who treat others badly gradually
>  build up bad reputations and eventually receive the NO FUN Stamp of
>  Disapproval.  The jury is still out on whether MUDding is "just a game"
>  or "an extension of real life with gamelike qualities", but either way,
>  treat it with *care*.
> 
>"What is a 'Wizard' or 'God'?"
> 
>  Gods are the people who own the database.  In most MUDs, Wizards are
>  barely distinguishable from Gods - they're just barely one step down
>  from the God of the MUD.  An LPMUD Wizard is a player who has 'won'
>  the game, and is now able to create new sections of the game.  LPMUD
>  wizards are very powerful, but they don't have the right to do whatever
>  they want to you; they must still follow their own set of rules, or face
>  the wrath of the Gods.  Gods can do whatever they want to whomever they
>  want whenever they want.  
>  A more appropriate name for wizards would probably be 'Janitor', since 
>  they tend to have to put up with responsibilities and difficulties (for 
>  free) that nobody else would be expected to handle.  Remember, they're
>  human beings on the other side of the wire.  Respect them for their
>  generosity.
> 
>"Wait, is it a game, or an extension of real life with gamelike qualities?"
> 
>  It's up to you.  Some jaded cynics like to laugh at idealists who think
>  it's partially for real, but we personally think they're not playing it
>  right.  Certainly the hack-'n-slash stuff is only a game, but the social
>  aspects may well be less so.
> 
>"Hey, I've got an idea, I'll start my own MUD!"
> 
>  More power to you!  Of course, unless you're very good with C, willing
>  to spend a large portion of your life as a Wizard/God, and well versed
>  in the ways and commands of whatever MUD program you are trying to run,
>  you'll fail.  You'll also fail if you don't have a machine to run it on.
>  NOTE:  If you don't *explicitly own* the machine you're thinking about
>  right now, you had better get the permission of the machine owner before
>  you bring up a MUD on his computer.  MUDs are not extremely processing-
>  consumptive, but they do use up some computing power.  You wouldn't want
>  people plugging in their appliances into the outlets of your home without
>  your permission or knowledge, would you?
> 
>"OK.  What are these commands you're talking about?"
> 
>  Most MUDS have a core of commands which players use to move around and
>  interact with each other.  For instance, there are commands for interacting
>  with other players, like 'say' (or sometimes '"'), and other commands like
>  'look', 'go', etc.  In TinyMUD, there are commands like 'home' (which always
>  places you in your home -- remember that), ':' (pose -- try it), etc.,
>  which allow you to do stuff inside the database.  Commands prefixed by
>  a @ (generally) allow you to change the database!  Commands like @describe,
>  @create, @name, @dig and @link allow you to expand the universe, change it,
>  or even, perhaps, @destroy it, under certain conditions.  In LPMUDs, none of
>  those apply; in order to edit the universe, you have to attain Wizardhood or
>  be the God of the MUD.  Whatever the case, these building commands are
>  beyond the scope of this little sheet -- find the documentation for whatever
>  MUD you're playing with and consume it avidly.  Most MUDs have documentation
>  on-line, although better documentation can be gotten via ftp from other
>  sites.  Ask around, or try looking on ferkel.ucsb.edu (128.111.72.60).
> 
>"Alright!  I think I know what's going on now."
> 
>  Now is the time when you should be most careful.  Within reason,
>  don't be afraid to ask questions of other players.
> 
>"What's a clueless newbie?"
> 
>  A 'newbie' is someone who has only recently begun to participate in some
>  kind of activity.  When we're born, we're all life newbies until we get
>  experience under our belts (or diapers, whatever).  You're a clueless
>  newbie until you've got the hang of MUDding, basically.
> 
>"Who should I ask?"
> 
>  Wizards are usually helpful; if you know a wizard to be a wizard,
>  then you can usually ask them a question or two.  Make sure they're not
>  busy first.  Also, players who have been logged on for a long time 
>  (which you can check using the WHO command) are often helpful, as they
>  are usually the veterans who've seen it all before.  In combat MUDs,
>  asking relatively high level characters is usually the way to find 
>  things out.
> 
>"What if I'm completely confused and am casting about for a rope in a vast,
> churning wilderness of chaos and utter incomprehension?"
> 
>  Ask a friend to help you.  Don't post anything in any newsgroup.  Just
>  take it slow, one step at a time, smoothing over the things you don't
>  understand by reading manuals (i.e. 'man telnet'), asking local help,
>  or trying to find people who use MUDs who are at your site.
> 
>"What are all these newsgroups anyway?"
> 
>   There are several USENET newsgroups associated with MUDs.  The first (and
>   least used) is alt.mud.  When it got popular, the newsgroup rec.games.mud
>   was then created, and when it got too noisy and chaotic, a few new groups
>   were split off of the main one (rec.games.mud is no longer a "real"
>   newsgroup - all of its volume went to rec.games.mud.misc).  The current
>   newsgroups are:
>        rec.games.mud.admin     -  Postings pertaining to the administrative
>                                   side of MUDs.
>        rec.games.mud.announce  -  moderated group, where announcements of
>                                   MUDs opening, closing, moving, partying,
>                                   etc are posted.
>        rec.games.mud.diku      -  Postings pertaining to DikuMUDs.
>        rec.games.mud.lp        -  Postings pertaining to LPMUDs.
