Building


This code is not meant to be an absolutely rigid law; there are, no doubt, reasons for the lack of ObvExits, short or nonexistent descs, and/or blank exits--on *some* rooms. However, public building is, on the whole, an almost formal affair. People new to the MUCK, considering characters, walk through our public areas to get a feel of how good our MUCK is, and if they want to be there. Good building in those areas is imperative if we want new players! If you walked into a MUCK where no public rooms were desced beyond "This is a street. There are two exits.", would you want to stay and get a character? For this reason, public building must follow a few simple rules. These are the same rules that will be used in making decisions in terms of granting public exits, and new public-room areas.

  • 1) Obvious Exits

    • The use of Obvious Exits (@succ here=@114, the default), or some similar exit-marking program. You can also put a list of the exits in the room description or on a sign, but there must be some easy way for people who've never seen your areas before to find their way around, and especially *into* and *out of* your work. If you want people to see the wonderful things you've built, you have to make it easy for them to get into and through! Mazes, and places where the point is that the explorer have a *hard* time getting through, don't need to do this, but for apartment complexes, forests, and the like, it's a definite necessity.
  • 2) Descriptions

    • A *complete* description. We've all seen the private homes whose owners have desced them 'This is the bedroom. There's a bed and a lantern." Does this impress? No. A *complete* description does not have to be a *long* one, but it does have to answer some questions about the room you are in. The MUCK is a world made completely of text; the less text you use, the smaller and more *dull* your world is going to be. What colour are the curtains, the floor? What's going on outside? Is there a pet? A door? What's the layout of the room? Is there a window? What's the *atmosphere*--is it cozy, scary, neat, messy? A complete description aims to create a picture of the room in the mind of the explorer--the more decorative, and descriptive, the better, and the more your explorer will like your work.
  • 3) Complete work

    • Described, @succed, @failed, @osucced, and @odropped exits. I'm sure you hate going through these messages on every exit you make, just like I do. However, remember the cardinal rule of building--you are making an area for OTHERS to see, understand, and enjoy. If you want to make an area for yourself and no-one else, then you can put it in an apartment building--but you're selling yourself short. If you have a public area, you're building so that people will walk through your stuff and go "OOooooh! That's NEAT!" People will have a much easier time exploring if you describe your exits so that they can tell where they are without having to look at the room eight times. In case you haven't noticed yet, exit descriptions are good places to add clues to mysteries, little details in the building, and even the occasional bad joke. :) They also make your building look thorough--like you took actual time to do it, rather than just plowing through six rooms and quitting. The @succ, @fail, and @odrop messages are there to add to the atmosphere of the MUCK. It makes more sense to see "Ginger walks in from the street outside." than to see just "Ginger has arrived." It looks better, and helps you envision the room you're in. The MUCK is a world of imagination-- give it the help it needs to become real, and add those little details. They make a world (pardon the pun) of difference.
  • 4) Enviroment Rooms

    • The proper environment room. Most people get this one right, but occasionally you'll get a down description of "You look further down into the water." in a street room, and occasionally you'll get some weirder things. Remember to make all things in an environment room that you create just as complex as you would in a "real" room: make an "up" and a "down" exit, and describe, @lock, and @fail them, and make those 'n;s;e;w;ne;se;sw;nw' exits unique, or at least interesting to encounter. And use *all* the names! People *do* type 'north' once in a while. :)
  • 5) Linked Exits

    • *****LINKED***** exits. I've ranted about this before, and I will do it again: 'blank' exits used for 'actions' in a room MUST BE LINKED to $nothing. *ANYONE*, not just the owner of the action, controls an unlinked exit. Other people can, and will, steal these exits, and you will NEVER KNOW, and your details, and all your work, will be lost. It takes one command--'@link =$nothing', and @succ messages can still be used on the exit--when you successfully use it, nothing happens, and only the @messages are displayed. (@succ, @osucc, @fail, @ofail, etc.) For more information on this, look at the 'help' under @succ, @lock, @link, @fail, and exits.
  • 6) Proper Flag

    • The proper flags. Unless you are planning to give your entire area to another player, setting your rooms, or indeed ANYTHING 'c' (chown_ok) is NOT a good idea. You will wake up one morning with a LOT more @quota, and one land mass missing from your @owned list, after someone walks through and @chowns all your stuff. And, unless it's your bedroom or something, or a very common area, you will be unable to prove that it's your stuff, and not the person who @chowned it's. Don't set ANYTHING you want to keep, and ESPECIALLY not public building, chown_ok.
  • 7) Naming Rooms

    • Public rooms and private rooms need to be named properly. To help keep the confusion down when people look at the find, please name the rooms in your home like this - Feep's Main Room, or Haunted Castle - Dungeon. Naming your rooms like this will let people know who's home you are in since there are unknown numbers of living rooms, bedrooms and such on the muck. Public areas, please mention the name of the town, or area, in the room name, such as Southern Caravan Road - Sun's Nest Plains to give the players an idea of where you are. If you don't want anyone knowing where you are, you can always set yourself private (f #help) or set the room location private (f #help).
    Some notes on other building related subjects: