Last updated: 14 May 1997
====================================================================
RealmsMUCK news index
builders -- information for builders
citizens -- info on Realm citizenship
directors -- the current directors for each area
muf-policy -- info on RealmsMUCK's MUF policy
purge-policy -- info on RealmsMUCK's idle character policy
registration -- information on applying for a character here
story -- a story about the history of RealmsMUCK
theme -- the theme of the muck
toading -- info on how to request to be toaded
wizzes -- the current wizards
====================================================================
REGISTRATION ------------ Please read the System Polices in the news before registering for a character. Type 'news' for the current lists of available. If you would still like to register after reading news and want a character here on RealmsMUCK, send the following information to mixtle@fur.com This information is important, please do not forget any part. All information will be held in the strictest of confidence. Lack of any field may result in your character's creation being delayed unnecessarily or not processed at all. Player Name(Both First and Last names): E-mail address: If this email is registered under another person, what is their name?: Character Name: Character Password: Any other characters on this MUCK? Names of other characters (if yes): Where did you hear about RealmsMUCK? If you do not have email access please contact one of the wizards on this or another muck to make special arrangements. You will receive notification one way or another within 72 hours of receiving your request. The wizards do have the right to reject an application if they feel that the person has a strong history of disregard of policies or the wizards have other cause/reasons. This is VERY rare, but does happen. All requests will be answered either by email, or mail on another muck . If the email is invalid, either by having an invalid host or invalid user, then the character will be immediately removed. However, the character can be requested again with a correct and valid email address that you have. Thank you -- The Registration Wizards ** The wizards reserve the right to refuse anyone access for any reason. All policies are considered guidelines, and the wizards reserve the right to take whatever actions they feel required to preserve the well being of the system. Policies subject to change without notice.
================================================================
Information for Builders
----------------------------------------------------------------
Just a few guidelines for builders:
1. Please do not duplicate any location currently described
on another mu*. We are attempting to make RealmsMUCK as
unique as possible.
2. Please do not leave rooms link_ok. Sdisks or other such
transportation will be provided if needed by the area
directors.
3. If building in an already-themed area, such as Pendor or
CyberFurry, please keep all of your building consistent
with the theme already given. If you want your own
'dimension', just talk to a wizard to get it okayed, and
begin construction. When completed, the area will be
connected to the entrance area of the Bar.
4. A building quota of 10 Things, 15 Rooms, and 50 Exits has
now been implemented due to the alarming increase of our
database. In four months time, we already have more
objects than Tapestries MUCK, which has been in existance
for over a year now. The Wizards regret this change, but
it is needed for the continuation of this MUCK.
Your building quota CAN be raised if the need presents
itself. Simply contact the building Wizard, Jethric, and
make your request.
================================================================
=====================================================================
Current Area Directors
Ringworld of Pendor -- Phae, Tesla
The Interdimensional Bar -- Sevnara
The 666 Planes of the Abyss -- Natasha, Sevnara
Macrophile -- Salex
Toon -- Squirrelly
Dragon Realm -- Thaenien
=====================================================================
================================================================
Theme
----------------------------------------------------------------
RealmsMUCK has been created with inspiration from such diverse
sources as Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, the Restaurant at the
End of the Universe, and Tales from the Outer Planes.
Existing at a nexus of dimensions and times, FurryBar exists
as a bar in every dimension touched by the nexus. It is a
location where sentient beings from very diverse places can
meet, talk, and explore other realms.
Realms so far known to be in contact with the Nexus, and
therefore the Bar, include the Ringworld of Pendor, the cyber-
tech future of CyberFurry, and the Future We'd Like to See.
Other dimensions are continually being discovered, as
travellers reach the bar.
=================================================================
Hearken, ye mortals, and believe that which is said, of the
history of the concept that will and has become the land which
is known as
RealmsMUCK
In the beginning, the world was barren, and without fun. For the
great entity known as The Internet had not yet been birthed.
In time, this great entity came to be, and then there was fun.
There was merriment. And there were MUCKs. As the great expanse
of Islandia fell, there arose a new land. A land where animals
walked and talked as men. Where fun abounded, but it was tainted
with the unwanted stain of politics.