>        rec.games.mud.misc      -  Miscellaneous postings.
>        rec.games.mud.tiny      -  Postings pertaining to the Tiny* family
>                                   of MUDs.
>   If you feel you must post something to USENET, please do it in the
>   group where it best belongs - no posts about TinyMUSH in the Diku
>   group, no questions about an LPMUD in the Tiny group, etc.
> 
>"What's a dino/Islandia/TinyHELL/original TinyMUD?"
> 
>  A dino is someone that has been around for a very long time (cf. 'dinosaur').
>  These people tend to reminisce nostalgically about the other entries in
>  the question above -- dead or nonexistent MUDs which were especially fun
>  or interesting.
> 
>"Some people on TinyMUDs seem to delight in killing.  Why?"
> 
>  This is an unanswerable Frequently Asked Question.  Everyone's got their
>  own reasons for acting as they do.  If you don't like it, you can always
>  go somewhere else or sometimes kill them back. (See 'haven' below.)
>  Under no circumstances should you take being killed on a TinyMUD seriously.
>  On combat MUDs such as LPMUD, it's a whole 'nother ballgame.  Some combat
>  MUDs don't allow player killing; some encourage player-killing as a means
>  of self-policing.  Just play by the rules of the mud you're on.
> 
>"What is a haven?"
> 
>  On many TinyMUDs, there are several flags associated with each room.  The
>  HAVEN flag is probably the most famous one.  In rooms where the HAVEN flag is
>  set, no character may kill another.
> 
>"What is SPAM?"
> 
>  SPAMming, derived from a famous Monty Python sketch, is the flooding of
>  appropriate media with information (such as repeated very long 'say'
>  commands).  Since SPAMming is computationally expensive, it's frowned
>  upon.  SPAMming with intent to harm computer resources is very bad indeed.
> 
>"What is a bot?"
> 
>  A bot is a computer program which logs into a MUD and pretends to be a
>  human being.  Some of them, like Julia, are pretty clever -- legend has it
>  that Julia's fooled people into believing that she's human.   Others have
>  less functionality.  'Cyborgs' are computer-assisted humans or human-
>  assisted computers.
> 
>"What is Maving?"
> 
>  Mav is a famous TinyMUDder who sometimes accidentally left a colon on
>  the front of a whisper, thus directing private messages to the whole
>  room.  The meaning of the verb has changed to include making any 
>  say/whisper/page/pose typing confusion.
> 
>"What is a flame?"
> 
>  Flaming is when someone shouts at another person in a vain attempt to
>  convince them that whatever that other person said or believes in is
>  unconditionally wrong or stupid.  Avoid getting into flame wars, and
>  if flamed, laugh it off or ask someone else what you did wrong.
> 
>"What is TinySex?"
> 
>  TinySex is the act of performing MUD actions to imitate having sex
>  with another character, usually consentually, sometimes with one hand
>  on the keyboard, sometimes with two.  Basically, it's speed-writing
>  interactive erotica.  Realize that the other party is not obligated 
>  to be anything like he/she says, and in fact may be playing a joke
>  on you (see 'log', below).
> 
>"What is a log?"
> 
>  Certain client programs allow logs to be kept of the screen.  A time-
>  worn and somewhat unfriendly trick is to entice someone into having
>  TinySex with you, log the proceedings, and post them to rec.games.mud
>  and have a good laugh at the other person's expense.  Logs are useful
>  for recording interesting or useful information or conversations, as well.
> 
>"What is net lag?"
> 
>  The Internet (the network which connects your computer to mine) is made
>  up of thousands of interconnected networks.  Between your computer and
>  the computer which houses the MUD, there may be up to 30 gateways and
>  links connecting them over serial lines, high-speed modems, leased lines,
>  satellite uplinks, etc.  If one of these gateways or lines crashes, is
>  suddenly overloaded, or gets routing confused, you may notice a long
>  time of lag time between your imput and the MUD's reception of that
>  input.  Computers which are nearer to the computer running the MUD are
>  less susceptible to netlag.  Another source of lag is if the computer
>  which hosts the MUD is overloaded.  When netlag happens, it is best to
>  just patiently wait for it to pass.
> 
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  This posting has been generated as a public service.  If you have any
>  suggestions, questions, additions, comments or criticisms concerning this
>  posting, contact either Moira (jds@math.okstate.edu) or cthonics 
>  (fortony@sonne.cso.uiuc.edu).  Other Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 
>  postings contain information dealing with clients, servers, RWHO, and FTP 
>  sites.  While these items aren't necessary, they make the game much more
>  playable.  We'd also like to thank ashne and Satoria for their help in
>  writing this FAQ, and everyone else for helpful comments and suggestions. 
>  Thanks again to Alec Muffett (aem@aberystwyth.ac.uk) of alt.security.
>  The most recent versions of these FAQs are archived on ftp.math.okstate.edu
>  (139.78.10.6) in pub/muds/misc/mud-faq, plus on rtfm.mit.edu(18.172.1.27)
>  in the news.answers archives.  Have fun!  - Moira and cthonics
> 
>-- 
>Jennifer Smith
>jds@math.okstate.edu
>On MUDs: Moira, RosaLil, Jasra, etc.	      |   It's the terror of knowing
>Here, have a clue. Take two, they're small.   |    What this world is about
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.misc,rec.games.mud,rec.games.mud.lp