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FAQ: [lpmud] rec.games.mud.lp and LPMuds |
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Archive-name: games/mud-faq/lp
Last modified: 98/10/01
Version: 2.99
Posting-frequency: bi-weekly
LPMud FAQ
Last Modified 98/09/15
The LPMud FAQ was originally authored 7 November 1994 by George Reese.
It could not, however, have been completed on the efforts of a single
person. See the credits section for a full list of contributors. To
make comments or suggestions on this FAQ, mail borg@imaginary.com.
Copyright (c) 1994-1998 George Reese.
_________________________________________________________________
This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions asked about LPMuds and
the newsgroup devoted to them, rec.games.mud.lp. This FAQ is posted
twice a month to rec.games.mud.lp, rec.games.mud.announce,
news.answers, and rec.answers. All readers are strongly advised to
read this FAQ before posting questions to the LPMud news group, as
your question may already be answered in here.
This FAQ is not intended to be a substitute for the general 3 part mud
FAQ's. I strongly recommend people new to muds read those first. This
FAQ deals with a particular class of muds known as LPMuds, and
therefore does not even attempt to cover information important to
other classes of muds.
_________________________________________________________________
The LPMud FAQ is divided into four sections:
* Section I: Introduction
* Section II: Playing LPMuds
* Section III: Coding on an LPMud
* Section IV: Starting Your Own LPMud
_________________________________________________________________
Section I
Introduction
Contents
1. What sort of posts belong in rec.games.mud.lp?
2. I disagree with something in the FAQ. How do I get the FAQ
changed?
3. What is an LPMud?
4. Isn't Amylaar an LPMud?
5. Which is the real LPMud?
6. How did LPMuds get started?
7. What is the difference between LPMud and Dikus?
8. What do the terms "alpha testing", "beta testing", and "fully
open" mean?
9. Where are some ftp sites with LPMud stuff?
10. Is there anything about muds on WWW?
11. What are some mud related mailing lists?
_________________________________________________________________
What sort of posts belong in rec.games.mud.lp?
From the rec.games.mud.lp charter of 23 October 1991:
_"The charter of this newsgroup is to discuss topics related to the
LPMUD variant of MUD. LPMUD is a particular "brand" of MUD that was
written by Lars Penji and has gained some populatity among MUD players
in general, Discussions here should be confined to the following
topics. Briefly, LPMUD uses a "parser" to interpret a 'C' like
language (called LPC) which defines the actual game being played. Thus
the various topics of discussion break down like so:
* Player and 'Wizard' issues
* Ongoing LPMUD campaigns
* Parser programming issues and bug fixes
* LPC (LP 'C" code) programming
* LPC source code posting
* LPMUD administrativia and announcements
Topics of discussion which should NOT include this newsgroup are:
* "LPMUD is (better,worse) than..." flames
* Non-LPMUD campaigns
* Non-LPMUD issues or programming"
_Specifically, rec.games.mud.lp supports _almost_ anything dealing
with LPMuds. The primary rule is that the topic of your posts must
someway affect the LPMud community. We do not care about Dikus and
MOOs and so on. They may be very nice servers, but if we wanted to be
reading about them, we would be reading rec.games.mud.diku and so on.
Beyond that, the charter is a little unclear and out of date. What
sort of LPMud related posts belong in the newsgroup generally falls
into anything of general interest to the LPMud community in general or
one-time administrative announcements for specific muds. This would
include announcements of downtime, but exclude queries into why a
particular mud is down.
In particular, the following questions are definitely _not_ welcome in
rec.games.mud.lp:
* FascistMUD's admins are such jerks!!! They ...
Why would you post this? I guarantee you will accomplish
nothing by this. First of all, ALL mud admins have bad days
where they may do something very unfair. It is the nature of
things. So you may be the unfortunate victim of a rare set of
circumstances rather than of a mean admin. Secondly, even if
the mud admin is a jerk, no one on this newsgroup cares. People
will play such muds either because the admin is damn good at
creating a game or because the players are other jerks who like
the atmosphere of lawlessness. Players like you may login from
time to time, but eventually they will figure it out.
* Do not post mudsex sessions
An individual's sexual activities are not matters for public
derision. How people choose to express themselves sexually is a
private issue as long as only consenting adults are involved.
* Where is CheeseMUD? I have not been able to connect all day!
If it is going to be down a long time, the admins should post
to rec.games.mud.announce. Otherwise, it is either a short
connection loss or it is just your problem. _Do not post these
questions here or anywhere!!!_
* Advertisements for muds
These belong in the newsgroup rec.games.mud.announce.
In the event someone does post improperly to the newsgroup, readers
should quietly inform the poster of the misstep via email. In the
past, violations of the Charter or FAQ have erupted in
counter-productive flame wars. By emailing the offender, you
accomplish both the tasks of informing the person and of keeping the
newsgroup free of pointless arguments.
_________________________________________________________________
I disagree with something in the FAQ. How do I get the FAQ changed?
You should email the maintainer of the FAQ. Change requests fall into
three different categories. I handle the requests differently based on
the category into which a given request falls. The three categories
are:
1. Matters of fact
2. Matters of opinion
3. Matters of consensus
The first kind of issue are matters of fact--i.e. the status of mud
software, the email address of a mailing list, etc.--then I will
simply add that to the FAQ. If you are not directly responsible for
the issue in question, I might request an email from the person who
is.
Matters of opinion will likely not replace existing passages, but
instead appear alongside them. For example, the FAQ might state that
capturing player emails is a good idea. Someone who disagreed strongly
and presented an argument could email that argument to me. Since this
is a matter of opinion, the new opinion would be added as an opposing
opinion. In other words, it would not replace the existing clause.
Certain issues, such as the interpretation of the Charter, are neither
matters of fact nor matters of opinion--they are matters of consensus.
These are parts of the FAQ for which only one point of view can be
right, yet a certain minority of people may nevertheless disagree
with.
The FAQ has been around for a long time and represents the consensus
of the newsgroup. Consensus does sometimes change, and the FAQ needs
to be able to adjust with changes in consensus. For matters of
consensus, I will ask anyone making a request to provide evidence that
the consensus of the group has changed. Because the FAQ is established
as the consensus of the newsgroup, the burden of proof is entirely on
the requester. The nature of that proof is naturally dependent on the
issue at hand.
_________________________________________________________________
What is an LPMud?
An LPMud is one of many classes of muds, or multi-user domains. A
multi-user domain is defined solely with respect to its ability to
allow multiple real individuals to come together in some sort of
environment. Although the most common environment is a gaming
environment, muds need not be games. In fact, among other uses of MUDs
that I know of, there are virtual colleges, a mud where victims of
abuse can come together in a productive environment, and muds designed
to bring students with disabilities into social contact with one
another and others. The single defining theme for mud is therefore
being a virtual environment where multiple people come in contact.
An LPMud specifically allows the users to manipulate the environment
through a language called LPC. LPMuds are computer programs which
listens to the internet for people attempting to connect, reads LPC
files, and acts upon those LPC files according to the rules of the LPC
language to create the virtual environment. Currently, I know of 6
major LPMud servers:
* CD
* DGD
* LPC4
* LPMud
* MudOS
* Shattered World
With most other mud games, users do not have access to create in the
language used by the mud. LPC is used not only to give users such an
ability, but it is also designed with both ease and power in mind.
_________________________________________________________________
Isn't Amylaar an LPMud?
Amylaar is a person, not an LPMud. He is the primary author and torch
bearer of the LPMud name. Given the generic sound of the term "LPMud"
these days, people often refer to LPMud 3.2 as the Amylaar driver.
_________________________________________________________________
Which is the real LPMud?
LPMud 3.2 is the official continuation of the original LPMud server,
however, all servers listed above are equally real. All have two
traits that make a mud an LPMud:
1. The environment is created through files written in LPC.
2. The environment can change as new files are added and old ones
changes, even while the game is running.
_________________________________________________________________
How did LPMuds get started?
I am not the greatest historian, and may be wrong on some important
facts here, but this is the first shot at the FAQ, so here goes...
Once upon a time, there was Lars Pensjö (the ö being an o with two
dots over it... to an American, that is roughly pronounced "Penscha"),
who wrote the original LPMud coming from an AberMUD background. If you
play current LPMud's of the LPMud type, you won't really notice much
of a difference from the original. From the coders' point of view
however, LPC is nothing like it was with the original. For a long
time, there was only LPMud run by Lars with patches by everyone under
the sun. The original LPMud run by Lars was called Genesis. Its base
town called Larstown was taken mostly from AberMUD.
