Introduction

Kedra can then choose to either page you back, or join you at your location. Note: Page strips out quotes, so if you have to have them, use single quotes (') instead.

Posing

Occasionally, you may wish to pose text (talk in the 3rd person). For example, Kedra may want to say: Kedra cheers you on! To do this, she would replace her name and the space that follows it by a colon (:), like this:

Kedra types: :cheers you on!

She sees: Kedra cheers you on!

You see: Kedra cheers you on!

Everyone else sees: Kedra cheers you on!

It would be nice if Kedra could see something like "You cheer Engineer on!" and if everyone else would see "Kedra cheers Engineer on!" However, posing is rather limited, which is why people make...

Social verbs

Commonly-used verbs are written and collected in objects called features so that they can be shared with others. On WildcardMOO, the basic collection of verbs like 'smile' and 'wave' can be had by typing '@add-feature $social'. (You only have to do this once.)

You can then type 'social' anytime to get a list of available verbs. Some verbs can have more than one argument, so that if:

You type: wave

You see: You wave.

Others see: Engineer waves.

You type: wave Kedra

You see: You wave to Kedra.

Kedra sees: Engineer waves to you.

Others see: Engineer waves to Kedra.

Since different verbs have different (and sometimes suprising) results, it is a good idea to find someone in the MOO with whom you can practice the social verbs until you feel comfortable with them.

If you want another feature to add, you can type '@add-feature #398' and then type 'mil' to get a list of military verbs, such as salute. If you add a feature that you don't like, you can always '@remove-feature #feature_number'. To see a list of which features you have, type '@features', and to get further help on features, type 'help features'.

Directing your comments

Sometimes you may be in a room full of people, and want to address your question to a specific person. You can do this by typing -Name message, where Name is the person you want to talk to. For example:

You type: -Kedra Did you get my email?

Everyone (including you and Kedra) sees: Engineer [to Kedra]: Did you get my email?

More ways to move around

Teleporting

There is a

map of WildcardMOO

The easiest way to get to where another person is is to type '@join person's_name'. For example, I know wu is online, and I want to talk to him, so I type '@join wu'. This moves me into the room where he is located, provided that I am allowed to jump there, so that I can talk to him without having to use page.

Entering special rooms

You type: enter ISSCV

You see:

You walk up the ramp into the ISSCV.
ISSCV
The interior is not very well-lit, and you have to watch your head, as some of
 the doorways are rather low.
Exits: nothing.

You type: @examine here

You see:

ISSCV (#774) is owned by Octavia (#170).
Aliases:  ISSCV and 1
The interior is not very well-lit, and you have to watch your head, as some of
 the doorways are rather low.
Key:  (None.)
Contents:
  Octavia (#170)
Obvious Verbs:
  enter here
  leave
  fly here to anything
  win*dow_look_out
  des*tinations
  pilot
  copilot
  forw*ard_gunner
  aft*_gunner
  turr*et_gunner
  comm*unications

You type: win

You see:

You look out of the window and see:
USS Saratoga: ISSCV Bay
The hustle and bustle of new arrivals on the Saratoga fills this compartment.
 The push of disembarking personnel stops any attempt to reboard the ISSCV,
 and slowly directs anyone in here towards the ladder exiting the chamber to
 Burma Road  -- the main passageway through the lower decks. A huge hoist sits
 in the corner to be used to cargo manipulation, and the scent of hydraulics
 permeates everything in this room.  The hum of a nuclear reactor and its
 systems can be heard even above all the rest of the activity here.

You type: leave

You see:

You leave the ISSCV, walking down the ramp.

Manipulating objects

At some point in your exploration you will come across objects which are not rooms or players. For example, you may see something like 'You see Blueprints for Goddard Station here.' between the description and list of exits in the room Concourse at the Hub. This is an object, which you can treat as though it were an something to pick up, hold, and use:

Upon entering the room Concourse at the Hub, you see:

Concourse at the Hub
You are in a large open area where all of the spokes leading to the rim meet.
 Here you will also find many of the stations' ammenitites -- stores,
 workshops, and so forth. A service elevator gives access to maintenance areas
 and quarters.
You see Blueprints for Goddard Station here.
Exits: out (o), dmz (d), elevator (e), and restaurant (r).

