CSCI E-10: Assignment 5, due March 11, 2002

The tool for this week's assignment is tf. (There are many other MUD clients available, including MudMAGE for PC and MudDweller for the Macintosh; let me know if you want to do a comparison of clients and need help finding more.)

To access tf and connect to MicroMUSE from your class account, type the following at the Unix command prompt after logging in:

The "~libcse10/bin/tf" part of the above command is simply the location (in the ~libcse10 course library account) of the "tf" program. The rest of the line is the "address" of MicroMUSE, which lives on a computer named micromuse.musenet.org, and runs on Unix port 4201.

To connect to DragonMUD, the syntax is the same except that you need DragonMUD's address:

This week's written assignment:

1. Connect to MicroMUSE using tf or any other MUD client. Log in using the name and password you were given (if you didn't get e-mail with your name and password, let me know and I will check on it for you). See the class handout, "Connecting to MicroMUSE and DragonMUD", for additional information. Please get in touch with me or Glenn if you have problems connecting.

2. If you have not already done so, change your password using the @password command. See the "Connecting to (and using) MicroMUSE and DragonMUD" handout for more details.

3. You may explore Cyberion City at random, but if you would like help getting started, teleport to the Community Center by typing @teleport #9999 and then go to the "Help Desk". From there, try the "Dressing Room".

4. If you can find anyone to talk to (check the WHO list for people who are not very idle), talk with them. See if you can meet them somewhere in the MUSE for a tour or conversation. If you can't find anyone unidle, try again later, but don't get too frustrated here -- MicroMUSE can be a very quiet place. Keep track of the times of day you tried, for your writeup, whether successful or unsuccessful.

5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for DragonMUD. Dragon tends to have more active players than MicroMUSE at many times of day (but not always). Also, you are likely to run into people in the Town Square, so you should be able to complete step 4 for DragonMUD without too much difficulty. But do check the WHO list for idle times to make sure someone's really there. People who seem to be ignoring you may really be away from their terminals.

6. As usual, write up a report of your experiences and send it to the class mailing list. Let me also remind everyone again that you are more than welcome to reply to other people's postings and mailings, either privately or publicly!

Extension Activities for HW #5

1. Explore a different MUD. To access a MUD other than MicroMUSE from your Unix account, you will need to find its address, which consists of a host name and a port number, and then run tf with the appropriate parameters. There are pointers to lists of MUDs and MUSEs on the class readings page for this week. Some MUDs will let you connect as a "Guest" character, some will let you create your own name when you first log in, and some require that you register and wait for approval before connecting.

   As two examples of communities you can try, there is LambdaMOO, mentioned in Sherry Turkle's book; and ChaosMAZE, a community of mostly twenty-something computer enthusiasts. You will probably find a huge crowd on LambdaMOO, but you never know for sure until you try. There's also the WELLmuse, but it does not currently accept guest logins. Talk with me if you want to join, but it is generally empty nowadays. To connect to the others using tf from your course Unix account, type:

   ~libcse10/bin/tf lambda.moo.mud.org 8888
   ~libcse10/bin/tf chaosmaze.org 4224

   Once you have connected to any MUD or MUSE you will be shown the opening screen, which generally gives instructions for logging in as a guest or a new player. Once online, explore! The commands for exploring and communicating are generally the same on all MUDs and MUSEs, although commands for building may be different (and in any case, Guests are not normally permitted to build).

2. As a simple extension, spend more time on MicroMUSE or DragonMUD. There's a lot to explore and people to talk to. Send any comments or questions to me, or to the class mailing list if you wish.

3. Either alone or in a group of 4 people, explore the Narnia adventure on MicroMUSE, my personal magnum opus. You'll find it by wandering to Section 5, Arc 2, or you can teleport to room number #36265. You'll find yourself in Aslan's Den. Actually getting in to Narnia is part of the puzzle.

4. Try some of the quests on DragonMUD.

5. Begin the process of becoming a permanent member of MicroMUSE, if you are interested. There is extensive online help on this subject and you can also ask any mentor -- but you may find the process a little cumbersome, although it isn't intended to be. You can get a list of available mentors with the @mentors command, or by checking the WHO list; mentors are those listed with an "M" in the "Flag" column.

6. Start learning how to build things on MicroMUSE. There is extensive online help if you want to push ahead with this. You each have a small quota for creating rooms and other objects. If you decide you'd like to do your class project on the MUSE you will need additional building quota; in that case you will want to go ahead with becoming a member as quickly as possible since only members may build extensively. Please let me know and I will help you with the process.