Fi (aka Emily Spencer) has spent a lot of time helping newbies. She's come across some common questions along the way, and has collected some of them here. All of these questions were asked by actual newbies.
If you have more questions, please contact her on the MUD or email her here.
Later, check out the wiki (http://foofus.com/cgi-bin/wiki), an interactive webpage for managing roleplay and sharing information.
Also, consider joining the IconPlayers Yahoo-Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IconPlayers). It's an email list for players to talk about character generation, RP plots, times and places, and whatever else strikes your fancy (it doesn't have to be Icon related.)
OOC - Welcome to Iconoclast
Welcome to Iconoclast MUD, one of the many ways to experience the Iconoclast universe. Heading down, you'll discover an "Out-Of-Character" area for those who want to use the MUD as a tool for playing the RPG in an online forum (or just for hanging out and chatting with friends.) Above you, you'll be able to enter the normal "In-Character" portion of the MUD itself--be forewarned: you will be unable to re-enter this portion of the MUD once you head UP, in order to fully suspend disbelief in that realm. You may also wish to head North to check out a Beta-test version of our "Newbie Adventure."
[ Exits: n u d ]
Q: How do I get to New Aurora?
A: That's the city we're in. It's up there. We're in the Out-Of-Character area, now.
Q: how do I look at a description of people?
A: Use the "look" command, or "L" for short. So type "look" to see the room, and who's in it. Then type "look kram" to look at him. If you type "who" you can see everyone who's online, and it matches the OOC names to the IC names. We have OOC and IC names - you have to type the OOC name to look at people. So even though when I talk, it shows "Alexei Tchenko", to look at me you use "look rio"
(sample "who" list:)
[ Icons ]
Daray 'Danica Ayers' Sitting here, awaiting the next artifical tragedy.
Kram 'Kram' Hey, you're a GIRL dragon!
Rio 'Alexei Tchenko' koyaanisqatsi: a life out of balance.
Djohnny 'Mace Leuty'
SaintIgel 'Joel Dart' I plan to be able to buy and sell your soul. Sign up now!
Icons displayed: 6
Q: Where do I get money, start a new life?
A: You get money as a hand-out from experienced players. There's no effective way to earn/find money on the MUD itself. However, I encourage you to make up an in-character explanation for the money that you are given.
Q: Can you get jobs and a home here?
A: Jobs yes, homes no. Getting a job isn't really a priority.
Q: What kind of jobs can you get?
A: There are a couple of things you can do - create a make-believe job in your background. Just say that you do something, as long as it's not too rich or powerful. Or, you can roleplay being unemployed, and talk to other icons about getting a job. The whole job-thing is mainly a way to promote roleplay. It makes us interact with each other. If you look at "help icon" it gives a taste of what characters are sort of supposed to be like. Powerless, basically. That's in-character, anyways.
Q: Where can I check out my money and items?
A: Use the "stat" command. Also, see "help commands" for a list of commands on the mud.
A: Check these things out in the helpfiles or just try them: newbieinfo, who, index, look, maps, description, statistics, eq, inv, policy, names, channels, skilllist.
Q: What is the difference between OOC and IC?
A: OOC is out-of character, and IC is in-character.
Q: What do they mean?
A: When we're helping you, we're not in character. We're acting like our real selves, instead of playing a part. When I'm in character, I talk like Alexei, so I don't talk about real world stuff, or how the MUD works.
Q: How do you do an action?
A: Use the "emote" command. Type "em [action]".
Q: Where do I start out here?
A: I usually suggest that newbies explore the mud and/or the webpage, get ideas for their icon's background and personality, and make a physical description.
Q: Is there a place to go first?
A: North of here is a training area. Read everything, look at everything it says to look at, and get a feel for the commands.
Q: It's easy to get lost here.
A: Use the map in the helpfiles a lot. It's really helpful. One thing I suggest, to orient people, is to go visit all the labeled places on the map.
Q: How many new people come through here a day usually?
A: Maybe 3 or 4 new people a day, when I'm on. Some stay, but not all. Some people leave right away, when they find out what kind of mud this is. We don't have real combat, and some people want a mud with combat and levels. That's reasonable - different stuff for different people. This isn't like most muds. We focus on roleplay, not on combat. We have combat, but it's still in testing mode, so it's not very effective. You don't get anything from combat - no experience, no money. We don't have levels here, either.
Q: Can you kill people on here?
A: It's not allowed, unless both people consent. See "help policy".
Q: What is the command for the Aurora map?
A: type "help maps:map3"
Q: What do I have to do to stay alive? Where do I go?
A: On the map, there are two hotels labeled. There's free food at the South hotel, the Whistling Vagrant. When you enter the city, you're at the center of town, Nexus Plaza. That's the * on the map. You can always come back to this spot by quitting and re-entering the MUD. When you do that, your movement will be impaired for a few minutes.
(Map:)