Fyrd Argentus

Too many "soft" rules. What is not prevented by game mechanics ought to be allowed - bugs excepted. If MD grows, you'll have no choice in the matter, as the ratio of players to police will keep climbing. Besides, MD needs more dollars... [Edit - to connect the dots - I say either allow credit transfers regardless, or stop them completely. Get rid of the soft middle ground being proposed here. And I think MD will get more dollars out of the rich if they can spend on more things. I think the game as a business entity is desperate enough to continue down this path already in place and can't afford to pull back on a source of income.]

How about "Erolin Control" and you talk about your Control Level and Control Points... You could also adopt the term "manna" and redefine it from its common meaning....

A petition is generally directed TO someone, and I'm pretty sure no higher authority is going to intervene here. What you really are doing, or need to do, is recruit a number of like-minded folks who can formulate a plan of action to address the problem. I personally have no game-mechanics-based method for affecting unallied MP3 and MP4. All I can offer is the "public humiliation and shunning" scenario I've tried to outline, for those who do not respond to sweet reason and civil communications of course. What other people of similar MP level can do, or threaten, is of course to cap the players so they no longer get anything from hitting on you. A fair system whereby the accused is confronted, given a last chance, then condemned, would be in order.

[u]*Burns*: [/u]Long, long time ago, a sweet girl named Calyx of Isis found this place suited as her 'Dojo'. Back then, most people actually were at Willow's to fight people. And she didn't like it much, so put up this place as half-sanctuary for people to train fighting. It was intended that nobody attacked anybody here, unless for genuine sparring fights, and healing. She got some people who helped her, etc. etc. In the end, it was a pretty nice place to be, little fighting groups here and there, people actually learned something, and then left to explore the world. For various reasons that don't play a big role here, Calyx left, and the remnants of her dojo didn't work without her. After a while, some people got pretty expansive powers to protect the dojo, and it was shut down due to peer pressure. We actually didn't like that people got such powers to enforce a community project. Not at all. Well, basically, we've hit on the guards until they left. We can cope with authority and minor punishments, but there was actually somebody who sent somebody to jail about attacking in dojo. And not somebody with experience in such matters, either. Shadowseeker refreshed the idea and wanted to use his experience with powers to make it better. He got improved rules, which are practically the ones on the signpost, and some people who supported him. The idea was to not use LHO powers or something, but the ones everybody could gain to drive offenders out. [u]*Shadowseeker*: [/u]The improved rules also cut the MP5 out, which originally were included. (which was a major reason for dissent and trouble as well) [u]*Burns*: [/u]Seekers idea found a lot more support amongst veterans because, unlike Dojo, he wasn't dependent on Mur's will to give out ban spells and such. He found a nice middle between open fighting and protection everybody could live with. Shadow got really fed up with that, because everybody complained about attackers behind his back, but nobody EVER reported one to him. So he gave up on it and left all of it to itself. That's what you got today He even stopped refreshing the rule-page, which he wrote himself originally, i just incorporated a copy on the signpost for reference. There, that's how much work it is. List of offenders, created. The rest is up to you, go organize yourselves...