Eventually, others got tired of waiting to see their patches added to
Lars' driver, and Lars was working on version 3.0 of his driver as he
was gradually losing interest in the project altogether. Version 3.0
turned out to be buggy as hell, and generally unworkable for a real
LPMud. CD, LPC4, LPMud, and MudOS, all derive from this server as
people saw good things in it and began creating working versions of
LPMud 3.0 after their own concepts of mud server design.
Unlike the others, DGD was created from scratch. It therefore is
missing a lot of the baggage which has come down from the beginning of
time in the other drivers. Shattered Worlds, on the otherhand, derives
from LPMud 2.4.5.
_________________________________________________________________
What is the difference between LPMud and Dikus?
This section is almost entirely quoted from a post by Tim Hollebeek:
The main difference between Dikus and LPs is that a Diku server
provides a game, while an LP server provides a language in which to
write a game. This means that an LPMud server is more like your perl
or python binaries than a Diku binary. An LPMud has an extra layer in
which the game is written, called the mudlib or object library. The
advantage Diku enjoys is that it can be more efficient since the game
is more low-level. The other edge of this sword, however, is that it
is very hard to make changes to a Diku and it requires a high level of
technical knowledge.
An LPMud, on the other hand, is extremely flexible and requires a
minimal amount of technical knowledge in order to build the same
things (or even more complex things) as exist on Dikus. As a
consequence, LPmuds tend to be more widespread and reflect a greater
diversity of imagination.
The truth about LP's is that it is virtually impossible for a player
to know they are on an LP; the driver is simply too far removed for it
to make any difference to the player in terms of look and feel. Many
LP's, however, do have a common look and feel because they share the
same mudlibs.
_________________________________________________________________
What do the terms "alpha testing", "beta testing", and "fully open" mean?
Generally, a mud goes through three basic stages. The first stage,
"alpha testing", is a developmental mode in which players are rarely
allowed access to the mud. Things are in such a disarray or in a
flurry of changes that playing a consistent game is impossible. In the
"beta testing" stage, a mud is generally opened to players solely for
the sake of testing that the mud works. Without actual play testing,
it is impossible to determine if a mud can handle being fully open.
muds in either of the above stages generally will not compensate
players for mishaps due to bugs in the game, and they will often even
purge players from the mud. The purging is done either because old
player objects are no longer compatible with new ones or because the
mud needs to be re-balanced to fit new code.
In the final stage, "fully open", a mud is just that, fully open. That
means you can expect certain standards from the mud, including such
things as not dying from bugs. Nothing is ever bug free, so generally
fully open muds will compensate players for mishaps which occur
because of a bug. On the flip side, these muds usually also smite
players who gain from bugs in the system.
_________________________________________________________________
Where are some ftp sites with LPMud stuff?
See Section IV: Where can I find all of this stuff?
_________________________________________________________________
Is there anything about muds on WWW?
The following is a list of LPMud related WWW URL's, a few of which are
even written in the mud programming language LPC:
* http://www.bat.org
The BatMUD WWW Server
* http://www.lostsouls.org
The Lost Souls WWW Server
* http://www.imaginary.com
The Imaginary WWW Server
* http://www.pvv.unit.no/viking
The Viking mud WWW Server
_________________________________________________________________
What are some mud related mailing lists?
The following lists use the Mailman mailing list software. Click on
the link to subscribe to those lists:
* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/foundation-mudlib
The Foundation Object Library Mailing List
* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/intermud
The Intermud Protocols Mailing List
* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/lima-mudlib
The LIMA Mudlib Mailing List
* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/lpc-language
The LPC Language Mailing List
* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/mudos
The MudOS General Discussion Mailing List
* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/mudos-bugs
The MudOS Bug Reporting List
* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/mudos-develop
The MudOS Developers' Mailing List
* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/mudos-patches
The MudOS Patch Distribution List
The following lists use the majordomo software. To subscribe, mail
majordomo at the sites mentioned with "subscribe list-name" in the
body of your mail. To get more information on the lists below, mail
majordomo at the site mentioned with "info list-name" in the body of
the mail. Naturally, list-name should be replaced with the appropriate
list name.
For example, to subscribe to the lpc-language mailing list
lpc-language@imaginary.com, you do the following:
1. mail majordomo@imaginary.com
2. subject is irrelevant, body says "subscribe lpc-language"
3. the list will then confirm you have been added by mail
To mail a post to the mailing list, simply mail
lpc-language@imaginary.com and proceed as you would as if you were
mailing a single person.