You type: @examine Blueprints

You see:

Blueprints for Goddard Station (#1000) is owned by Octavia (#170).
Aliases:  Blueprints for Goddard Station and goddard
The blueprints for Goddard Station are contained in this electronic wall
 display. The instructions indicate that you may call up the following
 diagrams currently: sideview goddard
Obvious Verbs:
  sideview Blueprints
  g*et/t*ake Blueprints
  d*rop/th*row Blueprints
  gi*ve/ha*nd Blueprints to anything
  wear Blueprints
  remove Blueprints

This list tells me that I can 'get Blueprints' (pick it up) as long as the object is not locked down, 'drop Blueprints' (put it down), 'give Blueprints to Kedra' (hand it to Kedra), wear or remove them (although for many objects this is silly to do), and there is another verb 'sideview Goddard', which was coded by the object's owner. These additional verbs can be coded to add more realism (or usefulness) to an object.

Using other verbs

In fact, an increasing number of rooms (and objects) in WildcardMOO do special things. For example, you can float weightlessly in the Zero G Tunnel, shower with friends after running around the track in the rec room, or play Chig fooseball in the Hellhounds rec room.

Some of these rooms tell you how to get a list of commands in the room description, but many of the older rooms do not. You can always check for a list of verbs on a room by typing '@examine here'. The same is true of objects, and even yourself.

Once you have a list of verbs for a room or object, you can execute those verbs the same way you do the social verbs. For example, if you were in the flight simulators, you might have the following session (commands you would type are in bold-face, and the rest is program output):

@go #305

Flight Simulators
The lighting is rather dim, but you can make out a semi-circle of Hammerhead
 cockpits as you walk in.  Most everything is painted black:  the walls,
 ceiling, and floor.  The cockpits and the platform on which they rest are a
 dull silver, and the clear glass in the cockpits has been replaced with VR
 screens, which show the pilot inside a simulated view of space.  You can make
 out a long yellow stripe on the floor in front of the cockpits, which you
 assume is intended to be the flight line.  The only other features in the
 room are an equipment locker along the far wall, a screened-in bank of
 computer consoles in the corner to your left, and a small alcove just inside
 the entrance atrium.  The alcove contains a desk, behind which sits a Marine,
 who asks you to sign-in in order to use the simulators.  You can either sign
 up for a (group) or a (single)-person simulation.  Since a new session is
 just about to begin, you quickly sign-in and get ready for your simulation.
You see Sim Pod 1, Group Hammerhead Sim Pods, and ISSCV Group Simulator here.
Exits: training area (t).
You take a deep breath and 'throw' yourself in the direction you want to go.

single

You are informed that you may stand in line to use one of the single simulator
 pods.  You (look pod) to see if it is empty, and if it is, you may (enter
 pod) and start your simulation.

look pod

Sim Pod 1
This is an individual sim pod, suitable for one player at a time.

The cockpit is empty.

enter pod

You climb into one of the pods, and the canopy shuts, closing you in.  The
 lights go down quickly, and you find yourself briefly inside a close dark
 space.  Then you notice that the only light blinking on the com panel in
 front of you is backlit in red, with the word (mission) written on it.  You
 re-adjust your flight gloves, lean forward, and press the button.  The
 cockpit is suddenly filled with a woman's voice explaining the mission,
 accompanied by the screens around you lighting up with images of your
 simulation...
Sim Pod 1
The interior of the pod is rather cramped, but you can easily reach all of the
 controls.

mission

Your mission is to patrol the area immediately around the Saratoga, to watch
 out for and defend your carrier against probable Chig attack.

*****  Type 'com' to get a list of commands for the Flight Simulators *****

Here comes the enemy now.
There are 2 enemy craft closing fast.

com


******************************************************************
Type:      fire               to shoot at your target
           missile            to launch your missiles at them
           port               to break to port (left)
           star*board         to break to starboard (right)
           com*mands          to list these commands again
           eject              to eject your cockpit from your
                              damaged ship and stop playing.
           stop               to stop playing
******************************************************************

fire

You fire at the enemy.
You missed the target.  He is coming up fast on your six.

missile

You fire your missiles at the enemy.
You hit the target!  The target is destroyed.

fire

You fire at the enemy.
You hit the target!  The target is destroyed.
You have successfully destroyed all targets!!
You now proceed back to home base and land safely.
Congratulations on completing your mission.
You may now either (leave) the sim pod, or request another (mission).

leave

You pop the canopy and climb out.

Since these verbs are all programmed by each room's owner, do not expect any consistency from room to room in terms of verb input and output.

Mail

The MOO has its own internal mail system. The system is fairly complex, with lots of options you can set, and I will only cover enough here to get you started. I highly recommend reading 'help mail' when you have the time and explore the various commands and options for yourself.