And then once, there came a dream, of a MUCK run without
politics, without the spamminess and lag of the Land of Furries.
A dream that eventually became what was known as CyberFurry. But
it was not to be, for the host of CyberFurry, being not so
truthful as the Creators were led to believe, lost his hacked
account. And CyberFurry died.
And then, the light shown on another concept, but that too, was
not meant to be, for no host could be found that would hold the
concept in life and body.
And then there was Furriverse, which would also be known as The
Furgotten Realms. A MUCK purely composed of fantasy, drawn forth
in its entireity from the powerful imagination of the great
Creators. It was to be small, living its life on a misbegotten
AT&T pc386. But, due to the duplicity of certain nameless
horrors known as system managers, that poor pc386 would never
see the glories of the Internet.
And so, the concept died once more.
But death was not to be! For, like the eternal Phoenix, the
concept arose once again, in the theme similar to the great bar
in the sky, Callahan's. For multiple lands, and worlds, to all
have gateways to a pandimensional gathering spot. And such, was
FurryBar. But, as time went on, the powers that be became
dissatisfied with it.
But it did not die.
Instead, the concept evolved! Greater lands were conceived, to
be linked into the world of the FurryBar. The once-grand
ringworld of Pendor was restored from the disaster of the Great
Collapse, and the portal to and from the FurryBar was created.
And the remains of the land once called CyberFurry were
portalled onto the FurryBar, though they would not stay there
for long, for another would eventually come to rebuild the
spirit and theme of CyberFurry.
The Eternal Tourist brought the knowledge of his future land to
the FurryBar, and the gateway through time was brought into
being by the Creators.
For a brief time, one with extraodinary powers came to the Bar,
and opened a portal to his universe, a universe of Champions...
but his power was not to perservere, and the portal collapsed.
And the knowledge of the Land of the Giants came to the creators
of the FurryBar, and intrigued the Creators, and they brought
the land close, and linked it to our world, the Nexus of the
FurryBar.
Other portals were brought into being by the Creators, leading
to worlds beyond imagining, but some portals' existance were
limited, as was the portal to the universe of Champions, and
they vanished, never to be seen again... others, however,
continue to exist to the present day.
And such became RealmsMUCK, as it continues to evolve, to this
very day.
And this story is true, brought forth from the minds of the
Creators, I so swear. Amen.
================================================================ Toading - Leaving the Game - Recycling your character RealmsMUCK characters can be removed from the database on your request by the process known as toading. The process to get your character removed is as follows: Page or page #mail only ONE wizard from the character in question (making the request of multiple wizards can cause confusion.) Request that the character be marked for toading. Do this for each character you want removed. You may, optionally, have all of the belongings of your character given to another character, but only with the permission of that other character. After this, there is a 24-hour wait period. This is to ensure that the reqeust is not merely spur-of-the-moment; many people have changed their minds within this period. If, after 24 hours, you still wish to have your character recycled, contact the SAME wizard again and reiterate your request. The character will then be recycled; all of its belongings will either be deleted if they are simple personal belongings, or in the case of major building will be handled per the 'news purge-policy' (section II.B.), unless prior arrangements have been made. Once the character has been toaded, it is irrevocably gone and nothing can be recovered from it. ================================================================
=======================================================================
The Current RealmsMUCK Wizard Core
Mixtle MUF/Server/Cleaning/Registration/Building/Quota
Taisia Public Relations/Building/Quota
Jethric Public Relations/Building/Quota
Sevnara Public Relations/Realm Approval
Suzannah DB Maintenance & Cleaning/Mapping
Kimi Server Wizard
=======================================================================
Some discussion has been had on citizenship - as such, the following rules apply... The WizCore are considered Citizens of the MUCK. And as such, are considered citizens of whatever Realm they are currently within. All other players are citizens of one Realm, which can be set by a @set command in whatever way the Realmswizard decides. When within another Realm, other than their home, players are to be considered 'visitors' to the Realm, and be treated as such. I hope this helps, Sevnara, wizard
Guidelines to Proper Programming Etiquette
------------------------------------------
I. Privacy
A. Players of Realms are entitled to privacy. If you couldn't find
something out by normal means or without the permission of the users
involved, you should NOT be able to find it out with a program.