* amylaar-users@nightfall.org
The LPMud 3.2 and 3.2.1 Users Mailing List
In addition, the TMI-2 mailing list uses different mailing list
software which can be subscribed to by visiting the list page at
http://www.mudlib.org/mailman/listinfo/tmi-2.
Individual muds may have their own mailing lists as well. Check with
your LPMud for details. For people running lists with an audience
beyond a single mud, please let me know of your list. If you use list
software not listed, I need the name of the list, how to subscribe,
and how to get more information.
_________________________________________________________________
Section II
Playing LPMuds
Contents
1. How do I play an LPMud?
2. But I am using windows!
3. How do I get a list of LPMuds?
4. Are all LPMuds in English?
5. Ok, the mud is asking me for a name, what do I do?
6. They told me I had to register!
7. Name and password set, what next?
8. I don't want anyone knowing my email address!
9. Is it asking me for my gender?
10. What does it mean by race?
11. What is a class? What is a guild?
12. I am in the mud, what do I do?
13. What are some common commands?
14. What is an alias?
15. Why is the mud admin ignoring me?
16. The admins are being unfair, don't I have rights?
17. What about freedom of speech?
18. What else is there?
_________________________________________________________________
How do I play an LPMud?
You must first find the internet address of the mud you wish to play.
Once you find the address, most often people use the "telnet" program
to connect to this address. The mud FAQ has an excellent section on
MUD clients, which are alternatives to the plain vanilla "telnet"
program. However, generally speaking, with "telnet", you can access
the mud of your choice by issuing the command:
telnet address port
For example (% is considered your prompt):
% telnet nightmare.imaginary.com 1701
% telnet 129.10.114.86 5555
And so on. Some telnet programs do not allow you to pass arguments at
the command line. Instead, you get something like this:
% telnet
telnet> open
(to) nightmare.imaginary.com 1701
Once you succeed, you will get a welcoming screen which should say the
name of the LPMud and ask you for a name. A common error people will
make is leaving off the number at the end. If you do that, the telnet
program assumes you mean to go to port 23, and it will give you a
login prompt to the host machine.
In addition, _some_ VMS telnet programs use the following syntax:
telnet 198.174.169.120/port=1701
_________________________________________________________________
But I am using windows!
The telnet program that comes with Windows95 and Windows NT is
extremely anemic and not much good for anything. Other versions of
Windows do not even come with a telnet program. To connect to a mud
using the default Windows95/NT telnet, go to the 'Start' menu and
click on the 'Run' menu item. In the text field, enter:
telnet nightmare.imaginary.com 1701
Of course, you should use the proper address for your mud as described
in the telnet section. This will connect you to the mud, but it may be
a bit confusing. The first thing you need to do is turn echo on so
that you can see what you are typing. Go to the 'Terminal' menu and
click 'Preferences'. Check the 'Local Echo' check box. You may also
want to resize the window so there are no scroll bars.
You will not be able to stand playing a mud this way for very long. It
is highly recommended you download a Windows mud client ASAP before
you go insane. In the least, you might want to grab a useable telnet
program like EWAN or CRT.
_________________________________________________________________
How do I get a list of LPMuds?
I know of no place that lists ONLY LPMud's, however, there is Doran's
Mudlist, which is produced semi-regularly and lists muds by type. You
thus have all your LPMuds grouped together. You can find it posted to
rec.games.mud.announce.
MUDs connected to the Intermud generally have mudlists which they
maintain dynamically based on which muds they are currently talking
to:
* http://ie.imaginary.com:7885/gateways/mudlist
The Idea Exchange Dynamic Intermud Mudlist
Keep in mind, however, these dynamic lists hold only LPMuds which
support intermud communication. They are by no means full lists. You
will also find that many muds on this list are in some sort of
developmental stage.
_________________________________________________________________
Are all LPMuds in English?
No. To provide a list of such muds is beyond the scope of this FAQ.
Check the mudlists for a full and current listing. However, I would
like to know about other languages which might be supported in the
LPMud world, so please mail me if you have a mud in a language in
other than English, German, or Swedish. Known languages:
* Chinese
* Dutch
* English
* German
* Hungarian
* Polish
* Swedish
_________________________________________________________________
Ok, the mud is asking me for a name, what do I do?
