Setting
yourself up Communication
Finding
out about other furries Who
else is online? Where
is everybody? Getting
around the muck Keeping
track of your friends Setting
yourself up
Communication
Finding
out about other furries
Who
else is online?
Where
is everybody?
Getting
around the muck
Keeping
track of your friends
Who are you?
The first step in establishing your Fluff character is deciding who and what he or she is going to be. Fluff is furry-themed, which means most of the characters are "furries," or animals with some human characteristics ("anthropomorphics"). While playing a furry is encouraged, it is not required. You may play a "human" character if you wish. :)
People choose their furry characters in many ways. Some try to represent, as closely as possible, the personality they have in real life. They may choose an animal species that they feel expresses something about themselves, and give it behavior patterns, opinions and attitudes similar to their own. This kind of character is sometimes referred to as a "personal furry," because it is seen as an extension of the player's real life persona.
Others use their characters as a means to give an outlet to more individual aspects of themselves. The character may be a more exaggerated version of a small facet of the player's personality which has been unable to find expression under the constraints of real life.
Some choose to role-play characters which may have no direct connection to anything about themselves in real life. A timid, shy person may role-play a bold, forceful character; a generally sweet-natured person may take on a furry persona who is sarcastic, cynical or "evil." The ability to present yourself as something alien to your "true" nature is considered by many to be one of the most wonderful aspects of the VR experience.
Using Editplayer
Now that you've decided who you are, you need to set up your Fluff character.
The basic properties you should set include your sex, your species, your description, whether or not you can hand or throw objects to other players, the way you smell :), and whether or not you can fly. Fluff offers a program called Editplayer which uses a menu-driven interface to assist you in setting these and other properties on yourself.
To use Editplayer, first make sure you're located somewhere on Fluff where you are not likely to be interrupted. Then type editplayer and hit return.
You will see a menu of numbered items, which reflect your current property settings. In order to change an item, enter the menu number that corresponds to that property and follow the prompts.
Item 2 on the Editplayer menu is the setting for your description. When you choose this item, Editplayer will ask if you wish to convert your desc to an MPI desc. Choosing 'yes' will start an online editor called lsedit. This editor offers the ability to type in your description in several paragraphs, and to easily correct typing errors. It is well worth taking a few minutes to familiarize yourself with it, as it may also be used for writing complex descriptions for rooms and objects you will create. To use lsedit, enter 'y' at the prompt, and then type .h for a quick help screen. When you have finished entering your description, type .end to leave the editor.
Select other menu items and follow the prompts to set other properties on yourself. When you have finished, type q to leave editplayer.
Setting properties manually:
If you prefer to set properties directly instead of using Editplayer, here is a list of suggested basic settings to get you started:
Examine
The examine command gives you information about the owner and properties of players, rooms, and objects. This is a good command for newbies to make use of, as it gives you an idea of what kinds of information make up an object.
To examine yourself, type ex me. You'll see a screen of information, including when your character was created, how many times it has been used, the flags set on it, actions attached to it, etc. To see more information, type ex me=/ This lists the prop directories that are set on you. Don't worry if none of this information makes sense to you now. The more you learn about how the muck server works, the more you'll understand about properties. :)
To examine a room, type ex here. To examine an object, type ex objectname. You can only examine rooms and objects that you own.
Inventory
To see what you're carrying, type inventory or i. You'll either see a list of the items you're carrying, or the line You're not carrying anything. You'll then see a line telling you how much currency you have, such as: You have 1000 pennies. (Since the nature of the currency changes frequently, you may see something other than 'pennies'.)
"Money" is used for building.
The simplest form of muck communication is the say command, which transmits speech to others in the same room. Syntax for this command is say <text> or " <text> (no closing quote).
To speak only to a particular furry or group of furries in the same room with you, use the whisper command. Type wh name1 name2=message. Online, you can get more detailed information on whisper with whisper #help
To send messages to furries elsewhere on the muck, use the page command. Type page name1 name2=message. Online, you can get more detailed information on page with page #help.
Public-shout is a program which allows players to "shout" messages that are heard over the entire muck. In order to use shout, you must set yourself to hear shouts by typing @shout #pubon. If you do not wish to hear public-shouts, type @shout #puboff. Online, you can get more detailed information on shout with @shout #help.
The most basic way of learning what others are like is to look at them. (If you're new to MUCKs but have been on IRC or chat rooms, you may not be in the habit of checking descs (descriptions). On MUCKs, everything has a desc!) Type look Name to look at a player, look objectname to look at an object, and look to look at a room.
