"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.

"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. For instance, Eternity's Trials is at etrials.tamarisk.ab.ca port 9000.  So you'd telnet to that address  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 204.209.44.11 port 9000. 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.

"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. Examples: TinTin, Zmud.

"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.

"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 life!" 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 an 'Immortal' or 'God'?"

Immortal (often, simply, 'imm'), refers to players who have reached the highest attainable levels in the game. Here, anyone of level 292 or higher is an 'immortal.' Immortals are capable of exceeding the usual game rules, in more drastic and pervasive ways as levels increase examples range from teleportation and invisibility to mortal sight to creation of objects, removal of a player's privileges (channels, ability to move, or even ability to log in), and ability to promote players to immortality.

Since immortals can wreak havoc with game balance, they are (ideally) a carefully-chosen and policed group. An absolute rule of immortal behavior is that no immortal can aid or assist any player without explicit permission from the higher ranks in other words, please don't ask an immortal to help you kill a mob, gather EQ, etc, or you'll likely be either politely or rudely refused, or referred to this file.

"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?

"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.

"Some people 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 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. Bots are also against the rules at nearly all MUDs and its advised you don't use one.

"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 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.