From: jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr)
Subject: MasqueMUCK is back!
Followup-To: rec.games.mud.tiny
Summary: 132.206.3.32 4201
Keywords: masque paws
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 03:23:42 GMT

MasqueMUCK has moved on to its third site, McGill University in Canada.  
This site is meta-stable, and hopefully we'll be able to run there for
quite some time.  The address is 132.206.3.32 4201.

MasqueMUCK came together in the summer of 1992, and went up for Run #1 at
New Mexico Tech in mid-September.  Run #1 was a general Masqued Ball, with
unmasking at midnight for forty or so participants, most of whom came from
FurryMUCK and TimeTraveller.  We lost the New Mexico site thereafter when
our inside contact moved on.

MasqueMUCK Run #2 was held at North Carolina State on Friday, October 30,
1992.  Run #2 was Halloween-themed, included nearly eighty participants
from FurryMUCK, HoloMUCK, NewDay, Space Madness, DruidMUCK, TinyTIM,
Pegasus, etc. etc.  Added to the program were costume contests,
ghost-tagging, and wandering robots.

der Mouse offered us the McGill site thereafter and we are now up and
running there.  As always, guest logins are permitted, using password
"guest".  No characters left over from Run #2 have been deleted; rather,
they have been moved to a storage room above the Reception Center.  If you
would just as soon we recycle your character, send mail to
masque@hobbes.cs.mcgill.ca saying so.

Run #3 has not been scheduled.  I seek public comment on the following points:	
	* when should it be held?  The earliest possible date is Friday, 
	  November 20.  In other words, if we are to have a November run
 	  it will almost certainly conflict with Thanksgiving vacation for
	  some people.  Would you be able to come then?  Do you know of others
	  who could also come?  	
	* what should the theme be?  Anything in particular, or just more 
 	  generic ballroom dancing?
	* should we schedule one date for FurryMUCK players and one date for
	  DruidMUCK players and so forth?  This would reduce the mutual
	  unfamiliarity factor during unmasking.  If you represent a sizeable
  	  group of players who would like a closed run, please say so.
	* time of run: would a 3 pm EST startup time, with unmasking
	  scheduled for 6 or 7 pm EST, work for you?  We got little comment
	  from European and Australian users about running a Run timed by
	  their clocks, but this is still an option to consider.

Please reply here, to rec.games.mud.tiny.  That way, your comments and
suggestions will be fodder for further discussions.

Also, we seek programs written in Fuzzball 4.1  (MasqueMUCK runs TinyMUCK
2.2fb4.1.)  for the following purposes:
   	* automated masking and unmasking, to aid creation of character
	  following initial login and to speed the public unmasking cere-
	  mony.
	* sign-in, to provide a place for all participants to register their
	  masqued name, unmasqued name, and email address.  This would need
 	  to allow for error-correction and would generate a database usable
	  only by the wizards.  It would enable us to keep better records of
	  who participated in each run and to contact them after the run was
	  over.
	* Mapping and directions.  If it is possible to create a MUF program
	  that could explore and give directions in a fashion similar to
	  Fuzzy's Maas-Neotek bots, without the quoting and character logging,
	  please let us know.  

Please, do let us know what thoughts you have on future runs, future
themes, and the idea of opening MasqueMUCK only to specific groups.  Post
to rec.games.mud.tiny.
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.announce