How to Play World of Naruto MUD
What you need to know before you first play our game for the very first time will depend on your experience with other, similar things. This is listed in order from stuff for the expert newbie down to the brand new newbie.
Elite beginner - You have played a Rom-based MUD before
If you have played MUDs that are based on the Rom (Rivers of Mud) codebase, or even a similar codebase like Smaug, Circle, Diku or Merc, then you will be in a good position to enjoy World of Naruto without needing too much help.
You will already be familiar with the kind of code that we are using and the layout. Indeed, you will find a lot of familiarity with some of our areas. Our Ninja Academy is a reworked Mud School which is available in most Rom MUDs.
You will also find that many of our other areas are reworked too. We do have truly original areas too though, don't fear! One thing that you might find difficult to get used to is that we use "perform" instead of the more familiar
"cast" and that people use "jutsus" instead of "spells". Also, some things which are justus are in the "skills" list. If you are used to "recall", instead try "anki". To get back to the central point, from anywhere, type "anki", then up and down again. That takes you to Iruka, the central person.
Also, if you "die" (actually, you are rescued), you need to GET ALL SUITCASE instead of GET ALL CORPSE (this is for RP reasons, because you aren't really dead). You will also note at level 21 that you can't go any further. This is
because we have exams to make sure that you are truly worthy of each stage. You need to do the Genin Exams before progressing. Also you should read up about blood summons, which you can get by level 10.
Advanced beginner - You have played some kind of MUD before
If you have played MUDs but the ones that you played were very different, then you are still in a very good position to cope well with World of Naruto. If you have played a MUD where they had separate starting points, you should be
aware that, at least for most villages, we are currently just using reworked stock Rom areas, and as such they aren't all the same and some (such as Sound and Rain) are actually quite hostile to low-level players. At least until you
know what you are doing more (and have read HELP DIRS), just go up and down again from your anki spot. One thing that might confuse you is why you get less experience when you gain levels. In Rom MUDs, the idea is that each level you
get the same amount of experience per level every level, which is usually set at 1,000 experience points per level (in some MUDs, you can choose how many experience points per level, but we have basically got rid of that idea). Don't
be alarmed if you are only getting 50 experience points per kill. This is normal. If you are used to having to get 50 million experience points for a level, think of it as only needing 20 kills to gain a level, rather than the
experience points. At 50 million exp per level you probably needed 20 kills per level too. Another thing to be aware of is that you don't start off with all skills - you can GAIN them later. You might not want to for a while either,
as you might prefer to TRAIN your stats first. Also note that you type GIVE RIBBON ANKO instead of GIVE RIBBON TO ANKO (there is no "to") and you also don't need an "at" (e.g. LOOK ANKO instead of LOOK AT ANKO).
Basic beginner - You have played some kind of MMORPG or other internet roleplaying game before
If you are used to the concept of a MMORPG or internet roleplaying game then you are in a good position to get used to a MUD like World of Naruto, although it will take some getting used to. World of Naruto is a text-based game,
which means that you have to read things and type things. If you have a bad typing speed, then you might like to set up some aliases and triggers so that you simply type in C to make a chakra ball, for example. To do this,
type in: ALIAS C PERFORM CHAKRA. Then when you want to make a chakra ball, you simply type C by itself (when in battle), or C (victim's name) (e.g. C monster). Otherwise, it is much the same. Instead of pushing your mouse north,
you type north (or simply N). Instead of automatically seeing everything, you type LOOK. Instead of seeing blood, you see a screen full of text saying that you hit something and killed it. Perhaps the most important thing that
will confuse you is how to talk. MUDs use channels. Much like how in an MMORPG you have a box where you type something to say to people (or a way to speak into a microphone in some games), on a MUD you use channels. On World of
Naruto, the most popular channel is OOC (which stands for Out of Character). Thus, to talk to everyone in the game, type "OOC hi". There are other channels, such as NEWBIE, MUSIC and others. You can also type SAY hello to talk to
someone in the room with you. If typing SAY every time is too annoying, simply type ' instead. "'Hi'" will say hi, but only to whoever is in the room. Perhaps the most important thing that will make things easier is covered in
question 4: do you have a MUD client.
In need of a program - you do not have a MUD client
If you do not have a MUD client, you *CAN* use our java program. This will connect you straight to our MUD. The best way of thinking of this, in terms of other games you play, is that the java program is a
"demo version". In other words, it stinks to all hell. You can't see what you are typing, if you fight it all spams so quickly that you don't know what is going on, and so forth. It just plain sucks. It is nonetheless very
useful for people who can't use a MUD client, for example people logging on from work. If you seriously want to play, download a MUD client! This is a bit like downloading some files when you first connect to Everquest or Diablo
or Starcraft or some other online game for the first time. You download it, install it, and then the game works properly. Unlike many other games, this one is free for the full version as well as for the demo. You will, however,
need to read the instructions for how to download and set up the client. I (Ichike, the game's creator) personally use GMud but there are
a myriad of others that you can use.
In deep trouble - you can't figure out how to set up a MUD client, or install java, or otherwise work out how to play our game
MUDs are difficult to figure out for some people. They were first designed in the 1970s, in the early days of the internet, and predate e-mail and even the world wide web itself. Back then, text was all that you could get. As
such, while they were made to be simple to use in comparison to what was about then, they are really complicated to use in comparison to programs like ICQ or using a web forum. If you find this kind of thing too difficult to
figure out, then MUDs probably aren't the kind of thing for you. There are many Naruto forum games that you can play, and even some web-based games that you can play instead. World of Naruto and MUDs in general are not for
everyone. As a side note, if you can't currently figure it out, but do want to try, then a good thing is to get a friend who does know how to sit down with you when you do it. If not, then try wading through
The Mud Connector and see how you go. If you have enough patience, then you will eventually learn what you are missing out on.
These are the basics of how to play World of Naruto. For more information on specific aspects, please read our sections on villages, clans, specialties
and on the world itself.
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