This is the condensed version of a conversation thread that I felt needed preserving. ============================= The real basics for beginners, before trying to understand the forum examples... Once you have clickie access via your 3rd wp, when you look at a clickie, you see a new button "edit own". Clicking on "edit own" you have 4 fields: Title, Password, Content, and Code. Normally a visitor sees everybody's work that has no password. These expire every 14 days, however, and become invisible (not gone) until they are refreshed. This is what is going on with the MDA books. If you put up a password (which must be unique to that clickie), then your work is visibile forever, but only to people who input your password. Each player has only one set of work per clickie. Thus, if you have something you want to post for a quest, I probably already have stuff most places for my own quest, but somebody like Apophys has a blank slate and an easier job posting something for you on a temporary basis. When the clock hits the top of the hour, all work in progress is flushed, so save often and watch the clock. Also, it has happened that the MD system has lost all clickie files. Archive everything you don't want to recreate. The title appears at the top of the viewer's screen automatically in special font. Note the author's name only appears if there are multiple authors and a list of choices to view (no password). If you put in NO CODE, then whatever is in the "content" section is just dumped to the viewer. If you put in code, then you must transfer anything from the content section over to the viewer bit by bit. The content is broken into blocks with a special LINE of characters which you must copy exactly between blocks. Then the blocks of content are called @content[0], @content[1], @content[2] and so forth and you use something like echo @content[3] to spit it out. However, each code statement is separated from the others by a ";" (this is number 2 source of bugs, forgetting the ";")and you must specify line breaks, so the actual code line probably would read echo @content[3]."<br>"; If and only if you have a code section, the first line of code must be the location statement copied from the header -- something like (locations 1_2x4_1) but no ";" needed. Unfortunately, this is just a hacker defense thing, and you must copy your clickie code in each location you want it to run - you can't just say multiple locations. The primary source of bugs is that any use of a reserved/function word inside a text is blocked, as a protection to the MD system. So you can't say for instance: echo "extend"; You must say: echo "ex"."tend"; ... wherein the single dot appends the two legal text fragments together. Three dots in a row is not legal, you must separate them with spaces. Etc. <br/> is line-break within a "content" section that is being echoed. "<br>" is what you would put in the echo statement inside code. Examples of conditional statements are: if( [s]condition [/s]){ [s]action1 [/s]; [s]action2 [/s]}; if( [s]condition [/s]){ [s]action1 [/s]} ELSE { [s]action2[/s];[s]action3[/s]}; ...where the struck through portions are code you write. For readabiliy, break this up on many lines and use indents, of course. Logical comparison operands are || for logical OR, && for logical AND, == for equivalence check (single "=" is "assign this value" operation, not check if equal), > and < work as expected. When you get to inputing data, realize that the whole page of code is executed including the input prompts and everything after them, and it does not wait for input. You must conceal the parts you're not ready to show with IF statements. When a player hits a button, putting something into your input variable, the entire page of code executes again. You must use the input value (originally == "" or null) and IF statements to then change which portions of your code execute or not on the second and subsequent passes through the code. Okay, with this much background, you can probably make more sense out of the forum section on MD Script. Go read! ========================= Apophys gave us code for his music player at Marind's Roundabout - it is his call if he wishes to share this here in the more public forum. ========================== Well, the line break thing is very confusing. Things don't work the way you expect, and MDScript is not html, it simply lets you dump html as content -- sometimes. I think php is closer to MD script than html is. Content does not behave the same if it is the default as opposed to being echoed. What I wrote above seems to have worked for me, after trying to wrestle with format for a long frustrating time. Try it sometime and check me. I am a pioneer-spirit here, not an expert. ================================== There are 3 ways I know to carry data from clickie-interaction to clickie-interaction. KEYS are things that are attached to a player profile. You have a key that says you defeated the willow guards, or have this or that piece of armor, etc. If you have done my quests, I have given you keys that say you have won each step. Any player that [can code and] knows the secret names I made up for them can read, or even change, the keys that I have assigned -- but only if [player with said key] visits [the coder's] clickie. ONE variable per coder/player combo may be saved by store(varname) and recovered by retrieve(varname). It just holds the last one you stuffed in there. I think you can save an array, but before I figured that out, I did a lot of clumsy work-arounds hashing multi-digit numbers to keep track of quests. This can't be accessed except by the coder/player combo that created it, but it is the same pigeonhole for all the different clickies involved. mds_storage functions are different, and I'm told that if you define a variable as "aoau" which means "all object all user", you can define and store any number of these. Then, they are linked only to your code, and don't depend on which user accesses the code. These can be arrays. There is a forum thread "Are there Global Variables?" that explalin their usage and I've been studying this and will try it very soon. Stay tuned. =================================== VonUngernSternberg wrote: Hi, I found a description of storage types here http://magicduel.inv...dpost__p__45805 The post talks also about some document that either has never been released or I'm not able to find it. =========================================== VonU's link was exactly what I needed to define any number of arrays, one to keep track of names of players in the "game", each one's position, and so forth. He asked the status of [my game-quest], so here goes.... 1. RL is pretty busy/stressful so my time is limited. 2. I consider it a necessity to interface this with the rest of my quest. I need to give some advantage or other to those who have completed that, and I'm still working on the storyline issues there. And why is this game being fought? I'm thinking 2 factions, but that's variable - you can do more than 2 sides in chess.... The first thing I will do is a storyline around the two factions, more background hints about what is going on, etc. leading up to an invitation to join in the game... 3. One prototype for the "chess-like" multiplayer game is based on a computer game called "Alice" where you race against the computer clicking in chess moves as quick as you can trying to take the enemy pieces, while it tries to take YOU (You take the role of Alice as the queen, and only piece, on her side). My vision is where you choose up sides, one piece per player, then everybody gets to move once per 24 hours. Do we start the battle before 16 register? Can players join in while the game is in progress? Is capture permanent, or just a reset? Do I use moves not present in normal chess? How does promotion work? 4. I'm confident all the data structures are there to do a "registration" and keep track of the moves. "Allowed" moves check will be tedious, but just mechanics. 5. The display is going to be a pain in several ways. I'm thinking that rather than using chess pieces, you use the player avatars (I think you can capture avatar ID's.... I use them in the fountain mirror, not totally sure you can store and use other times ... maybe I have to save pictures). You need some way then to indicate their ability (chess piece type) -- this might require a separate table simply listing such, or a picture frame. I may need the table anyway to update player registration status. I think you just echo the pictures, with line breaks every eighth avatar. Need a black and white "null" for empty spaces. You could draw an array of buttons using HTML - don't know if a button label can be a picture... This would make the "requested move entry" more elegant .... Can I reverse-image or something in vivid color with avatars to distinguish sides? Hmmm. So, the creative juices are bubbling during gaps in RL..... ======================================== Duxie helped VonU. with a technical query -- Duxie gives some very elegant java code for inputting buttons that VonU. got to work in MD Script -- I will leave it up to them if they want to copy it over here. My clumsy advice before Duxie showed how to do this was: The way MD script executes is pretty strange compared to what I grew up with [Fortran, Pascal, Basic, Snobol, Lisp, etc.]. It does NOT stop and wait for input. What it does is it paints the screen according to your code, lays out buttons and input fields and such, then it is finished and goes away. You paint the input button, but don't wait for input. When the user pushes any sort of "execute" button, then the text fields and radio buttons are captured, and the entire bleeding block of code runs again from the beginning. So, you have to use IF statements that look to see if the input string is still null to determine what to paint. You would then have to save the actual input into variables, repaint the screen, and so on, one pass through the code each time an input button is pressed. So Von, you just have 3 input fields, and do all the leg work in code behind the scene each time any one of the three is hit.

