Building 101 and Beyond

So what's a B-Bit and how do I get one? or What the heck are these lumps of clay?

New players are sometimes surprised that they can't immediately start building when they arrive at EMuck.  In order to build on EMuck you need a Builder bit, or B-bit.  Players have to 'earn' their B-bits by successfully furnishing their apartments.  This process is an attempt to keep players from leaving poorly-built objects around the muck by ensuring that any player building has the basic skills necessary to, at the very least, furnish his or her own place.

In order to help you furnish your apartment, you're provided with two lumps of clay and 4 blank actions.  To get these, just type @furnish.  A good tip before you start in on your lumps of clay is to decide what actions you'll assign to them BEFORE you start naming and describing the objects.  This will avoid the all too common situation of looking at two very lovely objects that don't easily lend themselves to actions.  Another tip is to remember the actions that are already commands, like 'get' and 'look' - don't plan on being able to use these as valid actions.

Emuck's building-meister Eddie suggests linking your lumps to clay to your room if the lumps are to be objects of the room, otherwise actions linked to them may cause the objects to move.

The tools you'll need to use to form your lumps into lava lamps and get those actions groovin' are pretty basic.  You'll note that most of the commands have corresponding 'o' commands - the 'o' stands for OTHERS and is what other players will see.  For example, the DESC is what the person looking at your object will see, the ODESC is what everyone else in the room will see someone looks at your object.  If you object is, for example, a lava lamp, then the DESC and ODESC might be :

@desc lava lamp=It's a red lava lamp                 [player types 'look lava lamp' and sees "It's a red lava lamp"]
@odesc lava lamp=looks at the lava lamp [player types 'look lava lamp' and others in the room see "player looks at the lava lamp"]

  The commands you'll need are:

Some things to remember when furnishing your apartment:

When you've shaped your lumps of clay into objects and have your actions working, muckmail the admins that you're ready to have your apartment inspected.    Assuming every checks out A-okay, the B-bit is yours!  It's that easy!

If you still think that this sounds like a lot of work, keep in mind that the objects that you make from your lump of clay can be anything you want them to be.   If you have grander plans for what you'd like to build, remember you can use your objects for your subsequent building endeavors.  Think of them as freebies - anything else you build once you have your B-bit will cost you tickets.

The articles presented in this newsletter represent the   views and opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of AmberThree Productions or EntertainMUCK.