MUSH Guide Part Two

Chapter 1: Dream of Butterfly - How to connect and log on to Velvet Room MUSH.

Chapter 2: Change Your Way - Wherein basic mechanics of communication are described. You are here!

Chapter 3: Want To Be Close - How to be a good guest, what to expect for the application process, and how to construct a well-rounded character.

Chapter 4: TBA

Chapter 2: Change Your Way

Welcome to Chapter 2! If you're looking at /this/, you should be in the following situation:

1: You should have a client running and connected to Velvet Room MUSH.

2: You should have just typed 'connect guest guest', and a bunch of text should have just scrolled at you.

If this doesn't describe your situation, please go back to Chapter 1: Dream of Butterfly now, or nothing after this will make sense. If you already know what you're doing and would like to skip ahead to that character application business, head over to Part Three.

The Log-in Screen

Alright, what you just saw was a metric boatload of text. Let's run down what we just saw, and whether or not you need to know anything about it:

 Welcome to Velvet Room MUSH!
 https://www.velvetroom.wiki/index.php/Main_Page 

 Guests, you can check out our wiki at https://www.velvetroom.wiki/index.php/Main_Page !
 Feel free to chat with '+g <your text>' or inquire in the lobby!

At the very top, you'll see a link to the wiki, and a message that you can use the command +g to chat on the Guest Channel. We'll go over that further down this tutorial.

 MAIL: You have no mail.

You'll see a message on whether you have any mail. Don't worry about this for now, as getting your character bit is handled through email, not on the MUSH itself. Once you get a player account, it's mainly just a way to message other players on the MUSH. While there's things like Discord and the like nowadays, it's still useful for getting hold of someone.

 <Guest> Coins I Guest has connected.

Next will be "<Guests> (Guest Name) has connected." That's you automatically being added to the guest channel, which we'll also go over!

You'll see a description of the OOC room you're in (not included here since we'll be going over that later).

 GAME: You can rename your guest bit! Using +guest/rename <Word> will give you a temporary Guest name!

This is to tell you how to rename yourself temporarily, though it'll reset each time you log out.

 ---------------- Unread Postings on the Global Bulletin Board ----------------       
 Character Announcements (#9): 2 unread (32, 33)  
 --------------------------- BBS at 1.6\% capacity ----------------------------

Finally, you'll see a list of unread messages on the Global Bulletin Board. Since you're on a guest bit, it'll just list whatever the person before you hadn't read.

The OOC Lounge

Welcome to the OOC (Out Of Character) lounge area! Here, it's called 'Historia: The White Chronicle'. No actual IC (In Character) content will be featured in here; it's just a place for people to hang out and chat.

Let's look at a sample of what the 'OOC Lounge' looks like.

(|====================== Historia: The White Chronicle =======================|)
-============================================== OOC Zone/Lobby And Friends ====-
A massive set of double doors loom in a cloudy space at the top of a long set of
stairs. Many other stairs float unattached around it, along with many columns   
and pillars. Cast in shades of white and blue, a platform rests in the shadow of
those doors, flanked by a pair of elfin children in black and white on two of   
the shorter pillars. This is the moment where history branches in two.          
                                                                                
Welcome to the MUSH's OOC lounge! Feel free to chat with your fellow players in 
between scenes.                                                                 
-==== Players =================================================================-
  Coins I Guest [0]                     Coins II Guest [0]                     
  Naganaki Shrine [XIII]                Junes [XVI]                            
  Penguin Sniper [VIII]                 Coins III Guest [0]                                                                                                                           
-=================================== Exits ====================================-
  <C> Combat to Hope Hospital                                                   
  <M> Meeting to Schwartzwelt Joint Project                                     
  <Q> Quiet to The Rooster Inn                                                  
(|============================================================================|)

This is a list of the people currently in the room. If you type look Minato, you'll see what the character's description, if it's set. Same goes for items, should you encounter any!

The letters next to rooms are shortcuts you can type to go to those rooms. For example, typing q will take you to the Quiet Room, which is a nice place to go to if there's too much spam in the OOC Lounge.

Communication

Renaming

Remember seeing that message on how to change your name? Let's try that now. Type:

 +guest/rename <Word>

I'm going with Silver for me. When I enter the command in, I'll see something like this:

 GAME: You change your name to Silver Guest. 

See the 'guest' bit on the end? That won't go away until you get your character. That way, it's easier for people to pinpoint and help anyone who may be new.

Guest Channel

Now, remember that description of the room earlier? That's the room you're in, as well as the players that are in it. MUSHes and similar formats use rooms to separate spaces, as well as provide a backdrop for scenes. Right now, as a guest, you are in a room that is a OOC hangout. No roleplay will occur here, aside from jokes and the like. Think of it as the backstage to a theater.

Next, one of the things you should have seen looks like this, right?

<Guests> Coins I Guest has connected.

<Guests> is a 'channel'. Channels are used to communicate over the MUSH, no matter where you are. You, being the guest, have automatically been added to the guest channel. Depending on when you connected, people may be greeting you or keeping quiet. To reply, consider one of the following:

+g Hello!
+g :waves hello!
+g;'s connection is being a drag!

The difference between a colon (:) and a semicolon (;) is that a colon inserts a space before what you type, while the semicolon doesn't. Without the colon, the top line looks like this:

<Guests> Coins I Guest says, "Hello!"

And with the colon, the second line looks like this:

<Guests> Coins I Guest waves hello!

With the semicolon, the third line will look like this:

<Guests> Coins I Guest's connection is being a drag!

Talking and Posing

Along the same lines, people in the room you are in (that is, the OOC lounge) will likely be interested in interacting with you as well, and thankfully, doing so is even easier! Consider one of the following:

say Hello!
:waves hello!
;'s connection is being a drag!