Make up a name. Avoid using your real name or common names, real and
mythical. You want not only to give character to your persona, but you
also do not want everyone saying "Hey! Aren't you Bob from
JustAnotherMUD"? I chose the name Descartes, because I was a
philosophy major in college. In general, it is safe to assume any name
consisting only of more than two characters and less than ten (a to z)
is acceptable on any mud. Some muds allow really long names with
spaces, apostrophes, hyphens, and other marks. Others are in between
the extremes. Try the name you want. If the mud will not allow it, it
will tell you, and it should tell you why.
After making up a name, one of two things will happen. Either you will
be prompted for a password, meaning you have picked a name someone
else is using, or it will ask you to create a password, meaning you
are a new character. If the first thing happens, just try again with
another name. If the second happens, you are in good shape.
To create passwords, make up one different than the one you use to
access computers. Although muds encrypt passwords for storage, nothing
prevents an unscrupulous mud admin from intercepting that password and
using it for unethical purposes. It is also recommended that you use a
password with numbers and mixed upper and lower case letters in it.
_________________________________________________________________
They told me I had to register!
Some muds require all their players to register before being allowed
to play. Also, it may be the case that someone from the same place as
you has been causing trouble, so the admins of the mud in question
have decided to require only people from that site to register. If
this is the case with the mud you wish to play, simply follow the
instructions they give. In most cases they will give you an email
address where you should send your registration.
_________________________________________________________________
Name and password set, what next?
This is where you get to see why there is so little in common among
LPMuds from the player's point of view. Some LPMud's will ask you a
series of questions about who you are and what sort of character you
would like. Others ask nothing more. Among the questions you might be
asked are: what is your email address? what is your real name? what
gender would you like to play? what race would you like to be? what
class would you like to be? etc.
_________________________________________________________________
I don't want anyone knowing my email address!
MUD Administrators have a legitimate need to know your email address.
No one else does. If a mud requires you to give your email address it
should either offer you the option of keeping it private, or it should
automatically keep the email private. If they do not keep your email
private and you desire privacy, do not play the mud. Do not complain,
however, that they ask for it.
_Note:_
There seems to be some difference of opinion on this one, so I decided
to quote one of the comments:
"Well, I have to disagree with this section: E-mail addresses are
very difficult to verify in bulk, and really not worth the trouble
unless you perform site registration. I believe the only people you
have a legitimate need for an email address from is your wizards.
Other than that, knowing the ip they log in from should be more
than sufficient." -Rust (John Viega)
_________________________________________________________________
Is it asking me for _my_ gender?
No. The game wants to know what gender you would like your _character_
to be. This means you can play a character of the opposite gender,
your own gender, or one of the alternate gender types which might be
offered. The other side of the coin to this, however, is that you
should _never_ count on other people in real life being the gender of
the character they play.
_________________________________________________________________
What does it mean by race?
Many LPMuds have a feature called character races. The term "race" in
these instances is not the same as the term used in modern society. In
fact, the LPMud term race would more correctly be referred to as
species. In fantasy type LPMuds, you will often see a selection of
"races" like human, orc, artrell, gnome, etc. When you are asked to
choose a race, a list of possible races should be provided for you.
_________________________________________________________________
What is a class? What is a guild?
In general, a class is a grouping of players with common abilities. A
guild as well can be said to have the same definition. Many muds, if
they use either of these concepts at all, add some very individual
nuances. To muds which do not have classes or guilds, the concepts are
naturally irrelevant. Those which have one or the other are often
using the terms in an interchangeable fashion. Finally, those muds
which have both often define class in a more generic manner than
guild. For example, on Nightmare, a class is like a profession and the
guild like a particular job. You might have people in the fighter
class who are in the templars guild, and others who are in the rangers
guild. In short, the guild is a way of specializing your class
abilities.
Other muds allow "multi-classing", which may mean joining multiple
guilds, classes, or both. It is always best to check out the "help
guild" and "help class" command on any given mud to see how it defines
these terms.
_________________________________________________________________
I am in the mud, what do I do?
There is no one answer to this question, as the answer will vary from
MUD to mud. No matter what, however, you should see if the mud has a
"faq" command to get a listing of that mud's frequently asked
questions. In addition, you should learn how to use the "help" command
as well as find out about the rules governing that mud.
_________________________________________________________________
What are some common commands?
The following commands exist on virtually all LPMuds. () around part
of a command indicate that that part is optional. [] indicates that
the text should not be taken literally. These commands naturally are
not likely to be found on non-English muds.
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