Waterfall Glen

From MCS IT Wiki

What is WaterfallGlen?

WaterfallGlen is MCS's MUD. A MUD is a text-based multi-user environment. (The abbreviation is from the historical games of similar format: Multi User Dungeons.) The main thing you'll do on this MUD is talk to other MCS related people.

The MUD is a programmable environment, and a very rough approximation of Argonne. There's a gate, a Visitors' Center, some buildings, the Interaction Room, and so on. We occasionally add features or build new things. It is also possible for you to create and add objects. Every character (also referred to as "player") is allowed to do MOO programming, but it is not enabled by default. If you're interested, email waterfall@mcs.anl.gov to enable your character for progamming. You can get a MOO programming manual here.

We emphasize the importance of the theme. We prefer that people not teleport or do weird non-reality things. If you are programming, you should make stuff that fits the theme. In other words, don't make spaceships; do make deer.

How do I get a character?

Just email waterfall@mcs.anl.gov and ask for one. If it's not obvious that you are connected to MCS, please include your reasons for wanting an account.

How do I get connected?

The MUD is a server process that runs on one of our machines: wfg.mcs.anl.gov. It listens on port 7777 (direct), 7779 (proxy) and 7780 (proxy w/ large scrollback). You could just telnet to this port, but this is unwieldy. The best way to connect is from a custom-built MUD client.

If you're connecting from a UNIX machine in MCS (and know Emacs), just bring up an Emacs window, and type "M-x mud". (Make sure that you include the line (load "mud") in your .emacs file before you do this.) This will give you an option of where to connect to; type WaterfallGlen. You'll see a login screen, at which point you type

         connect <your_character_name> <your_password>

If you don't want to use Emacs, there is a line-based client called TinyFugue installed on the MCS workstations. To use it, run

         tf wfg.mcs.anl.gov 7777 

at which point you can connect as above. There is a lot of online help for tf, as well as a man page.

If you're not connecting from a MCS machine, you should run a MUD client from wherever you are. If you have none, you may get some from ftp.ccs.neu.edu:/pub/mud/clients.

There are several clients there; we use mud.el and clpmud.el for our Emacs configs.

Windows users may be interested in tkmoo-light.

Mac OS X users should check out Atlantis. After downloading and installing the program, download this disk image and run the setup program to configure automatically for Waterfall Glen. Once it's running, click the triangle next to "Waterfall Glen" in the left-hand pane, and select "Your Name". Then fill in the "Character" (Your name), "Login as" (your MUD login name), and "Password" (your MUD password). Then click Connect. The setup file used here connects users to the 100kb proxy mentioned below.

What are these proxies?

If you connect to port 7777, your character will disconnect from the mud and go to its home when you exit your client. Some people prefer to save state and scrollback of events that occur in their absence. To achieve this, we run a couple of proxies that will keep your connection alive and keep some scrollback. The proxy at 7779 keeps a small amount of scrollback, the proxy at 7780 keeps 100 kilobytes of scrollback. In either case, when you reconnect, you'll get the scrollback that happened in your absence when you reconnect.

Is there a way to just autoconnect?

With the Emacs client and TinyFugue, it is possible to set things so that the client will send the connect command for you. In the entries below, change 7777 to 7779 or 7780 if you wish to use the proxies.

Emacs

Create a file in your home directory called .mud. A template is: (# denotes comments)

# Entry file FORMAT:
# server <server-name> <mud-type> <host-name> <port>
server WaterfallGlen MOO mud.mcs.anl.gov 7777
# default-server <server-name>
default-server WaterfallGlen
# default <character-name> <password> WaterfallGlen Bubba passwd

Save the file and run chmod 600 .mud so that others cannot read your password. To connect to the mud, type

C-u M-x mud

where C is the control key and M is the meta or ESC key. Then answer WaterfallGlen to the prompt. You should then be connected as your character.

TinyFugue

Create a file called .tfrc in your home directory. In it place the line

/addworld WaterfallGlen <your_name> <your_password> mud.mcs.anl.gov 7777       

Again, run chmod 600 .tfrc to make the file unreadable by others. You can then autoconnect with tf WaterfallGlen.

Remember: <your_passwrd> is your MUD password, NOT your Unix passwd. The two passwords should NOT be the same, because your MUD password is stored as clear text. If for some reason a cracker gets onto the system, having your Unix password in a file would be a really BAD idea.

I just got my WaterfallGlen account. What should I do?

First, read this FAQ; it is designed to answer most of your questions.

Now that you're reading this faq, the first, best thing to do is stop, get connected and type @tutorial. After that, come back to this.

After connecting to the MUD, you should probably use the parties command to find out where your group of people is gathered. You can then join them by typing

walk to room

or

join username

Is there a format behind the commands?

In the MUD, you act by typing MUD commands at your client's prompt. The syntax is roughly

verb direct_obj prep indirect_obj

where all but the verb may be optional. For example, these are commands:

• north
• look
• look at tree
• hand coffee to Rusty

There is help for many topics; just type

help command_name

or help by itself for a summary.

Non-virtual-reality commands are typically prefixed with an @ sign (as in @password or @gender).

How can I customize my character?

On many MUDs, especially game MUDs, people disguise who they are by pseudonyms. Since the MCS mud is closely tied to reality, we prefer that people use their real names. Nicknames are ok however, especially if your name is Bill or Karen or something else where there are multiples in the division.

Some initial customizations are:

Change your password. Remember, your MUD password is not your Unix password. The two passwords should NOT be the same, because your MUD password is stored as clear text. If for some reason a cracker gets onto the system, having your Unix password in a file would be a really Bad Thing.

   @password <old_passwd> <new_passwd>

Pick a gender.

   This picks the set of pronouns that will be used to refer to you in the text descriptions. To do this, type @gender then follow the instructions. 

Give yourself a description. Descriptions can be long, short, silly, accurate, whatever. Your description will be seen when someone looks at you.

   @describe me as <description>

Change your name. If your default character name isn't what you want, you can rename yourself by using the below command. The only restrictions are that the new name be unique and that it contain no spaces.

   @rename me to <some_new_name>

How do I navigate?

To go in any of the cardinal directions, type that direction or the first letter abbreviation: n, s, e, w, ne, nw, se, sw.

To go to a specific room, type walk to <room>.

If you get stuck, typing home instantly teleports you to your designated home room. Initially, this room is The Entrance to Building 221 (#157). You can change your designated home; see help @sethome for details.

How do I communicate?

These commands assume you are in the same room as the person(s) to whom the conversation is directed.

"<string>
say <string>

<name>, <text>

`<name> <text>

page <person> <string>

mu <person> <string>
whisper <string> to <person>

'<person> <string>

:<string>
emote <string>

::<string> 

+<person> <string>

++<person> <string>

think <string>
%<string>

poke <person>

wa <person>

idle <msg>

bl

How do I copy an object I have?

An easy way to do this is to create a child from the parent (assuming the parent is fertile) Type:

         @create <parent_obj> named <child_obj_name>

You will now be holding the copy of the original object. Type help @create in your MUD session for further information.

How do I give ownership of an object I created to another character?

If you have created an object and now wish to give ownership of that object to another character, you can use the @grant command. Change of ownership is a two-step process. First you offer the object to the recipient, then the recipient accepts the object. For more information, type help @grant in your MUD session.