General Questions
What is Alternate Universe?
Alternate Universe is a level-less, classless MUD. This basically means
for you as a player that it is not necessary to spend hours crawling
through sewers killing rats and lizards to gain experience points and
increase your charater's strength, health, etc. Rather, your character's
development and your own personal experience here depends mainly on your
own imagination and your own contributions to the MUD environment.
Alternate Universe is still relatively young and developing. There
are a few quests in the works and a one or two linear mini quests that
you can embark on, but for the most part, this is an open environment.
Go explore, investigate, travel, and then by all means tell us your ideas and
suggestions. Report bugs, make up gossip for the Station newspaper,
find friends, start a Spaceball League.
How do I play Alternate Universe?
All you need is a telnet program (which comes with Windows and Linux) and an internet connection.
Windows Users: Click 'Start'..'Run' and type telnet rootserv.dyndns.org 1063 into the box, then press 'OK'.
Linux/UNIX Users: Type telnet rootserv.dyndns.org 1063 from the command-line.
Once you have connected, you should create an account by logging in as "newuser". This will ask you to choose a
player name and password (and to enter a few other details) then your account will be created and you may then log in using
your chosen name and password. Note that accounts that are unused for longer than three months will be deleted.
What happens next?
When you log in for the first time, you will find yourself in a teleportation room. Follow the instructions, and you will start
the game. Your first "mission" is to make your escape from the planet Xylan, where you will
be rescued and end up at a space station, called "Sigma Station". From that point, you may start to meet
other players, but up until that point, the game can be considered a single-player linear-story game (the purpose of which
is to get you familiar with the basics of Alternate Universe).
How do I get help?
The most useful way is to simply type "help". This will present you with a choice of further help files,
all of which contain useful information to help you get started. You may also find the MudWideWeb
terminals helpful, especially if browsing their databanks. There is also the in-game email system
to ask questions and make suggestions.
What are command aliases?
Shortened versions of commonly-used commands to save your fingers and keyboard. Prominent examples
include "n" (instead of "go north"), "x" (instead of "examine") and "ut" (instead of "use terminal").
For a more extensive list, type "help aliases".
What happens if other players attack me?
They can't (at least, not yet) PKs (player kills) are not possible in AU at the moment. If/when they do become possible, it will be
restricted to certain areas, and you will be warned before entering an area where PKs are allowed. You will also have to have
backed up your personality and DNA at a medical facility before being allowed to enter. Upon dying, you will be regenerated back at
the medical facility (minus your possessions).
If you suffer prolonged verbal abuse, either walk away, ignore it and hope you don't meet that player again, or report it to duncanj using one of the in-game email terminals.
Don't fan the flames!
How do I chat/communicate?
There are a variety of ways. If you want to send a radio message to a player who is somewhere else in Alternate Universe, use the "radio" command.
If, however, you are in the same place as another player, use "say", or "do". Email terminals are useful for leaving messages for
other players (you will either see their player names online, or on the Alternate Universe website).
Who should I contact if I have problems?
It seems that most players are willing to help others out, but here's the top three choices:
- duncanj (Creator)
- barnoid (Architect)
- tregina (Journalist)
Either leave an in-game email for one of us, or chat with us when we're online. As a very last resort,
email au@cyberjunkie.com (real life email, this time).
Is there a mailing list for players?
Yes. We have set up a Yahoo group, called alternateuniverseplayers where
players and developers can post messages, vote on polls, etc. You do not have to receive emails - have a look at your member preferences - though you will
probably have to sign up to Yahoo in order to post messages and vote on polls (this is free, and relatively painless).
I have a problem connecting to Alternate Universe, what should I do?
If you cannot connect via telnet, then Alternate Universe might be offline. Have a look at the server news page to see if there are
any recent reports of downtime or problems. Try using the
Java telnet applet to connect.
If you are connecting via a UNIX/Linux telnet application and are experiencing a problem where messages are not being displayed
until you hit enter then try creating a
.telnetrc file in your home directory containing:
rootserv.dyndns.org set crlf
If you are experiencing trouble with backspace/delete then perhaps you will be able to change the settings of your telnet client to solve this.
The telnet handling code in the server is being rewritten to solve these bugs, but please appreciate that it is difficult to test the telnet behaviour on all
platforms under all conditions.
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