Since my name came up, I will give you my two cents on Lore. This is of course nobody's official policy, but it of course affects the way I try to stear Legend Speakers. When Mur slapped down the Unofficial Ancient Lore, the bit that caught my attention was his desire to have us talk about what players actually have done, rather than made-up stuff. So "Legend Speakers" really ought to be chronicaling the things that are really happening in the game - especially the less-fact-based and more-cultural-based stuff like politics and intrigue. As you all know, my efforts along those lines have met with very mixed success, and I can't get enough players interested in this to even hope to tackle the job. Frustrating, thankless job it seems. [Insert here comments about MDNP, the Adventure Log, and Innocence's project - get the idea?] There is a lot of stuff still in Mur's head that has never made it to "game mechanics". There is stuff that happens because of a negotiated wish (like our two special trees - three at Christmas). There is no way a new player can wrap themselves around these possibilities, because they are all simply a license for Mur to play with "his" world. The world of MD is being shaped by programers, not "game mechanics". It takes a "vet"'s perspective to realize that the game mechanics are not fixed immutables, but ever changing. As my own quest creation progresses, I have come to realize that the closer to mixing with MD history you get, the more likely you are to get burned. We each really need to do something that is uniquely our own, so that we can exercise our own artistic license without trampling on Mur's. So I create new stories about things that happened in other realms and are spilling over into this one. I talk about sympathetic resonances and make no claim about the true MD history. Attempts to stitch things to the existing fabric just lead to grief. Let Cutler's Astral Plane be a lesson to us all. The horror of his loss -- all of our loss becaus he has stopped creating for MD -- must not be repeated.

All your requests must be processed by Chewett - I have forwarded - and then you get on the Merry Deviler's thread and figure out from the converstations going on how you can help. Leap in, show some initiative, have fun -- you know the drill.

Manda, I think these are worth more than 10SC - and I don't have much need for coins. xreig - I have a lot of jokers. Nice offer, but I'm looking for something a little better. I do need a bloodpact for my prize box....

[quote name='xrieg' timestamp='1299262768' post='80023'] Jan Skrzetuski Experience 89061 Age 63 [/quote] Mine's and Imperial Aramour. What's yours?

These creatures, many with tokens - several claw 3's, are what I have available to redeem pickles with. Since I don't really advertise tokens on my prizes, I'm willing to swap or sell for untokened versions plus a little extra to make up the difference. I need to keep a stock of untokened critters for prizes, and note that I lack a basic bloodpact, so am interested in one of them. If nobody trades, then my prizes (or Story Night Prizes) might have this extra little boost.... This is not an auction, I will take first acceptable offers. Ages as of March 4th Imp – “Field Marshal” Experience 37152 Age 167 [emeraldglare] Grassan – “The Herd of One” Experience 0 (worked this fellow hard to get my xp back down from MP6 levels) Age 246 [stardust] [blooddrop2] [blooddrop1] [claw3] [s]Imp – “PIMP Aramoan” Experience 43550 Age 406 [blooddrop1] [firedrop][darkshield][claw3][blooddrop2] [emeraldglare][claw1][/s] gone to xreig Joker – “Taster of Muppets” Experience 37152 Age 195 [blooddrop1] [onyxfangs] [s]Heretic Archer – “Grandfather” Experience 70465 Age 114 [emeraldglare] [claw3] [claw1][/s] SOLD TO VonUngernSternberg Heretic Archer – “Uncle” Experience 72117 Age 95 [emeraldglare] [claw3] Three Untokened Angiens Ages range from 152 to 159 [s]Sharptear – “Tweedledum” Experience 37152 Age 72 [claw1][/s] gone to xreig Probably not for trade, as I’d just have to replace them: Untokened Sharptear – “Tweedledee” Experience 37152 Age 72 Untokened Imp Experience 37152 Age 151 Untokened Joker Age 29 Of course several UP’s and TS’s Plus 4 Imp & 3 Jokers untokened received in trade.