Fluff has a "smell" command that is used to find out what players and objects smell like. :) Type smell Name to smell a particular furry, or smell here to smell everyone in the room. Online, type smell #help to get more information about smell.
Fluff has a "feel" command by which you can "feel" players and objects. Type feel Name to feel a player. You can set your own feel message by @set me=feel:message. Online, type feel #help to get more information about feel.
Pinfo is a feature which allows players to provide miscellaneous information about themselves for others to read. This information can be about the character, or about the real life player. To see if someone has a pinfo, type pinfo Name. To set pinfo on yourself, type pinfo and then enter the text. Online, type pinfo #help to get more information about pinfo.
WhatIs is a feature which allows players to list a set of attributes that apply to them. To check someone's WhatIs setup, type wi Name. Online, get more information on how to use WhatIs, including a list of the available attributes, by typing wi #help.
WhoSpe is a program which lists the name, sex, and species of all players in the room. It also indicates whether the player is awake (connected) or asleep (disconnected), how long they have been idle, and whether there are any "zombies" in the room. (A zombie is an object that is controlled by another player, and which "listens" to activity in the room and transmits it back to its owner.) To use WhoSpe, type ws. Online, get more information on what ws can do with ws #help.
To find out how many other players are connected, and who they are, type WHO in all caps. You may use this command even before you log in as your character, by entering it at the login screen.
Online, you can use WHO, and a variant of that command, 3who, which provides the same information in a three-column display instead of one long list.
Another command, wd, provides a list of connected players and their "doing" messages. To set your doing message for this command, type @doing message
Fluff has several public gathering places. To find out whether anyone is there, without having to wander around looking for them, use the WhereAre command (abbreviated wa).
Type wa #name to see how many furries are in each public area, and who they are. Type wa #dir to see directions on how to get to the areas that appear in the wa list.
Online, get more detailed information on WhereAre with wa #help.
You can also search for a particular furry with WhereIs. Simply type whereis Name. In order for this feature to work, the player must have set themselves whereis #ok, and must not be set 'unfindable.' An important note: when you try to find someone using whereis, that player gets notified that you are looking for them, and is also informed of YOUR current location. In addition, whereis will only provide you with the name of the room where the player is located. If you do not know where that is, whereis cannot tell you how to get there.
Online, get more information about Whereis, including how to set yourself so that you can or cannot be found, with whereis #help.
Fluff is arranged in such a way that players may "walk" to most public areas. However, there are other modes of transportation that may be faster, easier, or more convenient to use.
Fluff has a "taxi service" which you may use from anywhere on the muck by typing taxi. A Hovercab will arrive and pick you up. Once inside, you will see a Control Panel that lists the possible destinations that the Hovercab will take you to, and what you should type to get there. The Hovercabs serve residence areas.
For the more high-tech furry ;), Fluff has a Transporter Room which is also universally accessible from anywhere on the muck. Simply type tr, and you will be "beamed" to the central Transporter Room. From there, you may transport to several destinations, including Outer Space locations. :)
The teleport command is globally available on Fluff for those furries who wish to use it. You may teleport to any area you own, or any area which has been set by its owner to permit teleporting. Online, get information on how teleport works, including a list of publicly teleportable destinations and instructions on how to set your teleport messages (what furries see when you appear and disappear using teleport), with t #help.
RIDE is a feature by which one furry can "carry" other furries so that they move together around the muck. You may customize RIDE to indicate that you are carrying someone, leading them by the hand, or just walking with them. To offer to carry someone, type handup Name. Online, get extensively detailed information (don't say we didn't warn you! :)) on this powerful and versatile program with ride #help.
MEETME is a program by which you can send a summons to another player to enable them to come instantly to your location. You may also use MEETME to request that you be allowed to join another player. The basic MEETME commands are as follows:
To summon another player to join you: msummon Name
To ask to join another player at their location: mjoin Name
To ask to meet with another player, and allow them to choose the location:
meet Name
When you receive a request to meet, it will contain instructions on what to enter in order to accept or decline the request. Online, get more information about MEETME with meet #help.
Frequently, newbies will come to a central gathering place on a muck and begin asking other furries if they have seen a certain player, or if that player is currently online. There are two features which can provide you with information on your friends' online status.
WatchFor is a program that notifies you when players on your WatchFor list connect and disconnect from Fluff. It also tells you, when you connect, who of your list is currently online.
To use WatchFor, type wf #on to start the program working for you. To add players to your watchfor list, type wf Name.
Online, get detailed information on WatchFor, including how to set yourself so that other players aren't notified of your logins, by typing wf #help.
Laston is a feature that tells you when a certain player was last connected. To use it, simply type laston Name.