B. However, when you use certain programs, it is understood that the
program may store, relay, or use _reasonable_ information for
_reasonable_ purposes.
C. If you aren't sure a program would fit this guideline, please ask!
1. Bugs relay information to another person, room, or stores it for
later reading, without your implicit consent.
(a) Examples of legal programs:
(1) Public programs such as page and spoof, which only use
information for administrative purposes, and are documented
as to this use.
(2) Programs that broadcast messages for the purposes of
"virtual reality" such as a program to let you be heard
from a stage. However it is possible to disguise the use
of such programs. This latter use is unethical.
(3) Bulletin boards, mailing systems, and other programs meant
to record and display messages for the public, with the
user's explicit consent.
(b) Examples of illegal programs:
(1) Programs that duplicate "page", "whisper", "say", "spoof",
"pose", etc. in order to record or relay information
without the player's knowledge.
2. Scanners find information about other players, their properties,
or belongings, that would not normally be available, and which
the player does not wish revealed.
(a) Examples of legal programs:
(1) A program that only shows you messages or properties which
are set specifically for that program. E.G. a smell
program might show you people's smell messages, but it
would be unethical to write programs to read people's smell
messages at a distance, without their consent.
(2) Programs that show you information which you could obtain
another way, e.g. a program to tell you which of a
selected group of people are on the WHO list, or a
program to tell you what exits go from rooms that you own.
Owners can always examine anything they own.
(3) In reasonable circumstances, programs may show you
information such as which players are in another room IF
it is known to the people in this room that they may be
observed. E.G. a transparent exit description for windows.
(b) Examples of illegal programs:
(1) Programs that show you properties or messages on players,
objects, and so forth that you do not own and could not
normally find out.
(2) Programs that reveal private exits in rooms without the
permission of the room's owner. (similarly, programs to
locate players without their permission)
II. Respect - Spoofers and Markers
A. Certain programs may, while not invading a player's privacy, harass
that player, or make it possible to do so in a way that is
undetectable. Players are entitled to respect and dignity.
1. Spoofers allow a player to simulate another player's actions.
This would allow players to forge incriminating or insulting
messages under that player's name.
2. Messages that could potentially be spoofed should be made
apparent in some plain and obvious manner or changed to remove
this danger.
B. Markers are programs that change, add to, or remove player
properties without their implicit permission.
1. Examples of legal programs:
(a) Programs may set temporary properties, or properties that
obviously belong to the program, and do not interfere with
other programs or the user's convenience. Use the feature of
propdirs whenever it it is possible to avoid cluttering
properties all over a player or an object. E.G. the page
program sets a number of properties for records keeping.
(b) Programs that explicitly give the user full knowledge of what
changes are about to be made. E.G. role-playing systems and
shape-shifting programs that modify your description.
(c) Programs for building assistance, which change your properties
and/or objects in an approved way, and are known to the user
of the program that such changes will take place if this
program is used.
2. Examples of illegal programs:
(a) Programs to overwrite another player's descriptions, messages,
their personal properties, properties used by other programs,
etc. without their consent.
(b) Programs meant to harass them by insulting, annoying, or
otherwise inconveniencing them, e.g. programs to send a spoof
message directly to a player without the player's permission,
or to whisper to all but one player. This may be a touchy
area, so consult one of the Muf Wizards if you are in question.
III. Other Prohibited Programs
A. Realms prohibits general teleporter programs that would allow
players to invade private rooms or that are intended to violate
virtual reality, e.g. encouraging people to teleport directly to a
room, ignoring intervening areas. We build areas here for the
purpose of others getting the chance to view them, and the artist's
work. Please try your best to do just that.
B. Teleporters may be allowed in limited cases, but only for very
specific reasons and purposes. They must follow these restrictions:
1. Players must agree explicitly, or implicitly by entering a
vehicle, following another player, being picked up by that
player, etc. to be moved.
2. Programs to move players can only move players from or to rooms
for which they have permission, and under such circumstances as
are appropiate, e.g. a taxi might have stops in different rooms
with the permissions of these rooms' owners.
