Step Three: Connecting and Getting Information
From ElanVital
The first step to get you on the road towards starting on Elan Vital is probably going to be to collect more information on the game, so not only can you have a helluva good time on the grid, you can do so coherently. There are a couple different ways you can go about this search for information.
First, you might want to have a look around our Wiki to get your basics. This page has some good starter pages (I know the list is long--don't feel compelled to read everything now, these are just good pages to point you towards the things you'll need to familiarize yourself with over time). If you're curious about the rest (there's plenty more!) you should visit our index and see if anything catches your eye.
The second way to go about gathering information is to actually log onto the MUSH and have a poke around. If you've already got an MU* client, point it at evmush.com port 1790 and skip down to the section headed "The Newbie Channel". If you haven't got one yet, you can choose either the Telnet or SimpleMU options below, or choose to connect without a client by clicking this link. If you choose that latter option, type "Connect Guest Guest" into the bar at the bottom (sans quotes), hit the enter key, and skip down this page to the bit about the newbie channel. ;-)
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Telnet
Being a MUSH, Elan Vital is telnet-based, and you need a client to make it work. Microsoft Windows comes with a (very basic) one, which, if you select "Run" on your start menu and type in telnet.exe, will pop right up.
You kinda have to like pain to use the telnet client that comes with windows. It's not pretty. It's a pain in the neck. I strongly recommend you get a better one if you want to make MU*ing a hobby (there's a number of good free ones available on the internet)--but it is a good basic "let's get started right now" client. When it pops up, you should be looking at a big black window that says "Welcome to Microsoft Telnet Client" in bulky grey lettering across the top. First thing you want to do is set the localecho, which should at least make it so you can see what you're typing after you log onto the game. (Yeah, if you don't, you won't be able to see a thing you're doing after you actually connect). To do this, type "Set Localecho" without the quotes. It should look like this:
>> set localecho
Local echo on
After that's done, you'll want to actually connect to the game. That goes something like this:
>> open evmush.com 1790
Connecting To evmush.com...
And the welcome screen pops up. You should see the Titania Grand Arcology laid out in ASCII and looking a bit like a big wedding cake. Now typing "Connect Guest Guest" without the quotes should log you into our guest account.
SimpleMU
SimpleMU is a free telnet client available for download on the internet that makes your MUSH interface much cleaner and easier to deal with. It's small, uses very little memory to run, and very easy to figure it out. (Besides, if you keep reading, the tutorial will walk you through setting up Elan Vital in your client.) To download, simply visit this page and follow the instructions through there. It will tell you that it has a better version you can pay for, and this is perhaps true if you're fond of having a built-in text editor and spellchecker, but it runs perfectly all right without paying for that and won't time out on you. Unless you just want to, there is no reason you should feel pressured to upgrade.
Once you've got the program on your computer, select from your start menu and fire it up. Ignoring the yellow text informing all about how you should fork over your money for the text editor and spellchecker, select "File" (upper lefthand corner) from the toolbar running along the top.
Two options down, with a weird little two-dot icon next to it, you should see an option labeled "New Connection Wizard". Click it. Yay! Now we see a pop-up window asking for the site address. For EV, you want to enter "evmush.com" into that bar and hit "next".
Now it wants a port number. EV's is 1790. When it asks for the type of game in the next window, click the top bubble--you know, the one labeled MUSH, MUX or MOO.
When it asks for the site name, you can call it pretty much anything you want. What you enter into this bar will be the term the client will refer to it by when you try to connect. For simplicity's sake, you probably just want to type in "Elan Vital" and click finish.
You have now effectively programmed Elan Vital into your address book. The nifty pop-up window has probably left, and you're probably left staring at the black screen with the yellow text you were looking at before. Now, however, you're ready to connect. Click on "File" again and select "Connect To" from the drop-down window. In the menu that appears on the right, just click on Elan Vital (or whatever you entered as the site name). Now your black screen should fill with our start screen--the Titania Grand Arcology in all it's wedding-cake-esque splendor. Type in "Connect Guest Guest", hit the enter button, and welcome to the game. :)
The Newbie Channel
Channels, sometimes called chans, are one of the primary ways we communicate OOCly on EV. As a Guest, you only have access to the one called <Newbies>, but for gathering information, this is plenty. When you log on, chances are someone will greet you. It will look something like this:
<Newbies> Kavi says, "Hi there!"
To speak on-chan, you type a + sign, enough letters to indicate the channel you want to talk on, and your message. So, for the newbie channel, +new <message>. Or:
>> +new Hiya!
<Newbies> Guest says, "Hiya!"
Usually, there will be someone online who can tell you about the game and answer whatever questions you come up with. If you're not certain who's online (or if there's anyone on at all), just type "who" and it will pull up a list of connected players.
You can also pose on-chan by using a : in front of your message, so that it looks something like this:
>> +new :waves.
<Newbies> Guest waves.
A ; will do the same thing, but omit the space between your name and the text you wish to enter.
>> +new ;'s just looking around.
<Newbies> Guest's just looking around.
The newbie channel is there for you to use, so don't be shy about it, and don't worry about bothering anybody. Anyone who doesn't want to help newbies is fully capable of turning the channel off, so generally everyone who talks there is willing and ready to help you out any way they can.
Page and @Mail
Two other ways in which you can contact people on the MUSH are pages and @mails. A page allows you to talk directly to a connected player (kinda like IM), whereas @mail is more like an in-game email account. To page someone, type "page <person>=<message>".
>> page Kavi=Can you help me?
You paged Kavi with, 'Can you help me?'
Kavi then gets your message instantly on her screen.
The syntax for an @mail is similar, but allows you to leave a message in their inbox which will wait for them. To @mail, a character does not need to be connected, though they do for a page. To send one, simply type "@mail <person>=<subject>/<message>".
>> @mail Ifrit=Bug/I think there's a bug in the staffrequest system.
You sent your message to Ifrit.
It should be noted that if you're using @mails to transmit messages in-game from character to character, it will be assumed that the message is OOC information only unless you specify otherwise in the text of your message.
Return to The Walkthrough
Continue to Step Four: Creating a Character
