In this section we have three different parts, actually, but since they're all mostly related I'm grouping them into one lesson. The three sections are as follows:
1. Talking and Performing Actions
1a. Using @emit When Roleplaying, %r and %t
2. Private Messages: How to Page
3. Using Chat Channels
Talking and Performing Actions
Learning to talk to other people is the most important skill to learn for players new to a MU* environment in order for them to express themselves. Actions / emoting is second on the list. The commands are easy to learn, and there are two commands available to use for speaking and performing actions -- you may use whichever strikes your fancy or fits your preferences. To speak use:
say (your message)
or
"(your message)
The double quotation is shorthand for the say command. You do not need to include an ending quote; that will automatically be added. Example:
"I'm a little teapot, short and stout! entered will show up on your screen as
You say, "I'm a little teapot, short and stout!"
... and everyone else will see the name of your character in place of the 'you'. So if you're, say, Renji, everyone else would see--
Renji says, "I'm a little teapot, short and stout!"
He does the teapot dance on command, by the way. And that leads us to how you emote actions. Actions can be performed using the "pose" command or a colon:
pose (action)
or
:(action), either of which will work like so:
Inputting :does the teapot dance! for instance, would show up as
Renji does the teapot dance!
As you can see, a space is automatically placed between your name and the action. If you do not want a space after your name in your emote, you can use a semicolon, like this:
;(action)
It is mostly useful for possessives -- ;'s toeclaws are painted red today. would show up (using myself, Haineko, as an example) like so:
Haineko's toeclaws are painted red today.
You can also use the semicolon on chat channels and in pages as well to emote possessives.
Using @emit When Roleplaying, %r and %t
You can use the @emit command to make a pose without your name being automatically attached to the front of your pose. Most players use this when they are in an IC room and playing a scene with someone; it's helpful to be able to write a pose without always having to start the pose with your name.
@emit (your pose)
There are two other commands, %r and %t which you will most likely use in conjunction with @emit while playing a scene -- %r will insert a carriage return, while %t will insert a tab space. These commands are universal to the MU and don't have to be used solely with @emits. You can use them in pretty much anything (ie, @descs for items or yourself). Here's en example, using a snippet from a Bleach Wikipedia entry:
@emit %r%tBleach characters move from world to world by several means. Shinigami open passages between worlds by means of their zanpakuto. Butterflies created during soul burial, called hell butterflies, make these routes safe. Human souls usually cross between planes only through birth into the human world or soul burial by shinigami.%r%tLiving humans can also use special portals to move between worlds, but this is dangerous. While hollows are portrayed as able to move between planes at will by opening rifts in space, they usually remain in Hueco Mundo due to the risk of discovery in Soul Society or the human world. Encounters between characters crossing realms are a driving plot force in Bleach.%r%r
Entering the above into the MU would produce:
Bleach characters move from world to world by several means. Shinigami open passages between worlds by means of their zanpakuto. Butterflies created during soul burial, called hell butterflies, make these routes safe. Human souls usually cross between planes only through birth into the human world or soul burial by shinigami.
Living humans can also use special portals to move between worlds, but this is dangerous. While hollows are portrayed as able to move between planes at will by opening rifts in space, they usually remain in Hueco Mundo due to the risk of discovery in Soul Society or the human world. Encounters between characters crossing realms are a driving plot force in Bleach.
I use two carriage returns after every pose as a courtesy to other players, and sometimes use one or two %r's after my @emit as well (before my starting %t) just to make sure there is ample space between my poses and my partner's poses. You're always free to play around with spacing -- find what suits your preference.
As a last note, the MU doesn't recognize actual carriage returns from your keyboard, so always make sure you remove them (and replace them with %r) in your poses or it will cut off the rest of your message.
Private Messages: How to Page
If you want to talk to someone privately, even if they are in the same room or a different room, you can use pages. The command is simple, and we're going to abuse Kensei to demonstrate:
page Kensei = (your message) or you can abbreviate it as
p Kensei = (your message)
Following that, inputting p Kensei = Congratulations, you're idle so you get to be my victim! will show up on your screen as
You paged Kensei with 'Congratulations, you're idle so you get to be my victim!'
Kensei will see, Haineko pages: Congratulations, you're idle so you get to be my next victim!
Next command is...
page
"Page" (or just a simple 'p') will tell you who you last paged. In conjunction with that, if you want to send another page to the same person as the one you last sent a page to, you can choose to leave out their name as follows
p = (your message)
Just remember to check who you last paged before leaving out someone's name, especially if you have multiple pages going, or you might mistakenly send a page to someone else. (Not that it wouldn't be funny.)
Lastly, you can perform actions in pages the same way you would in rooms with
p Kensei = :(action you want to perform.)
More Kensei abuse. p Kensei = :lacerates with love. <3 will show up like so--
Long distance to Kensei: Haineko lacerates with love. <3
.. and Kensei will see, From afar, Haineko lacerates with love. <3
Using Chat Channels
The MU also has a chat system you can use to speak with other players. It's global, which means everyone logged into the game and listening to a channel can see anything you put on that channel regardless of where they are on the grid. For starters, you can see which channels are available with the command
@clist
Before you can chat on a channel, you will need to add it and choose a three-letter acronym (the alias for that channel) to represent the channel for yourself (I suggest using all lowercase for simplicity when typing on channels):
addcom alias=channel becomes addcom pub=Public
The addcom command is case-sensitive, so if the channel's name begins with a capital letter, you must use the same case when adding it or the channel will not be recognized. Any and all channels you wish to join need to be added individually, but they only needed to be added once (ie, once added the channel will remain added even if you log out and log back in, unless you forcibly delete it -- I won't include how to do that in these tutorials, so if you want more info, use the MU help files under 'help comsys'). Once you have your channel aliases set, you can now speak on the channels you added using the alias for them before your messages. Scroll down to see those example commands.
If you ever forget the aliases you have set for the channels you are on, simply type comlist into the MU, and the MU will supply you with a list of all channels you have added and the aliases you have chosen for them.
Public channel is the most widely-used channel for chatting. All guests and players are automatically set to listen to Public channel (which I will refer to as pubchan from here on out) upon logging in. However, should you need to stop listening to pubchan (for instance, perhaps too much talking is going on and scrolling your screen too much while you are in the middle of a scene on the grid somewhere), you can turn pubchan (and any other channel) on or off with these commands:
pub on and pub off will, of course, turn Public channel on and off, respectively.
That said, talking and performing actions on chat channels is simple enough. You use
pub (your message) to talk, and to perform an action,
pub :(action you would like to perform)
Since it's the same as talking and emoting actions as explained previously, I hope I don't need to include examples here, too. All you have to do is prefix your words and actions with the alias you chose for the channel in question to speak on the channel.
Since I've included comtitles in the ANSI tutorial, you'll have to go there to find out how to set those.
That's it for now!