This does precisely the same thing as the previous commands, but only displays it to people in the same 'room' as you, that being, in this case, the OOC lounge.

By the way, if you're interested, type 'who' to see who is connected to the MUSH as a whole.

I Need Your +Help!

You may have typed in an incorrect command somewhere along the line, and received a message that says:

Huh? (Type "help" for help.)

This default message means the MUSH did not understand what you just typed in. However, the default help menus are coded primarily to teach the PennMUSH coding language, so they're not really there to help someone new to MUSHing. Instead, for a useful list of notes, type +help. This will give you a menu of commands you can look at, if they've been written up. If there's not a +help file for it, you can try +help <command>, as, sometimes, it can give you something useful.

If everything else fails, there's nothing wrong with asking on the OOC lounge, or on the +guest channel. Many who have MUSHed for years sometimes have to ask things constantly, like the person writing this specific part.

Paging

During the course of your guesthood, you may want privately message someone. For this, try the following command with our completely randomly picked person, Minato Arisato:

page Minato=Hello! or page minato=:waves hello!

Just like say, pose, and the channel commands, this will alternate between:

You page Minato Arisato with 'Hello!'''

From afar, Silver Guest waves hello!

Keep in mind, this can only be seen by the person you paged.

If you want to get fancy with it, if you are solely paging one person at a time, you don't have to indicate their name each time. For instance:

page minato=Hey!

page What's up?

page :just got back.

This will continue to send to Minato until you specify another person.

A word of advice, though: *the MUSH recalls who you last paged on a character-basis*. This means that if you disconnect, and reconnect, it is highly suggested you specify a target on your first page, or you might accidentally be talking to the wrong person!

Receiving Pages

Now, when you get incoming pages, for instance:

Minato Arisato (Minato) pages: Hey!

You'll notice the word (Minato) in brackets. This is an 'alias', which effectively just means you can type 'page Minato' instead of 'page Minato Arisato', which is just a pain in the neck. Most people on the MUSH--including you, incidentally, right now--have aliases set for easier paging.

Global Bulletin Board

 ---------------- Unread Postings on the Global Bulletin Board ----------------
 Announcements (#2): 1 unread (3) 
 --------------------------- BBS at 13.3% capacity ---------------------------

What you just saw there is an example of what the Global Bulletin Board, or 'bboard' of the MUSH, might look like when you connect. Despite being a guest, the MUSH will show you anything that'd been unread since the last guest had your spot, so the level of spam this'll show will vary.

In this case, this is showing that the Announcements board, which is board #2, has 1 unread message, which is message 3.

Typing +bbread 2 will give you something like...

==============================================================================
                                **** Announcements ****                               
          Message                            Posted        By
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  2/1     Go to bed.                         Thu Sep 15    Morgana
  2/2     No more bear puns!!                Thu Jul 10    Teddie
  2/3     Please Give Me Bellyrubs           Thu Jul 13    Koromaru
  2/4     I am not a mascot character, pleas Thu Jun 29    Katsuya Suou      
  ==============================================================================

Typing +bbread 2/3 will get you the first post of the first forum, which in this case is...

 =============================== Announcements ================================
 Message: 2/3                       Posted        Author
 Please Give Me Bellyrubs           Sat Oct 24    Koromaru
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 I am dog. Please give me bellyrubs. I am a good boy.
 ==============================================================================

Similarly, you can use +bbread 1/1 to read the first post of the first forum, or +bbread 2/2 to read the second post of the second forum, or any combination of boards.

Though, really, there's an easier way to all do all of this:+bbnext. Just keep hitting that in, and it will automatically go to the next unread message in all the boards you have access to.

However, your next question may be "But... will I have to do that when I get a character just to get that wad of text to go away?!" For this, you have +bbcatchup all. This will get rid of all the message notifications.

So, why deal with the message board at all? The message board is an important resource for tip-offs that a future scene will occur, what time it will occur, and so on. It also has IC (In Character) news, IC rumors, OOC observations, and tons of wonderful hijinks. It's a valuable resource. So, when you get your character, read it. Make use of it. Love it.

Guest Behavior

While we're all pretty easy-going here, we want to make sure guests feel the same way. Many of these suggestions come from past experience. Feel free to add any tips you may have here!

• Again, you can use the guest channel for all guest-related things. Just type +guest or +g to speak on the channel. The OOC lounge gets loaded with spam, so it's easy to lose questions. The guest channel has a handy color to it, making it easier for people who are on it to see your question. Don't worry about bothering people on it, since that channel is there for you to use!

• Even if the +guest channel is quiet when you log in, it doesn't mean no one's on it. Feel free to let people know if you need help!

• If the OOC lounge spam is too much, type 'q' to go to the Quiet Room. The room should be rigged up so that no one (including you) can speak there, so it's a useful tool if you need to concentrate, but want to be open to pages from other people or chatter on channels.

• No matter how silly or small you think it is, ask questions! This is a good idea no matter who you're applying for, or when you have your character.

• If you're applying for an FC (Feature Character), staff can see if anyone from your cast, or if anyone was familiar with previous takes on the FC. If you're applying for an OC (Original Character) but need help figuring out certain details, use the guest channel if people can help you get a sense of what's going on.

• If you do something wrong and someone corrects you, it's okay! Some things you won't know about unless you're told and we all make mistakes, no matter how long we've been roleplaying.

• Feel free to hang out in the OOC lounge! Catch up on board posts so you'll be partly caught up on anything available to guests. Just use +bbcatchup <board numbers you've read> when you get your character. Observe the zoo that is the OOC lounge. It's all good.

Anyway, to move on to this weird thing called character application process, proceed to Chapter 3, when it comes out!