Here are some of the basic commands:

@send person - sends mail to a person

@next - reads the next message

@prev - reads the previous message

@read number - reads a specific message (e.g., @read 10)

@reply - reply to the last message read.

One thing to remember about the mail editor: Once you get a line saying something like 'Composing a letter to Kedra (#583) entitled "Testing"', be certain to preface all of your text with a " as though you were talking to her in person. Then type 'send' when you are done to actually mail the letter (and get out of the editor).

When you log in, the MOO will tell you if you have any unread mail.

News

There are two types of news: (1) system news, which is posted to by the MOO wizards (and for which 'help news' was designed), and (2) newsgroup posts. You can post to many of these newsgroups yourself. The newsgroups are literally mailing lists, and use the same mail commands as ordinary mail (see 'help mail' for more details), as well as having some special commands of their own.

Here are some of the most useful commands:

@subscribed - to find out which newsgroups you are subscribed to.

@unsubscribed - to find out which newsgroups you can subscribe to (that you are not already).

@subscribe *groupname - You do need the *

@unsubscribe *groupname

@nn - read the next post (takes the next post out of all the groups you are subscribed to, probably in date/time order).

news - read or re-read all system news

news new - read only new system news

Refining your character

Creating objects

In order to give your character more realism, you may want to create anything from a weapon to a flightsuit to a hammerhead.

There are different types of objects you can create, each of which you can manipulate a little differently:

$thing - the generic type - you can pick it up, put it down, hand it to someone, wear it, and once you achieve officer (programmer) status, you can add verbs to it (covered in the programmer's guide).

$container - same as $thing, except that you can also put other objects inside it.

$weapon - same as $thing, except that you can also load it and shoot with it (sending your victim to sickbay).

#____ - object types created by other programmers, such as hammerheads.

To make yourself one of these, type '@create type named some_name', such as '@create $weapon named M-590', '@create $thing named flightsuit', or '@create #875 called Hammerhead 53'.

You have only a limited amount of objects you can own at any given time, called your quota. To find out how many this is, type '@quota'. To see a list of the objects you already own, including yourself, and their object numbers, type '@audit me'. To recycle an object you no longer want, type '@recycle object_name' or '@recycle #object'.

Giving yourself a home

There are several places around the MOO which you can call home. You start out life with your home set to the Mess Decks. Off of the Mess Decks are several smaller mess rooms, any of which you can be billeted in by moving to that room and typing '@sethome'. Then, where ever you are in the MOO, when you type 'home' you will be teleported back to that room. Officers may set their home in th 59th Squadron Mess Deck off of the Upper Decks - Officer Country. If you want to be billeted in one of the other squadron messes, you should ask the room's owner to make you a legal resident so you can '@sethome' there.

More descriptions

You can make a description for not only yourself (see section

I. D. Describing yourself

Another thing you can do for yourself is to set your branch of service with the '@service' command, which toggles you back and forth between branches. You can see the changes by typing 'who'.

Setting your messages

Each person has a set of customizable messages that tell people a little bit about who they are and what their character's personality is. To see a list of the messages you can change, type '@messages me'.

Here are some good ones to start with and what they mean:

@osay me is "say" - when you type '"message.', other people see Cal says, "message." (Note that an s is added by the MOO after "say".)

@oask me is "ask" - when you type '"message?', other people see Cal asks, "message?"

@oexclaim me is "exclaim" - when you type '"message!', other people see Cal exclaims, "message!"

To change these, type the same syntax you see, with a different message. For example, I may type:

@osay me is "lisp"

And when I type '"Hello.', people see Octavia lisps, "Hello."

@self_arrive me is "% in with a bang!" - sets the message other people see when you teleport into a room.

@self_port me is "You teleport in with a bang!" - sets the message you see when you teleport into a room.

@oself_port me is "% out with a bang!" - sets the message others see when you teleport out of a room.

These are just a few examples. Try playing with and customizing any of the messages. It might be a good idea to write down what they were in the first place though, so you can change them back if you need to.

More ways to find help

For a more advanced way to get online help, try searching through the indexes. You do this by typing 'help index'. This gives you a list of sub-indexes to sort through. Let's say you know you want more help with the mail commands, and type 'help mail-index'. This gives you a list of possible mail commands. To get help on a specific command, say @skip, type 'help @skip'.

You can, in fact, type 'help command_name' for any MOO command you know about to see what it does in more detail.

For those really sticky questions, you can also ask someone online, mail a friend who might know, or send a quick note to the newsgroup *q&a to get your question answered by a pro. Try to save this last option, though, for the really hard questions. Most of the time you can catch someone online who knows all or part of the answer.