3. Such programs must be appropiate to the circumstances, the
"virtual reality" of the situation in question, etc. The leash
program which is provided for in the Pendor world is one example
of this.
IV. What Happens If I Make A Mistake?
A. There are three steps, depending on seriousness of the offense.
Accidents and oversights happen; on the other hand, a deliberate
infraction may well lose you your MUCKER bit immediately. You will
be informed of the reasons for any actions we take as regards you
or your programs.
1. If you write a program considered abusive, forbidden, redundant,
or undesired, you will be talked to about why you need such a
program.
(a) If the reasons are acceptable, the program may be allowed as
is, or we may suggest how it can be modified to make it fit the
guidelines.
(b) If the reasons are unacceptable or inadequate, you may be
warned to remove the program, or else modify it so that it will
be acceptable.
2. If you don't comply with requests to modify or remove a program
that is particularly abusive, then the program may be removed.
Programs that may crash the server may also be confiscated or
removed. You will be told how and why the program crashes the
server.
3. If you repeatedly upload programs that were removed as abusive,
or crash the server, or otherwise abuse your MUCKER bit, then
you may be deMUCKERed and offending programs will be removed.
V. Appeals will be allowed under extenuating circumstances.
Character purges
================
I. Frequency and Notifying.
A. Character purges will normally be done twice a year, at approximately
one month after each school semester starts: Late September and late
February.
B. Adequete time of notification will be given before purges begin. Most
often this will consist of a message in the motd (messages of the day
announcements), with at least one week advance warning, which will
include a weekend. (See Other Notes, III-C, below, though!)
II. Procedure and Implementation
A. Once purges start, procedure as to who will be purged will be as
follows:
1. Any characters with a last connect time of more than the cutoff
length (see below), that have built nothing, and have not been
marked as do-not-purge, will be purged immediately.
2. All other characters with a last connect time of more than the
cutoff length that have things built, will be sent page #mail
regarding their upcoming deletion (in case it is a secondary
character and it has page #forwarding or it is page #checked
by a more active character). The character will also be dealt
with as follows:
a. If an email address exists for that character, in our records,
and it is valid, we will send an email notification to that
address, and wait for at least one week. If at the end of
that time, no replies have been received, the character will
be purged.
b. If no email exists, or the current email is invalid, then
the character name will be added to the to-be-removed list,
and again one week will be given for a wait time. If no reply
has been received by that time, the character will be purged.
(1) If a claim is made on a character via the page #mail
message warning, you will be asked to prove this is your
character by logging into it, or some other verifyable
means. Passwords will not be changed without any proof.
(2) If no valid claims present themselves, the character will
be purged.
3. If the character has a last connect time of within the cutoff
time, or the character has been marked as do-not-purge in some
way, then nothing will be done with the character.
B. Purges will be implemented as follows:
1. All personal actions, exits, rooms, things, and programs that
contain no outside links to them, will be recycled.
2. Any programs with multiple links will be checked for usefulness.
Useful programs will be chowned over to a wizard, while non-useful
or programs that are repetitive will be recycled, and the linked
actions will either be recycled or relinked to the existing
program, respectfully.
3. All other public objects will be checked, and either chowned over
to the controller of the surrounding area you built in, chowned
over to the controller of the realm they are in, chowned over to
a wizard, or recycled, depending on various factors such as
usefullness, frequency of use, ease of accessability, etc.
III. Other Notes
A. The current time for cutoff is 15 weeks (ie: 3 months).
B. If you know you are going to be away for extended periods of time
when it will come due for character purgings and you wish to save
your character, notify Mixtle, or another wizard, and you will be
marked as not-to-be purged.
C. Exception to being notified of purges: If a character has built
nothing, not logged in for longer than the cutoff period, has no
email in our records, and has not set any properties on the
character (program set properties do not count), then the character
can be recycled at anytime without notification.
D. Second exception to being notified of purges: If a character has
not logged in for longer than three times the cutoff period, the
wizards have right to recycle any/all possessions and the character
itself at any time without notification.
Return to the RealmsMUCK home page.
Last Modified: 24 Feb 1998 / Responses to mixtle@fur.com