The three main building blocks of Ishar are ROOMS, MOBILES, and OBJECTS.
Rooms are the spatial components of the virtual world. Rooms always have
names and numbers, they usually have exits to other rooms and descriptions to
give them some flavor.
Mobiles (mob for short) are computer generated entities. They usually
provide a service (eg. janitors), but sometimes they are just there for
decoration. Mobiles sometimes have a limited sort of awareness of certain
events but they are NOT intelligent.
Objects (obj for short) are just what the name suggests: computer generated
objects--armor, weapons, bulletin boards.
You move around the world and interact with mobiles, objects and your
fellow users by entering plain English commands. For example, suppose you use
the 'who' command and notice your good friend, Bif, is logged in. Here is a
possible sequence of events. The text that you supposedly typed is next to
the > prompts.
> goto bif
(1541) Secluded Courtyard
The merry sound of laughing children can occasionally be heard above
the lilting music of an unseen string quartet. Lush plant-life
surrounds you, filling the air with the earthy perfume of life.
A bulletin board is mounted here. (2 unread)
A weary janitor makes his appointed rounds.
Bif is standing here.
Muffy is standing here.
> say Howdy Bif! Hiya Muffy!
You say, "Howdy Bif! Hiya Muffy!"
> tickle muffy
You tickle Muffy.
Muffy smiles happily.
Bif smiles at you.
> say I just posted to the board in 1334, go take a look.
You say, "I just posted to the board in 1334, go take a look."
Muffy says, "I'll check it out, be right back."
Muffy disappears in a puff of smoke.
In this example, 'Secluded Courtyard' is the room's name. The room's
number is 1541 and the room has a description.
You used the 'goto' command to get there as did Muffy when she left. Since
you gave Muffy the room number, she probably did a 'goto 1334' to get there.
Users, mobiles, objects and room numbers can all be used with the goto
command.
The room contained 2 users (3 counting you), a janitor mob, and a bulletin
board with 2 messages you haven't read.
You used the 'say' command to communicate which sends your speech to the
other occupants of the room. Muffy also used this command when she agreed to
look at your board posting.
You each used a type of command known as a 'social'. You tickled Muffy and
Bif and Muffy each used the 'smile' social. Muffy simply typed 'smile' and
Bif typed 'smile <your name>' to smile at you. There are LOTS of socials and
they really liven up communication.
Let's continue our example just a bit further:
Bif says, "By the way, what's the deal with this door here."
> say What door? There was never a door here before...
You say, "What door? There was never a door here before..."
> exits
south: Cobbled Walkway
east : The door is closed.
out : Cobbled Walkway
> look east
A heavy, oaken door.
The door is closed.
> open door
It appears to be locked.
> unlock door
You don't have the proper key.
> tell muffy Do you know where this new door goes to?
You tell Muffy, "Do you know where this new door goes to?"
Muffy tells you, "Nope."
> say An entrance to another game, maybe.
You say, "An entrance to another game, maybe."
You have used the 'exits' command to display the possible exits. The room
names given, along with the direction to go to get there. The east exit is
closed. MOST exits are named north, south, east, west, up or down and you can
move through them by typing n,s,e,w,u or d. There is the occasional oddly
named exit, such as 'out', and you can move through these by typing 'go <exit
name>' ('go out' in this case).
You used the 'look' command to see what was to the east. The look command
can be used to look at other users, mobiles or objects the same way.
You tried to open, then unlock the door.
You tried to use the 'goto' command with a room number as a target. The
message indicates that the target room is not open to users for one reason or
another.
You used the 'tell' command to ask Muffy about the door. The 'say' command
goes to everyone in the room, but 'tell' is used for private, person-to-person
communication across any distance. Even though Bif was in the room with you,
he could not hear your tell to Muffy or her tell to you.
That should give you the flavor of the system. Here is a list of some
basic commands that you might want to get help on for more information:
say <something> - says <something> to everyone in room.
tell <person> <thing> - tells <thing> to <person> privately.
who [<person>] - tells you who is logged in or who <person> is.
quit - to leave the system.
goto <target> - transports you instantly to <target>.
exits - show the exits in a room.
n,s,e,w,u,d,go <exit name> - move through an exit.
look [<thing>] - look at people, objects, directions, rooms.
get,put,drop,wear,remove - object manipulation.
Here are some topics of interest:
socials - defines and gives a list of available socials.
boards - information on Ishar's bulletin boards.
librarians - information on Cyberverse file transfer.
world - additional information about the virtual world.
slang - lists and defines some popular terminology.
shopkeepers - describes how to buy and sell virtual objects.
mud basics - information on the best game ever!