Tired of waiting with no response. If I hear nothing for another 5 days, my offer is withdrawn.

The crux of the issue with GGG (Golden Globe Gazebo) was that the special rituals were "mandatory" and a body of citizens tried to enforce that. This resulted in a sheltered environment where people could grow up in an artificially created environment, and numerous people thinking this was bad for a number of reasons, some selfish, some not. (You can read my take on the political side of that by saying "look" at the GGG). Now there is no problem with people agreeing to spar in some agreed-upon way with their friends. They will be doing it in a place where they must be on guard from other players who have no such agreement with them, whether it is the park or elsewhere. The rule at the park is that young players not be attacked without their permission. They can stay and learn as long as it takes. No one should have a problem with that. The problems have been with people taking advantage of the learners... Any player who pushes themselves to advance to MP4, MP5 without learning all they can about fighting either is setting themselves up for trouble, or are marching to their own drummer. This is a self-correcting problem, or rather not really one at all.

Welcome, Burke. One word of advice - try not to claim to have supernatural powers that you can't back up with actual game mechanics or strong role-playing in chat. It looks silly.

[quote name='Redmyth' timestamp='1298741451' post='79657'] Sorry Crazy Mike I told you I was confused I wish to be part of the Merry Devilers team please [/quote] Now we're all confused, redmyth. You were a charter member of Team Bunny, were you not? At the very least you now need to explain to us all what is going on and why you'd want to be with the Merry Devilers....

Another thing to consider is a format change to make these look more like buttons and less like a string of text with [ ] interspersed. It took me some time to realize you could click on them.

Concept - the system automatically flags people it thinks are alts, but implement an automatic system to DE-flag people too. Any two players that log on and type simultaneously ought to be able to prove they are not alts. This may take a special altar in the game or something.... Once DE-flagged, they could be RE-flagged for new suspicious behavior by the system, and bounce back and forth. A nuisance for said players, but less hassle once implemented for the administrative council. I think this addresses the no-appeal issues that are being pointed to as unjust.

Let me help you out on an issue the Merry Devilers worked through already. We "win" by creating a challenge that you deem to be FUN. What is the point of spying? Think this through to the logical conclusion....

The quest is still alive. Congrats to the most recent pickle awarded to Nimlirthiel for finding a certain gem.... I wrote the following in response to one confused query: This quest/adventure was built up in pieces. The fountain leads to 12 different "tasks" that can be solved in any order (with one exception). The willow's shop ghost-hunt was originally a separate quest, trying to kill the 16 monsters, in any order (with one exception). The quests were then merged, and if you do the ghost-hunt quest first you are given the option to short-cut the fountain quests to get after the crown jewels quicker (but no prizes) in order to tackle the THIRD phase of the quest.... by the way, feel free to share this info....

Okay, this team will henceforth be called the "Merry Devilers". Sign up here to be given access to our private organization threads. The 20-player committee issue has been side-stepped. This team is open to everybody (who has not signed for the other team, of course). If access seems slow in coming (more than a day or two), feel free to give us a nudge. There is a rule against alts, and Mur has threatened punishments. If we think you're an alt, we might warn you, but on your own head be it....

Windy & Evil East - this thread is the general one. In context, sounds like you are joining the bunny team (THEM) - sorry to lose you. But I'd like to point out for everyone's sake, each team has a thread going in the Quest section for sign-ups.

Just think of that figure as a shop-window mannequin on which you store your armor when you're sleeping. It is not meant to be you.

How about personalized faces/poses/clothes/equipment for your favorite creature? Nothing to change the stats, just a distinctive unique avy/icon for that beloved creature.

I'd trade a sharpie age 63 with claw1 for one of those BP's.

Okay, for security and organization reasons, and because of the message-thread limitations, there will be 20 members of this team on the challenge-creation committee. We have 10 now, and enough applications to fill the committee. We also wish to avoid any ongoing antagonisms with existing committee members to get a smooth working group. Everybody who wants to be on the anti-bunny team to compete is welcome. We will also possibly draw play-testers from the larger group as well. Please go back and amend your application post as to your interest in simply competing, as opposed to being on the challenge-creation committee. It would be good to also organize the competition solvers teams a bit - anybody wish to voluteer to add some leadership initiative to the solvers group?